Y’all know what grinds my gears? ⚙️ Every time I need to get my nails, lashes, or anything maintenance related to the upkeeping of my temple, I have these outrageous policies and prices that I have to agree to to be serviced 😒🙄 and I’m sick of it!

Up until about 3-5 years ago, all of this was NONEXISTENT! In the 90s, my mom would send me to the hair salon early in the morning (this continued well into my teenage years btw) and I’d have my ass in there all day for a simple relaxer touch-up and style. And for less than $100, I’d receive my relaxer, a wash, deep condition, session under the dryer, a blowout, trim, then a press! Nowadays the roles have switched, like this:

It completely defeats the purpose of me coming to get the service if I’m doing all the servicing on myself before I get there. And then the fee is still high like there was a ton of work done. Oh, guess what? I’m still sick of it! Here’s my real-life example:

I had been religiously going to babygirl. Would repost and share our material. One day, she text me to tell let me know she was running late on my appointment. Just so happened I had booked the wrong day. She wanted to charge me a late fee and a cancellation fee 😭 That’s basically paying a full set that I’m NOT getting. Who else is confused? The second and final issue was, she was running 7 minutes late on my appointment. Meaning there was still a client laying on her bed during the time of my appointment… and before any techs say anything, she worked out of her home. So yes, you can run late even if you’re not leaving your house lmao. So as I was leaving, I was asking her what we we’re going to do about the late fee. She initially tried to assure me that I had already taken care of my late fees and which I undoubtedly agreed and turned it back around to how she was running late on my appointment. She chuckled and said, “oh, for that I just take a dollar off for each minute”. Why is the late policy any different from the one on your website and why is that information not visibly there for me to see? 🤔🙄

So because of her, I’ve started asking what the techs policy is for themselves because who is holding them accountable. 🤷🏽‍♀️ If the tech is running late, shouldn’t they offer the same money off that they want to charge? Each tech I’ve asked this has been offended:

but honestly, I’m sorry I’m not sorry! It’s my money, and instead of treating me like a piggy bank any moment you can, let’s keep things humane! Everyone runs late, appointments run over, the client before me might be running late, maybe there is traffic, an emergency… I mean whatever could happen!

Now, I can understand that techs have some rules in effect to prevent people from wasting their time. They also lose the money they booked that client for if they don’t show (my mama said, “don’t count no money until it’s in your hand”). I also understand that pricing will vary depending on several different factors but running a business requires some sensibility, professionalism, and etiquette. Especially when you’re a small business. You rely on customer retention and their word of mouth until your brand is reputable enough to bring in new customers on its own. Needless to say, she no longer does my lashes. I have also found a hairstylist that doesn’t require a deposit. My nail tech only requires a low-cost deposit and has a “no show” policy, which I think it’s reasonable! I might’ve found me a new lash tech (going for the first time on Friday 🤞🏽!

And be sure to let me know in the comments how you feel about this new way of handling your self care appointments. Do you agree or disagree?