Photo by Pete Tangen
Tabatha rose to fame as the edgy, villainess on Bravos'
Shear Genius and although she was eliminated in week six for not being a team
player, the fans adored her. In fact she took home the $10,000 Fan Favorite
prize at the end of her season. And it is that attitude that keeps her fans
flocking back to Tabatha's Salon Takeover. Since she has only one week to
transform the fledgling businesses into functioning, pleasant work
environments, she does not hold back on her criticism of the salon owners or
employees, driving many to tears.
We spoke with Tabatha in a recent conference call about taking
the emotions personally, learning from her experiences and having a stripper
pole in a salon.
Tune in to season three of Tabatha's Salon
Takeover premiering on Monday, December 6 at 10 p.m. EST/9 p.m.
Central on Bravo.
Q: In the upcoming season who was the craziest salon owner?
TABATHA: They’re all a little crazy in their own way but I
think my craziest salon this season was definitely when we went to Provincetown.
It had a lot of challenges and I have never in my life seen a stripper pole in
the middle of a salon. So that was definitely my crazy moment of season three…
walking into a salon that was 450 square feet, so it was incredibly small, and
smack in the middle was a stripper pole where clients were encouraged to dance
for dollars that they would get. For every minute they spent on the pole they’d
get a dollar off their haircut. It didn’t work as well as the owner anticipated
strangely enough. I actually saw clients fleeing out of the salon when they
were offered to get on the stripper pole and dance to get money off their
product sales or their haircuts. So it wasn’t a great marketing tactic at all.
There was a lot of crazy. You know, a lot of things stand
out. You’ll see in the premier episode I actually stayed overnight at one of the
salons I took over… Two sisters are primary owners of the salon but they
actually have their other two sisters working in the salon so it’s a real
family business. And they just brought way too much family drama into their
salon. And I needed to see how they interacted with each other at home because
they really treated the salon like they were at home. So I actually turned up
at their house with a little rolly suitcase and stayed the night in their house
with them. So that was a whole new experience for me and a whole new experience
for them. They were absolutely gobsmacked that I stayed the night at their
house and slept on their sofa.
Another salon I took over was actually a children’s salon so
that was something new and something that viewers haven’t seen is Tabatha in a
children’s salon for a week. And tackling the issues of doing children’s hair
and trying to increase the business for them.
Q: When salon owners or employees don’t react kindly to you,
do you ever take it personally?
TABATHA: I don’t take it personally. It frustrates me as you
all see. I don’t hide my frustration very well that’s for sure. I don’t take it
personally because it is business and I am there trying to help. And I also
understand that I have a very small window of time that I’m with these people.
And there are a lot of problems that I need to get to the bottom of. So I don’t
sugarcoat things. I’m very direct in my approach with people. So I don’t take
it personally as I don’t want them to take it personally. It really is done in
a tough love way and a way of helping them see what they need to do to change
and get them back on track.
Q: You are a very confident woman. Is that a skill that you
learned or do you feel that’s something that’s inherent to your personality?
TABATHA: That’s a great question. I think it’s both. When I
was younger I obviously didn’t have the same confidence. I think definitely
confidence comes from age and experience. And I also think it comes from caring
about what you do. I think when you’re really passionate about what you do and
truly love it and want to embrace all the facets of it, it helps to build your
confidence. So I think it’s a little of both. I have become more confident
through the years but when it comes to my hairdressing I was always very
confident with that because… I’ve always wanted to be a hairdresser and I truly
loved every facet of the industry. So that made me confident and got me through
any rough patches of my training experience when I was young.
Q: Is there one thing from season to season that you find
the salon owners are consistently doing wrong?
TABATHA: I think a lot of salon owners just become
overwhelmed and give up. Any business that you have to manage and any time
you’re in charge of people whether you’re an owner or a manager, it’s a
constant reiteration of rules and constantly staying on top of things to make
sure things are done the way you want them to be done in your business. And I
think a lot of owners consistently feel bad telling people how they want things
done or they feel like they’re babysitting and they don’t want to be active in
their business. And that seems to be something that runs all the way through. So
instead of being proactive and jumping in there and getting their hands dirty
or making sure people are following through, they kind of throw their hands up
and give up a little bit. And then things just spiral out of control from
there.
Q: Is there anything that you’ve learned in doing the show
that you’ve applied to your own professional experiences?
TABATHA: Absolutely. I learn all the time… I think every
problem that I see in salons [are] such typical business problems especially to
hairdressing salons but any customer service business. So when I walk into
other people’s businesses I’m always fully aware [that] I need to make sure
that whether it’s saying "thank you" to my staff enough and making
sure that they feel valued or making sure clients are getting a great
experience and keeping on top of our game. Sometimes it’s just even realizing
that you need to step back for a minute and take a break so that you don’t feel
overwhelmed. So for me it’s always a learning experience and something that
helps me keep myself on my toes and hopefully the rest of the business owners
that I go in and visit.
Q: What is the most important piece of advice you would give
to a stylist who is opening a salon for the very first time?
TABATHA: I think if a stylist is opening a business for the
first time it’s really preparation… I think anyone who opens a business thinks
I’m great at what I do and that’s enough to carry me through. But it’s really
making sure that you have a great, solid business plan, that you have your
finances in place, that you have a company statement, that you’ve thought about
the location, you’ve thought about the demographic of your clients. So that’s
my biggest key advice to anyone that opens a business. It’s great to have a
great skill and a passion for what you do, but you need to make sure that
you’ve really laid it out on paper and have a true vision of what you want your
business to be and what you want it to become, so that you can sustain yourself
all the way through.
Q: What in your opinion makes a successful salon?
TABATHA: In the salon industry you need to have talent. You
need to have the goods. So you need to be a good hairdresser. You need to make
sure that you keep on top of your education so you have the skill set to
deliver to your clients. And we’re a customer service profession. So it is all
about the client. It’s all about the client experience and making sure that the
salon is clean and the client is taken care of and they do feel pampered and relaxed
and taken care of and beautiful for that hour, two hours, three hours that
they’re in the salon. And to me I think that’s what people sometimes forget
that we’re there to serve clients.
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