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All About Hair...and So Much More.
EP 320: Toxic Salon Secrets: Red Flags Before You Say Yes
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Ever walked into a salon interview excited, only to leave with that sinking feeling something isn't right? Those instincts are worth paying attention to. The beauty industry offers incredible creative opportunities, but also harbors workplaces that can drain your passion faster than bleach lifts color.
Recognizing the warning signs of a toxic salon environment before accepting a position is crucial for your career longevity and mental wellbeing. From deceptive job descriptions that mask chaos as "flexibility" to interview processes that reveal fundamental disrespect, these red flags often appear long before your first day. When salons describe themselves as "like a family" but can't articulate their actual culture, when they're perpetually hiring because stylists don't stick around, or when they expect unpaid work during "trial periods" – these aren't signs of opportunity but warning signals of deeper issues.
The good news? You have power in this process. Come prepared with thoughtful questions about education programs, advancement paths, and team structure. Research the salon's online presence and reviews. Speak with current or former stylists when possible. Most importantly, trust your instincts – if interactions during the interview process make you feel small, invisible, or disrespected, that feeling will only intensify once you're employed there. Remember that seeking a respectful, growth-centered workplace isn't asking too much – it's the foundation of a sustainable career in this incredible industry. Check out our resources for salon education, onboarding systems, and foundational skills that can help you or your salon create the positive environment every stylist deserves. Your career is too important to compromise on workplace respect and support!
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Have you ever walked into a salon excited for an interview, only to leave with a gut feeling that something just wasn't right? You couldn't put your finger on it, but everything in you said run. Today we're talking about those red flags that signal a toxic workplace. Before you ever say yes to the job, you ever say yes to the job. Welcome to All About Hair, where we talk shop, share stories and spill the secrets behind great hair and a great career.
Speaker 1:I'm your host, denise Kylitz, a former salon owner, educator and a lifelong hair crusader. Whether you're a new stylist, building your book or just someone who loves learning about all things hair, you're in the right place. You know the beauty industry is filled with passion, creativity and incredible opportunities, but it's also sadly known for burnout, blurred boundaries and environments that don't value people the way they should. A toxic salon culture can drain your energy, hurt your confidence and stall your growth. And the worst part, these places often look great on paper until you walk in the doors paper until you walk in the doors. But spotting a toxic workplace isn't always easy, especially when you're eager to get hired, start making money or desperate to leave a current bad situation. You might overlook vague job descriptions, dismiss disrespectful interviewers or excuse poor communication because you want to give them the benefit of the doubt. Let's break down where those red flags can start showing up and what they might be trying to tell you.
Speaker 1:First, let's talk about job description red flags. When they say we wear a lot of hats around here or no, two days are the same, this often means they don't have any structure and you're on your own Pay. Attention to that. Another red flag for job descriptions that you have senior level responsibilities for junior pay. That's a sign that they're under-resourced and over-demanding. Say you're going in for a front desk position and it pays minimum wage. Yeah, I don't think I would go there. Another red flag no salary or benefits are listed. They're likely avoiding some kind of accountability or hiding pay inequality or they could be paying you under the table. Something just doesn't feel right there. If they're not listing how you're getting paid, you need to start asking some questions. If they use buzzwords like fast paced, rockstar or we're like a family, this can actually translate to say you're expected to hustle hard and sacrifice boundaries.
Speaker 1:I really don't like it when salons say we're like a family here, because that's not fair. You don't, you can't fire your family. You don't. You can't fire your family. You're a team and it's a workplace, so it should be ran like one. So just be just yeah, red flag.
Speaker 1:And if you see a salon that they're always posting, that they're always hiring, I like that. I think salons should always be hiring, I love that. I think salons should always be hiring, I love it. However, but if they're always posting like you see it online, you see paid ads that's not a sign of growth. It's a sign that people don't stick around. So keep your eyes open for that, because if they're going through stylists left and right, there's probably a culture problem there, and if they don't mention any kind of training or education especially if you're straight out of school, this is what you should be looking for is some kind of education. This just means that they're not invested in your growth and you're probably seen as replaceable. More than likely, though, it means that they just don't have it together. They might really want to offer education, and they might have the best intentions of doing so, but they just don't have it written down. That's where I come in. Hello, I do have my salon success course, and it's a three month training program that gets stylists straight out of school to behind the chair with confidence in three months. If you are working at a place that does not have education, or you think that they have a disorganized education system, tell your salon owner about this. Or if you're a salon owner and you're looking for something so you don't have to map it out, this is so great. I use this whole system in my salons very, very successfully. The links in the show notes go grab it there. If you need more information, let me know. All right, let's get on to interview.
Speaker 1:Red flags. So you're sitting at the interview. You've walked into this new space. The salon looks great, um. So you're sitting down. You're asking questions. Remember, you're there to interview them too. They're not just interviewing you.
Speaker 1:So here's some red flags during the interview process. Number one they dodge questions about team structure or how people advance. This could mean that they don't have a career path set up. You really need to know how you can advance in their salon. You're not just there cutting hair. This is a career, remember. Another red flag is the person interviewing you shows up late, they check their phone consistently or they interrupt you when you're asking questions. If they're like that in the interview process. Imagine what they're going to be like when you're working for them. Very, very disrespectful. One interviewer says one thing, another says something else.
Speaker 1:If you're in the interview process and you sit down with one interviewer and they tell you one thing, the next person comes in and they tell you something else. We used to have where you would interview with different people. So say, you would interview with a manager, then you would interview with one of the lead stylists, because they are coming at it from a different angle, then you would interview with me, the owner, and if those three people are saying different things, you probably want to look elsewhere, because that's a recipe for confusion and conflict and obviously there's some communication problems going on. Or maybe the interviewer asks inappropriate questions, like they cannot ask your age, your religion or your family plans. They can't ask you if you're pregnant or if you intend to be pregnant or if you're married. They can't ask you that that's illegal, big, big red flag.
Speaker 1:If they say culture fit, but they can't even describe what their culture is, I would be a little hesitant to work there, because culture is a big word these days. Everybody says, oh, our culture is so great. Our culture, well, it takes a lot of work to have a nice and a great culture. And if they say culturally fit, hey, you don't want to belong to a mean girls club, okay, just saying, how about if you're in the interview and you're rushed through with no time for your own questions, wow, that doesn't feel good because you're there to interview them too. So make sure you come with questions already written down and you're ready to go and then also ask about turnover or morale. And if you ask about that and they get very vague or they have very defensive answers, that's a huge red flag. Say you're taking the job and they're going to make you the offer to work there.
Speaker 1:If you're asked to start without anything in writing no contract, no clarity I might want to reconsider. You might want to have something in writing. Even contract, no clarity I might want to reconsider. You might want to have something in writing, even if it's an email. You need something in writing that has, when you're starting, what your pay is going to be. Maybe if there's benefits, the expectations and something in there that says, hey, in 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, I don't know, they might everybody's different that you're going to look at this again. You're going to review this. It's going to be a process. You need something like that in writing before you start.
Speaker 1:We used to bring people on to do a shadow day. That's what we'd call it. A shadow day is just really. Basically, you're coming into the salon for a couple hours maybe and what we want is to just see how you're going to interact with people, see how you're going to interact with the other team members, see if you ask questions, see if you show up looking sharp, see if you show up on time. It's usually no more than a couple of hours, but that's really what we were looking for. We weren't looking for you to do anything. You might go in there with a model. That's happened before. We've asked people to come in with a model, maybe do a haircut or a blow dry If we were, you know, a little not suspicious but questioning the skillset.
Speaker 1:So say, somebody says they're a master stylist, whatever that means in these days. We kind of want to see that in action because, believe it or not, I have hired somebody before that said they were a master stylist at a salon that I knew of and I knew what that meant and I didn't go through this trial run and they were awful. They were awful. I don't know what the heck I was thinking. So even if you, as a salon owner, if you're feeling pretty confident in their word and as salon owners, I don't know. I know I'm not the only one out there, but I feel like I want to save everybody, anybody with a passion for our industry. I want to hire them and after a while my team said I was no longer allowed to hire the stylist because I just wanted to bring in everybody. I just love it.
Speaker 1:However, if you're going to tell the interviewer that you know a certain skill, you better be able to provide that so they might ask you to come in for shadowing. But if they ask you to come in and do trial work that looks kind of like real unpaid labor, like you're actually blow drying clients or shampooing clients or rinsing color or anything like that, that's not okay. You need to be paid for that, okay. Another red flag in the offer stage before you sign anything if they ask for any personal data before you've signed anything like your bank account information, social security card, anything like that no, no, no, no. You do not give that to them until you sign something that says you've made me an offer and I've agreed to it.
Speaker 1:If the start dates are fuzzy or they don't have any kind of onboarding, that is a big red flag. Again, if you're struggling, if you're a salon owner or if you work in a salon and they don't have onboarding, my salon success system over there has it spelled out in writing from first day, first week, first month and first three months what the expectations are. So again, the link is in the show notes. Here's a big red flag. What if you Google them and you see high turnover reviews online? That, yeah, that's a big red flag. Or maybe you see reviews on Google and it says something like customer service is terrible, or I don't know. Check them out, do your due diligence and really investigate before you decide. And if you're pressured to decide quickly, like within 24 hours, or if you're guilted for saying hey, we want you to start today, tomorrow, something like that, that's a red flag. Nobody needs to start within 24 hours.
Speaker 1:Okay, you can take your time and decide. If it's the right place for you, ask more questions if you want to. And if they say anything like oh, we don't really do time off here, okay, come on now. You know that you probably run out the door. People have to have personal time off. I mean, a lot of salons these days are actually going towards all the personal time off you need, as long as the clients are taken care of. I know a lot of salon owners are doing it that way. Everybody's different these days, especially after COVID, so here's the solution.
Speaker 1:So you've gone through the interview. Maybe you've seen a couple of these red flags. Listen to your gut, but also get strategic. Okay, before you say yes, you need to ask the right questions. Have your questions written down before you go to the interview. What are you going to ask them? Are you going to ask them about the education system? Are you going to ask them about their time off policy, vacation pay, maybe the benefits? Do they have 401k? Do they pay for your education? If you do outside education, anything like that, what's the dress code? What's the expectations in the first 30 days? What's the pre-booking or retail sales numbers? Or what are you expected to do or target or benchmark to move your career path up and also take a look at their career path.
Speaker 1:You want to know what it is. What's the potential of working in that environment. Do your research. Google them. Look at them on Facebook, look at them on Instagram, look at them. Just Google them for reviews. Talk to current or past employees If you can.
Speaker 1:If you know somebody who's worked at that salon, reach out to them and say, hey, I was thinking about working here. What do you think? What? What was your experience? What was your experience? And look at how you felt after each interaction. Were they excited to see you? Did you feel seen and heard and important, or was it like an uncertain kind of you know feeling that you were feeling? Did you feel small? Did they make you feel like you were invisible? Because, goodness gosh, if that's happening before the interview process, what is it going to be when you start working there? Just get in your mind that you are not being too sensitive. You're not asking for too much. You're just asking for a safe, respectful and growth-centered space, which is the bare minimum of what you deserve. The salon that you work at should be the place you want to be and the place that you feel respected and safe. So, finding the right salon, it might take a few tries, but knowing these red flags can really help you avoid soul-sucking jobs because we've all had those and land somewhere that truly aligns with your values, where you're treated like a human, where your work is seen, where you can shine and help your clients shine too.
Speaker 1:If this episode gave you some clarity or confidence, click the link in the show notes. Make sure that your salon owner or yourself check out my salon success system. I also have, if you go over to my website, I have a few free downloads that, as a stylist, that you can download. One is on color mastery and the other one is the foundational skills that you need as a stylist that you can download. One is on color mastery and the other one is the foundational skills that you need as a brand new stylist. Go over there, check it out, download it.
Speaker 1:Good, good information. Just remember go into your interview positive attitude, do your research, have your questions down, you know, look the part, walk in there, chin up, proud that you're in this industry and you have a lot to offer. Even if you're brand new, you have a lot to offer your curiosity, your passion, your will do, attitude and you pick this industry. I say it all the time we are in the best industry ever. So always remember when you know better, you do better, and I'll talk to you next week. Thanks for tuning in to all about hair. If you loved this episode, hit, subscribe, leave us a review and share it with a fellow stylist or hair loving friend. You want more tips, tools and behind the scenes? Goodness, follow me on YouTube or head to my website at denisekeilitzcom. Yes, I know it's hard to spell, so don't worry, the link is in the show notes. Until next time, keep learning, keep creating and keep loving what you do.
