Helping students understand the origins of natural hair care and braiding will enable them to appreciate the various technical and business opportunities available to them today. they will gain knowledge and, consequently, confidence in their abilities to speak intelligently about their profession by understanding the evolution of the natural hair care and braiding industry. By understanding the past, they will be able to foresee and understand trends as they move in and out of fashion. in this chapter, students will be exposed to all of the various ways that they can specialize and make a living performing natural hair care and braiding. these will help students plan and achieve a successful and lucrative career.

Throughout your career, you will come into direct contact with many clients. As a result, the principles and practices of infection control are of key importance in your daily practice. These subjects have a direct bearing on your well-being and that of your clients. That is why it is so important for you to know the necessary steps to prevent the spread of disease. A basic understanding of how bacteria affect our daily lives is helpful in becoming competent in infection control procedures. Contagious diseases, blood poisoning, and skin infections are caused by infectious bacteria being transmitted from one individual to another or from a contaminated surface, tool, or implement to a person. Disease is also spread by the use of unclean implements or dirty hands and fingernails. As a professional, you will be exposed to a variety of germs or bacteria every day. You will be work- ing directly on the hair and with the scalp of your clients, which are ideal breeding grounds for bacteria. Your hands and the implements you use will be additional sources of passing bacteria. Thus, the applied practice of infection control is even more essential to your safety. You must also take care when using implements that could potentially cut or pierce the skin. They must be cleaned and then disinfected before and after each use. Implements that cannot be disinfected properly must be disposed of as directed. Your profession is one of high touch and contact. Therefore, it is critical for you to develop and prac- tice infection control habits now, while you are in school. You will want to modify your behavior to ensure that good habits of infection control are routine in your daily activities. This behavior will endear you to your clients, increase their confidence in your professional abilities, and keep everyone in your salon environment safe.

You have enrolled in school to obtain the skills necessary to become a natural hair stylist and you will learn those technical skills necessary to perform the required services for your clients. But, in addition to the technical skills, to be successful, you must also have a solid foundation of life skills in order to be effective. Once you have mastered these life skills, together with your professional skills, you will have created a solid foundation upon which you can build a successful career. A salon is a creative workplace where you can express your artistic talents. It is also a very social place that requires self-discipline and excellent people skills. In order to be successful in this environment, you must display competence, sensitivity, awareness, and enthusiasm every time you service the client. Your relationship with your clients is of utmost importance. After all, without clients you will not have a business to go to, or a source of income to fuel your passions and your dreams. So, developing a positive and appropriate relationship with your clients is vital to your success. Just as your client relationships are important, so too are your relationships with your managers and coworkers. These are the people who will help you, support you, advise you, and guide you while you are working day-to-day. This chapter will help you develop the practical life and work skills that will be important to your success.

In addition to excellent technical skills, the single most important aspect of a professional’s business is it’s clients. Building and maintaining relationships with clients ensures that a stylist will have happy custom- ers, that these clients will continue to patronize their salon and services, and that these clients will refer friends, family, and coworkers to the stylist, which will enable the stylist to be prosperous. The success of this relationship is dependent upon two things—effective communication skills and satisfying the client’s needs. The client consultation is the means through which the stylist will get to know the clients—their likes and preferences, their lifestyle, their habits, and their hair styling maintenance needs. Once the stylist has completed an effective consultation, she may then begin to guide and recommend solutions for each client that will perfectly suit her needs and desires. In order to have a long, successful, and prosperous career as a natural hair stylist, one must be willing to put in the time and effort to get to know the client and must have a sincere desire to put the client’s needs first and to concern themselves with completely satisfying the client. This chapter provides an understanding of how to achieve and master the client consultation and how to create a long-lasting and successful relationship with every client.

The hair is a part of the body and, like every other part, it must be cared for and nourished. Just as you replenish body fluids after extended exercising or illness, you must also replenish the needed nutrients for healthy hair. It is essential that, as a natural hair stylist, you fully understand the importance of caring for the hair and how hair grows, as well as its structure and texture. Because clients may or may not understand the importance of caring for their hair, the client consultation—the time set aside for a stylist and a client to discuss their unique needs and challenges— becomes more important than ever. In this chapter, we will not only learn about the hair and its structure, but we will also review a step-by-step plan, and the essential questions you will need to ask, in order to gain a true understanding of the client’s needs and wants. The results of this consultation will inform you on how to guide and direct your clients through their salon experience.

As a natural hair stylist, one of the most important services you will offer, probably won’t be on your ser- vice menu. What is that service? It is your ability to know about and to be able to identify hair and scalp diseases and disorders. Your clients will look to you, as their “hair” professional, for a thorough analysis of their hair and scalp. They will expect you to report to them anything that seems wrong or out of the ordinary. In fact, they will likely come to you with problems, concerns, and questions that they need resolved—and you will be their first line of defense. This is why it’s so important for you to know about and to be able to recognize the most often seen disorders and diseases, as discussed in this chapter. You may not be able to solve or prescribe treatment for the clients’ problems, but you will be able to help them understand what is happening and then refer them on to other specialists or doctors for treatment. Finally, perhaps one of the most widespread and disturbing issues with which your clients will confronted will be hair loss—from mild loss to severe. You will learn in this chapter about the various types of hair loss, what causes them, and how to relate to your clients as they undergo hair loss and its various treatments. Your professional knowledge and ability to care for the whole client will be greatly appreciated.

It is important to have a working knowledge of the anatomy of the body, its systems, and each of their specific functions. Understanding how these systems interact will assist you in providing an integrated approach to wellness for your clients. Although you will never prescribe courses of treatment or offer medical advice when a client should be referred to a physician, it is also helpful to know about the various vitamins and minerals that are vital to a healthy body, scalp, and hair so that you can discuss these with your clients. Being beautiful on the outside begins with being beautiful on the inside. A healthy and harmoniously functioning body will deliver maximum results for both good health and beauty.

As we have discussed previously, the relationship between the natural stylist and the client is the most important one in the salon setting. The client learns about you and makes an appointment, you perform a client consultation, and then you lead them back to have their very first service—usually, a shampoo. The shampoo service is your first opportunity to show the client that you truly care about them— their comfort, their safety, their hair care needs. They lean back into the shampoo bowl and immediately, they put their trust in you—you are in charge. You not only have their undivided attention while you are shampooing their hair, but it is the first time you have their hair in your hands, both literally and figuratively—for the next several hours, the condition and welfare of their hair is “in your hands.” This is why understanding everything you can about the shampoos, conditioners, oils and other treat- ments you will or could use on that client is crucial. You have been entrusted with your client’s prized possession—their hair, which translates into their look, their appearance, their public persona. Keep in mind, the outcome of your decisions need to help clients look and feel great about their hairstyle. It truly is an awesome responsibility, and it will be the cornerstone of the relationship between you and your client.

In this chapter, we learn several ways to style and manage textured hair, and we will once again take a look at styling and managing hair with one ultimate goal—to maintain the integrity and health of the hair and scalp. The role of the natural stylist is very important—to educate clients on the various styling and care options. All the while delivering a style and look to the client that is as close as possible to what they have expressed for themselves. The natural stylist must know to treat and manage textured hair so it is well preserved and healthy and must also know which of the various texturing techniques will work best and recommend them to the client. In this chapter, you will learn the proper ways to groom, braid, extend, twist, weave, cut, and set the hair to make your client, and their hair, look and feel great!

In this chapter, you will learn about how transitional and protective styling will help you and your client gradually move away from using harsh and/or drying chemicals on their hair and move or transition into a natural look and style. You will also see that some clients will not to wait for a transition—they will want to cut all of the damaged or chemically treated hair off now—what is sometimes referred to as: “big chop”—and move more quickly into their natural hairstyle. Either way, you will need to be prepared to educate and inform clients about the decision they are making and what it entails, what styling options may be available to them, and how best to care for their hair while they are transitioning or moving into a new styling era for themselves. You will also learn that the creative art form of natural hair styling and braiding is unlimited, and as demand continues to increase for natural hairstyles, protective styles, and transitional styling, natural hair stylists are able to turn to their imaginations for styling options! You will see that this is a very exciting time to be a natural hair stylist and will begin your journey into the wonderful world of natural hair styling as a professional and trained stylist!