Saturday, March 21, 2015

hair ib club (the language barrier)

Posted by Yahya at 2:42 PM

November 29, I made my third visit to Hair IB to get a Japanese straightening touch-up. Again, the experience had its pros and cons, but the biggest con that stood out this time was the communication problems. This actually happened before the salon visit, not during. The salon’s site has a forum called freeboard as an option for clients to make appointments and ask questions. It’s well used and questions are responded to in a decent amount of time. I used the freeboard to make my recent appointment and, as a blogger that tries to document my experience as vividly as possible, this feature really benefited me. It was unplanned, I didn’t realize until after, but I was able to capture the full conversation between me and the salon. Instead of writing down what happened from memory, here’s the actual dialogue -just click.


Free Board


I don’t think I showed it, purposely trying to conceal it, but this conversation was kinda frustrating. Those of you have been following all my visits to the salon know about the past communication problems we have had. Example, miscommunication on how JBS works and using protection cream. Now you guys can concretely see what I’m talking about.


Turning on my critical mind (aka mild, intellectual, ranting)-
  • In the beginning I explained the type of protection cream I wanted to bring in and how it would be used because the last time, it turned out the protection cream they said they had was something completely different -a cream they put in the Japanese hair straightening solution to hinder damaging effects. When describing protection cream the first time I might not have been as detailed, but I know I said I wanted it so my already sodium hydroxide relaxed hair would be protected. Someone who spoke fluent English would have caught that and knew I was talking about a different type of protection cream. I would have gotten exactly what I asked for my first and second salon visit, a Japanese straightening with protection on my lye relaxed length. 
  • I don’t know why the salon receptionist kept saying “we only do JHS touch up” when that was exactly what I was asking for in my first post. I never said I wanted my previously treated hair to be reprocessed, I said the exact opposite. I guess it was the “It’s purpose is to hinder the JHS from penetrating the ends during the rinse” that they didn’t understand. The salon knows full well though that when they rinse the JHS solution off the roots during a touch up that it inevitably penetrates the ends (since they don’t use protection cream). I know, because they are careful to tell their clients that before they get a JHS service. So I blame them not understanding what I mean on the language barrier. 
  • I had used the term sodium hydroxide relaxed to describe my hair the other two visits, and never was told the salon had no idea what that was. I don’t think the salon is used to having customers that are hair knowledgeable. There are not ‘thousands of different kinds of relaxers,’ that's a complete exaggeration. I’m not even sure if there are thousands of brands of relaxers. There are 4 main types of relaxers. So those of you who are sodium hydroxide relaxed and want to take the risk of transitioning to Japanese straightening, this is not the salon to do it. 
So now you guys have a vivid example to see for yourselves. I still plan on going to the salon, because like I said in the third review, the salon tries their best to answer all questions and actively listens, doing all the extra things I want done on my hair. And now, I believe the language barrier has been penetrated and they now know how I want my hair done. Communication also felt like it went better when I went to the salon, so though they have freeboard, I recommend going into the details of what you want in person. If you're the type that believes you shouldn't go to a salon if the workers' first language isn't English, or if you're the type that easily gets frustrated and project it, this might not be the best salon for you.

4 comments:

DarkHoney on March 23, 2015 at 6:48 PM said...

You prob should just put the protection cream on the hair yourself before you get to the appointment

Yahya on March 24, 2015 at 2:15 PM said...

In the Japanese straightening process, the hair is first thoroughly washed, usually with a clarifying shampoo. All product in my hair is essentially going to get washed away, which is why protection cream needs to be applied after the wash, at the salon.

Unknown on April 21, 2015 at 1:46 PM said...

Very nice post! I have nominated you to be apart of the Leibster Awards! check it out at audacitytobeyou.com :)

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