Will this feeling ever go away

[user 31754]

ok i have just gone over the 1 year qualified benchmark, and i expected to feel different. everyone says the first year is the hardest.

i still get that feeling when i know i have a client booked in. I still wake up and feel worried that I have clients booked in. I love doing hair, but i panic knowing i have to do a client, specially if they are new.

will this feeling ever go away? or am i completely in the wrong career? i get worried that it means i'm not cut out for this career.

i just expected it to be like magic and as soon as i hit the 1 year mark i'd get over it.

 

[wonderwoman]

aww dont second guess yourself! I used to panic all the time when i first qualified and your right, you do feel the butterflies...whether they like it or not!

I used to feel so overwhelmed am i doing a skin test/strand test following protocal etc I used to get so stress out over little things thinkin, do they see that im newly qualified etc but seriously i think you get more and more confident as the years go on!

Big hug and ull be able to perserve! xoxo

ps i still do get it a good couple years on! especially if they are new!!! (",)

 

[persianista]

Yes it does go away. Eventually you get to the stage where nothing frightens or fazes you.It takes a long time to be a confident stylist, a year is no time at all so don't be too hard on yourself. Keep watching other stylists and keep up your professional development with courses as these things will help your confidence grow.

 

[HairSquared]

Are you continuing to educate and enlighten yourself? Do you watch videos on youtube or anything? If your interest in the career is there, and its just inexperience thats causing your nerves, dont feel bad. I think most of us have been there. Theres no set time, its a confidence that comes with experience and you will set your own pace. Fill yourself with information, as knowledge will breed understanding, and it is all learning from there. If you ever find yourself not wanting education, then i'd worry, but not before. Hang in there.

 

[user 31754]

OMG i have soooo many books and dvds i think i might have to get insurance to cover them all lol you all know how expensive they are. I have spent literally thousands of hours watching and reading them. I have the passion one million percent, was just worried that this feeling meant i wasn't the right type of person to be a hairdresser. maybe i just need to be a little bit more patient, and it may not help that i just changed salons in the last month

 

[NeelieGel]

Ah bless. I started my training back in the 1980s. I was nervous then too. Most of the time. I still get a bit apprehensive about new clients now. And I do think about what I have done after the client has gone. Was it the best I could do. Sometimes I feel really pleased with what I have done and sometimes I think it wasn't quite perfect.

My personal view is that if you get too confident you might get careless or complacent. We should never stop learning no matter how long we've been in the business. I work on my own and I go to the Sassoon Academy every couple of years to see what is going on and get a bit of a refresher. I feel really strange doing that as I am usually at least 20 years older than all the other students, but it gives my confidence a boost. Often, if I'm passing a salon where I can see a stylist working, I might watch for a while, that is as long as I don't start looking like some kind of stalker!! When I go to get my hair cut I arrive a early and sit and watch the stylists working for a while (they know I'm a hairdresser so let me off). I go to Sassoons in Central London so it is a good opportunity to see some really creative stuff there too. When I no longer want to do that I will give up hairdressing for good. Seeing someone who clearly cares about how good you are at your chosen profession is heartwarming.

 

[Lynne Baker]

I still get performance anxiety regularly! I fret and worry about whether I can do it (whatever IT might be), but then the client arrives and I kinda swing into action.
When I've done a microderm/peel I worry afterwards that despite being given written aftercare advice I'm going to have a client ring up and flap at me for having peeling skin!

Confidence comes with experience, and there's no college course you can attend that can teach you 10 years' experience, unfortunately!
Stick with it. Keep learning, keep doing your best, keep caring.

 

[mannipatch]

I don't believe it ever goes away. I still think to myself - is that the best I could have done, is there anything else I could have done to be better etc. I don't think there is anything wrong with this because in my experience it is this mentality that keeps the clients because you are striving to always do the best you can do. When people get too confident about their abilities they get complacent, there will always be someone somewhere better. I really don't like it when I see therapists (and there are a few) being arrogant and treating the public like they know nothing. Joe public is very well educated now with magazines, tv and internet. They are not stupid but I fear the over confident and under qualified therapist is because with her arrogance she puts the client off therefore she or he is the one losing the clients. I have never lost a client, I have always answered questions truthfully and if I did'nt know the answer I told them so and that I will find out. I don't bluff my way and I can see right through a bluffer. In my opinion you will go a long way because you have a little humility and that can be short on the ground now with all the hype about being confident. Yes confident in your abilities is good but over confidence in my opinion is bad. Look at x-factor lol