PROStylists interviewed Joshua Altback, Owner of Joshua Altback Hairdressing & Beauty in North-West London and Ambassador for The Crown Pro Treatments.
What do you personally consider the biggest benefits of using The Crown Pro Smoothing System - why do you use them?
It’s much more of a versatile product, so it can be used in so many different ways compared to normal keratin products – with The Crown Pro Treatments you can use different solutions on different parts of the hair as needed to suit the client. The Crown scent is far less noticeable that the other systems we have used, and it does not create as much “steam” during the ironing stage.
As a specialist, you have used many other smoothing/straightening products - how does The Crown Pro Smoothing System compare?
For our region, we position ourselves as a “Smoothing & Straightening” specialist salon. We do have some lower cost smoothing options but they typically do not last more than a few months so we position The Crown as truly “permanent” and have found many people prefer to pay once for a truly permanent result.
Do you offer a consultation and how do you select which Crown Lotion No. to use with a client?
We always consult for a Crown treatment. You need to know the client’s hair history- porosity/condition/colour etc- this makes all the difference to what product you would use and how long to leave it on for. We try and do a consultation on the phone or via WhatsApp- but they can also come in.
There are 4 main Crown Lotion No’s to cater for different types of Frizz or Curl… but you can also bespoke a Crown formula to achieve the exact result required by the customer.
What feedback do you get from your clients?
They all say it’s the best treatment they’ve had.
The difference is always how The Crown will make it straight permanently (and we are talking up to 6 months) provided that you work on the sections and follow each stage accurately and select the right Treatment option for that particular type of hair & client. Roots will always grow through so if clients did come back after a couple of months you could just apply this to their roots, and the rest MAY still be intact from the original treatment.
You can really personalise this treatment for every client which is what we love so much.
Is there a single stage of the application that you consider most critical?
NO! Every stage is critical. With this type of treatment, it is the attention to detail that will get you the results.
Anything we should be aware of in the application and process?
The Crown must be applied using a tint brush & bowl. The product is more of a liquid and when you get to number 2 it is really liquidy! So, for example if we had a client whose hair was coloured and really curly and she wanted it straight we would either use half of 0 and half of 1 and just put it into a bowl and use that.
Do you think salons would need an education course to use this product?
I do think that the knowledge is so important and understanding how to use this is vital… You need to understand how each product works on different hair and when to use a mixture of the products.
Would you ever mix the 4 together?
No, but if the hair was very damaged at the ends, and if the roots were different, you could do number 1 or number 1 Forte on the roots and mid-lengths and then number 2 on the ends to create a bespoke treatment for your client’s hair-type.
How long do you expect the results of the treatment to last?
It depends on multiple factors: how often do clients wash their hair, what products they use, if they are constantly using hot irons on it and damaging it, using conditioner on it instead of a mask, swimming lots, using products with sulphates (would strip it quicker), these types of things will contribute to it not lasting as long.
The best-case scenario is that clients use all the products (shampoo, conditioner, mask, serum) then it should last 6 months. But if you are not using it as a straightening treatment but a de-frizz treatment instead then I don’t think it would last the full 6 months.
Do you advise a client on how often to shampoo their hair, or give them any other advice?
Yes, absolutely. We always say “You’ve had a great treatment now use great products to look after it… Don’t use rubbish products that you can buy from a chemist etc. Use the products that are designed to go with it- because these are the products which will make it last the longest. AND always use a mask!” We always try and encourage the clients to buy the right products from us.
Do you have any advice on how to price this treatment?
We charge from £400-£600 for this treatment, but we do give a 10% discount for your first visit and treatment with The Crown.
We would generally price on the thickness, the length & amount of product that you use + how much you charge per hour for your employee’s time.
This is a bespoke pricing system and treatment because if someone has fine, non-frizzy hair this may take 2 hours but if the hair is really thick it may take you 3 hours and don’t forget that the shampooing must take place in the salon afterwards. We are thinking of offering a slightly cheaper price if someone just wants to use it as a treatment to take out the frizz (this will take slightly less time to do because you are ironing it less).
We try to charge about £80 per hour plus the product, but different salons will obviously charge different amounts depending on where in the UK they are based.
So on your menu what would we see/ how is this listed?
The Crown treatment from £400+, we don’t allow people to book online because it’s just too difficult to do that.
You work a lot with keratin straightening treatments, is there any feedback you get from new customers or prospective customers about why they weren’t happy with previous products?
Mainly longevity and hair quality and this is probably to do with both the products and who has done it. If they go somewhere cheap, it will probably last a month and we get a lot of that. A lot of people say “it hardly worked”, “it lasted a month” and “they damaged my hair”. So, we have a lot of customers who have tried many different options… Different treatments, different salons, different products and then they come to us and they try The Crown and they are hooked! They will spend the money because they know it is just a much better product.
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