What a first-time client needs to know before they walk in

The patch test is not a detail

For colour, lash and some brow treatments a patch test is required ahead of the appointment, and the interval is not negotiable. A first-time client who discovers this when they arrive loses the appointment and the salon loses the chair. Publishing which treatments need one, how far ahead, and how long it takes is the single highest-value sentence a salon can add - and the one most often left to the stylist to mention.

They are deciding whether they will be judged

A sizeable share of first-visit anxiety is not about the treatment. It is about arriving with hair someone else cut badly, with nails they have bitten, with a body they expect to be commented on. Nobody asks this on the telephone. A page that says plainly what a first consultation involves and that nothing is decided before it answers the question they could not put into words.

Practicalities decide more bookings than the price list

How long to allow - the real figure, not the optimistic one. Whether to arrive with clean or unwashed hair. Whether there is parking and what it costs. Whether a child can come along. What happens if they are late, and after how long the appointment is lost. Every one is a published fact, and each unanswered one is a reason to postpone.

What must not be answered remotely

Whether a specific treatment suits a specific person: skin condition, hair history, pregnancy, medication, a reaction last time. These are assessed in person and in light, and a confident answer at ten at night is worse than no answer - it reads as permission. The correct behaviour is to say it needs a consultation and to make booking that consultation easy.