My Salon Observation

I did my salon observation at Faith Beauty Salon. This is a salon I visited time after time to have services done to my hair, and never before taken an in-depth look at the surroundings. The front of the salon was just average, as the appearance didn’t give an inviting feeling. There were pictures of hair styles and products on the exterior, but they were hidden behind grills.

My first day of observation was on a slow day, as the customers were few. I noticed that the salon was untidy, and dirty. The workers sat down and discussed personal business rather than taking the opportunity to tidy up the salon (fig. 2). There were drinks bottles on the hair station, and shoes and a bucket on the floor (fig. 2). Tools weren’t put away properly, when not in use, e.g. blowdryer on hairstation (see fig. 2). There didn’t seem to be proper storage for workers to put their handbags, as they were being kept on the hair station (fig. 3).

The shampoo area was quite small, and this was also were the garbage was being stored (fig. 4). Used towels were left on the shampoo basin (fig. 4). The microwave for heating lunch is kept right over the garbage bin in the shampoo area (fig. 4). The nails area was kept fairly neat and tidy by the nail technician (fig. 5). This may be due to the fact that this is the only rented station in the salon.

There was quite a lot of selling going on in the salon, but nearly all the items being sold were not pertaining to haircare. E.g. there were large displays of handbags (fig. 6). There was also a showcase with slippers, and bath & body products for sale (fig. 2). The salon carried only one line of haircare products for retailing, in a very small quantity (fig.7).

Overall the salon seem to be lacking in areas of sanitization, proper storage, image (e.g. attractiveness), and professionalism. It felt very much like a boutique, rather than a salon.