Despite my years covering the spa and salon worlds, I hold a low opinion of most industry-based reality shows. The truth is, most of them cover hair salons, which are always dramatic and only illustrate one side of this multifaceted industry. So I was surprised on a cross-country flight late last year to find myself mesmerized by a episode of Tabatha’s Salon Takeover on Bravo. (The show’s second season has just started airing on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. Eastern/9 p.m. Central.) “Tabatha” refers to Tabatha Coffey (at left), a 25-year industry veteran who brings her no-nonsense Australian attitude and expertise in—yes, of course—hairstyling and coloring to ailing salons in the United States.

Her assignment? Turn the facility’s fortunes around in one week. And in this economy, that’s no small feat.

A portion of the show involves Tabatha’s critiquing the stylists’ technique, but the remainder seems to be quite helpful for day spa owners and beauty professionals of all stripes. I’ve only seen a few episodes of the show, but they’ve all followed the same format. Tabatha first enters the salon armed with surveillance footage of the employees, which always seems to shock the owners and prompt a meeting between management and stylists. That ends with an announcement that Tabatha is taking over the salon for a week; all appointments have been canceled, she’s now the boss, etc. Tabatha meets the next morning with the employees to hear their side of the story, then brings in clients whom she’s hired so she can get a glimpse of how everyone works. She pinpoints problems from there and begins to tackle them, no matter if they’re management-based or can be fixed from the bottom up.

When it gets close to the grand reopening, there’s of course a makeover for the facility itself, but also a challenge for the stylists. They have to go out and drum up business for themselves on the streets. It’s not always a pleasant time for everyone, but it’s great to see them pushing beyond their comfort zones.

The show certainly has its weaknesses; I felt particularly bad for the receptionist at Candolyn’s Salon & Day Spa in downtown Los Angeles after Tabatha reprimanded her again and again for not possessing the best customer service skills. Where was the training to make sure she received those skills? (Of course, I may be a little sensitive–I’ve been that receptionist before.)

But I do think it would be a worthwhile show to watch just to observe the reactions of the employees in the face of Tabatha’s sometimes blistering questions. Some revert to eye-rolling adolescence on the spot, while others freeze up and stammer an answer, instantly forgetting their years of training and education. It’s not worthwhile because it’s entertaining; it’s worthwhile because it’s not. I suspect that we can all recognize little pieces of ourselves in these employees who let their insecurities get the better of them. By the end of the week, the stylists have reassured themselves that they did know what they were doing, and Tabatha’s methods—while heavy-handed and occasionally confusing—have succeeded. They show that we all need to have faith in our abilities so when we do come under fire, we don’t immediately feel like we have to defend ourselves. We need to trust our work to speak for itself.

But the rest of us don’t have a Tabatha to come around and show us the cracks in our foundations. So while it might seem silly to regain confidence just by watching a TV show, it doesn’t hurt to try, does it? —Allison Rost

Above image: © Bravo, Photo: Mitch Haaseth

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 12th, 2009 at 2:51 pm and is filed under Editors' Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.