Hair Stylist Product Recommendations: Avoiding Hair Care Trial and Error

As a hairstylist or barber, you know that healthy, confidence-boosting hair doesn’t just come from the hair salon. To keep cuts and colors in top condition, your clients have to put in some work at home, too. Without the right hair products, tools, and maintenance routines, those bouncy curls and glossy locks can revert right back to their pre-salon states. 

That’s why stylists and barbers love to recommend hair products in salons. By equipping them with the best tools for their unique hair type, you can make a lasting impact, build trust, and potentially earn some extra income along the way. Plus, sustainable results look good for your business, writes Julia Belzetsky of Hair Product & Technique.

“After a client leaves the chair, it’s in the stylist’s best interest to help them maintain that volume or gloss so that it can show off their work,” Belzetsky wrote. “A compliment to my clients’ hair usually reflects with a referral to me. I’m not joking, but the girl who brings me the most people uses the most products and that’s why her hair looks the best.”

But hair stylist product recommendations aren’t as easy as they seem. It’s a skill, and it requires research, practice, and stellar client communication. 

Let’s explore how pointing your clients toward the right hair care products can point yourself toward better business (and better risk management).

1. Hair stylist product recommendations protect your clients’ best interests.

Some customers are less than thrilled about hair-stylist- and barber-recommended hair products. They might accuse you of being “pushy” or too “salesy.” They might assume you’re only doing it so they spend more money. This leaves many questioning how to sell hair products to clients.

If talk of hair treatment products leaves your client bristling, explain that the #1 benefit of recommending products is to protect clients’ best interests. 

According to HairUncut, an online stylist community, hair stylist product recommendations save clients time and money. Because you’ve worked with their hair, you can protect a regular customer from that ill-fitted shampoo they saw on social media. You can talk about bad ingredients in hair products or any ingredients in hair products to avoid. You can teach them about hair care stuff that matches their active lifestyle, that fits within their budget, or that won’t irritate their sensitive skin, as HairUncut explains. Tailored advice eliminates unnecessary hair care trial and error.

When expensive products and misleading hair care ingredients are just an Amazon order away, you’re what stands between a client and one or more costly mistakes, HairUncut says in their blog article. After all, who wants to drop hours of time on a bedtime routine they learned on TikTok when a satin bonnet protects their curls more effectively? 

Plus, you can’t overlook the value of picking up your favorite shampoo-conditioner set from the place you’re already driving to, HairUncut adds. 

2. Recommending hair products makes you a trusted resource.

In the long run, hair stylist product recommendations are about more than saving clients’ time and money. They’re also about building trust and credibility.

The better your recommendations, the more your customers learn to trust you, HairUncut says. They start to see your expertise in action. As time passes, they see you less as a salesperson and more as their trusted confidante. When they plop down in your salon chair, frustrated that their hair isn’t doing what they want, your careful listening and thoughtful insights will make them feel seen and heard. 

Listening is a powerful tool for retaining and repairing client relationships. One de-escalation study found that increasing your active listening by just one percent can increase your clients’ gratitude by up to 14 percent. 

So listen up before recommending hair care products, GlossGenius says on their blog. Have a pre-style consultation. Ask about their goals, their pain points, and their hair’s history. The better you listen, the better advice you can give, and the more credibility and trust you get, in return.

Read more about the aforementioned study in our guide to handling hairdresser and barber shop complaints.

3. It encourages you to keep learning.

Hair stylist product recommendations are a fantastic way to educate your clients. For example, they might ask how professional hair products in salons differ from drugstore alternatives. If you sell styling instruments, you might explain what the tools are used for and how to maintain them. 

Sharing a hair stylist’s favorite products and which hair products to avoid also keeps you accountable for your own continued learning.

In order to suggest products to others, you’ll need to stay current on what’s new. You’ll need to know, with confidence, which trends have merit and which products work for each type of hair, HairUncut says. 

Looking for ways to stay on top of your learning? HairUncut recommends the following tactics:

• Read industry publications like SalonEVO and BarberEVO.
• Follow brands on social media.
• Attend trade shows and community events.

Don’t be afraid to learn from your clients, too, Belzetsky wrote. 

“Clients constantly tell me what worked for them and what didn’t and what other products they love that I haven’t tried myself yet. Like someone recommended their favorite dry shampoo to me, and now I’m hooked,” she said.

Don’t just look out for your clients. Look out for your business, too.

Social media is full of advice. Every influencer claims to offer the best mousse, the ultimate curling iron, the only “right” way to keep hair healthy. The average consumer is inundated with confusing and conflicting recommendations. Luckily, they have you to provide hair stylist product recommendations.

As a professional barber or stylist, you can tell the difference between costly fads and sage suggestions. You’re their beacon of light in a sea of overwhelming influencer videos. By becoming their most trustworthy guide, you can earn a customer’s loyalty for a lifetime. That’s because no one knows your regular clients (or their hair) like you do.

Meanwhile, no one knows beauty, barber, and hairstylist risk management quite like WellnessPro. Learn how our insurance for barbers and hairstylists protects stylists like yourself from common industry lawsuits.