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| Welcome to The Met KL Hair Salon, an urban and edgy salon but with commercial styles that is very easy to maintain |
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| Overview of our salon, using only premium hair care lines like Redken 5th NYC |
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| A special Redken for Men retail products and Pureology Hair Care for Colored Hair |
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| Redken Hair Care and Styling retail section |
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| Styling Stations |
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| We are located at Ground Floor, President House, Park Royal Hotel in the heart of Kuala Lumpur |
My article is featured in this month Female magazine.I wrote about the concerns of damage hair and how it is to be cared for.Lots of hot tips to be shared..
Hi All, I would like to share a real story wrote in to The Star recently asking me for advise and suggestions.How would you feel if you have similar hair and scalp challenges? then read on....
"Dear Consultant,
I'm in my early 30s. When I was in my primary school, my hair is straight. However, when I entered my puberty, my hair started to have waves. Those waves were ugly, especially when they appeared on my fringe. Since then, I was advised to crop my hair to a very short length in order to keep the waves at bay.
As I grew up, I craved to have long hair, just like any other girls. I grew my hair when I was in Form 6. It was a total disaster! I had a large volume of hair and with the waves; I could not let my hair down. It had to be tied up all the time or I would be called "Lion King".
I went through rebonding to straighten my hair thrice. It gave me satisfaction but it did not last. So, I was advised to perm my hair curly and I did.
Problems start to arise after I gave birth to my son. I was not allowed to wash my hair during the confinement month and it has caused much itchiness. I bought dry shampoo (powder form) in the pharmacy and thought it might help to reduce the itchiness but it didn't. After that one month of confining from washing my hair, I've developed a very serious dandruff problem.
With the large volume of hair and waves, and now with dandruff, I feel like tearing off my hair. I've to wash my hair two times during each bath to stop the itchiness. My scalp is producing much oil, to which I think is the main problem of the dandruff. Besides having large volume of hair, my hair is also frizzy and hard. I've tried many shampoos in the market but to no avail to calm down the frizz or to stop the itchiness.
I need your help in advising which shampoo is best suitable for my hair type.
I thank you in advance.
Best regards
Alice Tong"
Here are my answers:
Dear Alice,
I am sorry to hear that you have such a challenging hair situation and thank you for writing in to us, we felt your concern and we are here to provide you some options on how to manage the whole issue.
I understand that you are experiencing oily scalp, dandruff and unmanageable wavy hair. I would like to assure you that dandruff is a temporary situation and we will overcome that if the right product is used.
Towel dry and proceed to hair care. Apply Serie Expert's smooth night treatment to control and tame unruly hair and let dry naturally.
Try observe if your scalp situation gets better, if it does , stop using the products for oily scalp and dandruff but switch to Liss Ultime Shampoo to control hair instead.
I also understand that you have experienced rebonding however I would recommend relaxing instead. The difference is your hair is still be with light waves but with more control and blend in with your regrowth after three months. Rebonding would create a hard regrowth line most of the time. Try relaxing your regrowth every three months but only on your regrowth area as opposed to full head. This is a more permanent solution and hair care regime recommended above is to control it.
Nevertheless, we still highly recommend that you seek professional consultation in a professional salon for more clarification.
The above products recommendation are L'Oreal Professionnel range however similar hair care and treatments are also available in Redken 5th Ave NYC. Call us at The Met KL at 03-21481111 for a professional consultation for your haircut, scalp problems, hair color issues and damage hair issues.We are ready to help.
How can I control my life when I can't control my hair?
The above title is the reason most clients see us. When they are stuck somewhere and no longer know how to manage, or when they are heartbroken, they will see us for a change of hairstyle or hair color to represent a brand new start. When they are inspired by some new looks from Hollywood e.g. when Victoria Beckham was wearing the infamous bob cut, they come to us to help inject a dose of glamour into their lives. We are indeed very important people, responsible and accountable for the happiness of women and their well being. The next question is to find out how responsible are we, really?
“Responsible” (ri-spon-suh-buhl) according to the dictionary means “answerable or accountable, as for something within one’s power, control, or management. Capable of a rational thought or action”. Have we ever wondered why most customers have poor impressions about hair coloring? Have we ever wondered why most professional models are so unwillingly to accept hair shows? Even when they can, guess what are the most common no-no’s…..no “bleaching”. Yes, we all know that especially those of us who organize hair shows. No matter whether they are customers or models they do have something in common, the poor perception about hair coloring. I mention perception because deep deep down, we are the one who are responsible. Remember the definition of “Responsible”? – “being capable of a rational thought or action”.
I was having this conversation with my colleague who is responsible for sales; we do have a very comfortable café with lots of cakes, bagels and all sorts of coffee and other beverages on sale at our office so it makes sense to find some time to connect with colleagues while having a cuppa. She told me that salons in Taipei are generally ok even if they feel the technical work like color or perm could damage customer’s hair at that moment as this provides them the opportunity to sell hair treatments as well. Here are my thoughts; do we sell hair treatments only for damaged hair clients? Is that how the poor perception about hair coloring started? There are a few consequences if we do not make a rational decision for the customers. First, the customer will think twice if we offer our color services again in the future, so why not think of long term business relationships and gain trust instead, of short term gains. Second, we are not educating customers about the importance of treating hair. The way we do salon business now should not be the same as we did five or ten years ago. Just look at skin care; there are cleansers, toners, serums/essences, day creams, night creams, sun blocks, eye creams, face scrubs. Have I missed any more face products because I am sure they are more! Customers are fully aware about these face products and it has become a necessity. How could hair care evolve to become this important to people’s daily routines? FYI Scalp, hair and skin share the same structure; however scalps are even more complex.
Let’s organize a debrief session with your team on how we could be innovative. Share our knowledge and experience with our colleagues. Educate customers about the science of hair and why we should treat it, and how hair could become damaged or dry. More innovation news to share about hair care; there will be scrubs for hair and scalp in the near future and there are already organic ingredient in shampoos. Professional hair care companies have already started to kick off the path to evolve in professional and salon retail products. Are you ready to evolve or would you rather choose to be comfortable? Make a choice, because no one but you yourself is responsible for the decision.
The Met KL – Celebration
Madonna Louise Ciccone (born 16 August 1958), known simply by her first name, is an American pop singer-songwriter, record and film producer, film director, dancer, actress, author and fashion icon. Guinness World Records listed Madonna as the most successful female recording artist of all time. Madonna is often referred to by the media as the 'Queen of Pop'. Madonna's record company credited her as having sold over 232 million albums and 150 million singles worldwide.
Why Madonna?
2010 is the year of Madonna. She performed "Like a Prayer" at the Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief concert in January 2010. In March she released her third live album, Sticky & Sweet Tour. She announced plans of directing her second film, W.E., a biopic about the affair between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. Madonna granted American TV show Glee the rights to her entire catalogue of music, and the producers planned an episode which featured Madonna songs exclusively, titled "The Power of Madonna". Entertainment Weekly called it "one of the best hours of TV you’re likely to see all year". Glee: the Music, the Power of Madonna, an EP containing eight cover versions of Madonna songs featured in the episode was released in May. The EP debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, with 98,000 copies sold in the United States.
She also appeared in a series of Dolce & Gabbana and Louis Vuitton advertisement campaigns and participated in a fashion spread for Interview and W magazines. Madonna is definitely not known for standing idly on the sidelines.
Madonna is a star and has always been a woman who takes chances. She might not be a woman that every female looks up to, but she is definitely worth her weight in gold. She commands the stage, and has always been the center of attention. Madonna told Dick Clark on his Show, "Bandstand" in the 1980's that she wanted to rule the world. We have cheered her on as she has taken command of the center arena. Madonna is a seductress in fishnet stockings. She has a strong head for business, and can still sing and dance as well as the younger girls, trying to climb to the top of the charts.
The Met KL is celebrating its 4th Anniversary in Oct 2010 and the anniversary theme is based on Madonna’s hit chart song “Celebration” which was released digitally in July 2010. It is a dance-oriented song with influences of Madonna's singles from the eighties and nineties. The lyrics of the song invite one to come and join a party. Revisiting her images from the 80’s right up till now has brought back some strong influences and inspirations for us to create great hairstyles and hair colors for today’s modern women. Our goal is to empower, inspire and encourage women to take chances, enhance their look, and boost their self esteem. Great hairstyles are easily accomplished by working together with your natural hair texture or altering it to a positive effect, as are amazing hair colors. Colors need not be too light however, just enough to accentuate the hair texture, length and skin tones.
The Met KL has re-created a series of looks selected from Madonna’s top selling album covers. The looks feature diverse of hairstyles and hair colors taken from the albums “Like a Virgin “and “True Blue” from the 80’s, “Vogue” and “Ray of Light” from the 90’s and “Confessions on the Dance floor” from 2005.
The Met KL would like to extend special appreciations and gratitude to the “Stars” of the campaign; Serena C for “True Blue”, Azura Zainal for “Like A Virgin” and “Vogue”, Jenny Lee for “Ray of Light”, and Jay Menon for “Confessions on the Dance floor”. Fabulous make up was created by the Shu Uemura Black Book Artists, superb photography by
Bernard Ooi of Dreamz Studio, fantastic fashion styling by Peter Lum and our talented hairdressers at The Met KL- Emil Khor, Alex Yap, Teng Wong and the team of assistants.
Thank you.
The Met KL
03-21481111
How about the Singapore Airlines way - “Service even other airlines talk about”
How important is service in our hair salons? How do you know that you are currently providing excellent service to your customers? What does impeccable service really mean?
These are the questions we need to constantly ask ourselves, to remind ourselves that we are indeed in the service industry. That we are not the only salon in Malaysia, that all our customers deserve the best. “The Best” does not necessary mean serving the most expensive coffee, selling the most expensive products, using designer chairs like Philip Stark or even creating a very luxurious ambience. To my personal expectations, it is actually pretty simple and cheap! There are certain formulations to achieving great service - service even other salons talk about.
Formulation 1- Learn how to acknowledge.
We must greet and respect people's effort for walking into our salon no matter what their intentions are or who they are. All we need to say is a very simple “Hello” or “Welcome”; it is a gesture of appreciating their presence in our premise.
I have had an inexpensive learning experience while in Taiwan. I am amazed at their level of service wherever you go, from 7-11, retail shops, restaurants, cinemas, even the taxi drivers. It is a standard service procedure that has been ingrained in their culture. When I first arrived here a year ago, I actually found them annoying. Annoying, because as soon I enter any shops, they would loudly greet me, then speak non-stop, letting me know of their current promotions, suggestions etc. A year later, I am so used to being treated this way that I am actually experiencing culture shock in my own homeland, when I was back at Kuala Lumpur for a short break. I called it “Service Shock”!
The “Service Shock” began when I touched down at KLIA and headed straight to the duty free shop to get my favorite booze - Grey Goose Vodka. I entered the shop and for the very first time in a long time, I was greeted with nothing but total silence even though I was the only one at the shop and there were at least four employees on duty. There were all “busy” with their own work, just standing around the shop, but ironically they were all wearing a “service with a greet and smile” yellow badge. My thoughts returned to Taiwan immediately, and, although annoying, those gestures made me feel that I was at least being recognized and acknowledged as a potential customer.
Before boarding the plane in Taipei, I also went to the duty free shop to browse some liquors that may not be available in KL. Let me share with you that the entire experience was a 360 degrees turn about. I felt the energy and warmth, and that may lead to the impulsiveness to buy, as opposed to the duty free shop at KLIA which was extremely cold, thanks to not being greeted and acknowledged.
Formulation 2 – Use your soft skills
Have you heard that Malaysian graduates find it hard to get employment currently? Research shows that it is not because they are not qualified academically but rather due to a lack of soft skills. Soft skills are skills that we believed in, learn, practice and apply in our daily life, from work to personal time. To be genuinely caring, to have good listening skills, good problem solving skills, good communication, to provide suggestions and being able to express ourselves, debate, and find solutions are very important skills that we can all learn. The education system in schools these days is all about how many A's you can score, which leads to students with a lack of creativity and an inability to think out of the box. You may have a question to ask now right? Where do I learn all these soft skills? Well, you could start by identifying a mentor to learn from. I am sure you would have someone in your circle of friends, family or colleagues who maybe able to help. Mimic the way they speak, act and lead. Your job is to practice and apply it. The next best option is to make use of any salon product company that may have already providing these types of education. I have improved by leaps and bounds from the time spent working with my currently employer. It has helped me in my personal growth, given me thousands of opportunities to developing my career, and allows me to now help other hairdressers to achieve it too.
Formulation 3 – The Singapore Airlines way
There is a reason why Singapore Airlines is one of the most profitable airlines in the world today, and they are indeed qualified to use the tagline “service even other airlines talk about”.Their service concept is “the first”(you could also call it “kiasu”), to go the extra miles and give customers whatever they want.
They are the first airline in the world to purchase the latest A380 aircraft. Apart from that, as a passenger, I am always assured of having my own little screen for my entertainment whenever I fly. I always have doubts when I fly other airlines because some are still using the common screen monitor from the aircraft ceiling or using the portable DVD screen like the budget airlines. They are also the first airline in the world to offer flat beds on first class.
I have a very good friend who is a frequent flyer and he has experienced many other airlines throughout his time in the skies. He however noticed something very interesting at Singapore Airlines. He once said that this airline is the only airline that caters to thousands of special meal requests in each flight. “Special meals” means that you could ask for low fat, low carbs, seafood only, vegan only, white meat only etc. You name it, you have it! Now, that is the meaning of “going the extra mile and giving clients whatever they want”.
I also have a few other things I’ve learned to share with you. In Taiwan, if say you are looking at some clothes or shoes that you like at some shops with many outlets nationwide and you found out that they do not have your size here, they would first apologize and then offer to get stock from another outlet and suggest you to come back the next day. One shop even offered to send my purchase to my home. If this is not “going the extra mile, giving customer whatever they want” then what is? I had the same experience of my size being unavailable in a well known sports shop at The Gardens, but the staff just replied “sorry no stock”, kept quiet, and that was the end of communication.
So the next formulation is, whenever you say no or reject customers, whatever the reason maybe, offer options, suggestions, and solutions immediately. Customers will feel your sincerity in helping them and they will build your business when they talk about how good and professional you are.
Final Formulation – Thank you
This is the most basic lesson in manners that I am sure you have been applying; however, to help build your business, there is one more step that you could apply. Give a few of your name cards to each of your customers and ask him or her to refer some customers to you after you thank them for their business. There is a saying - we do not need to try 5000 different ways to make things work, but rather, practice something that works 5000 times.
The Met KL
+603-21481111
