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THE MADAM C. J. WALKER SCHOOLS

Close contact with your sister beauticians will make for ways and means of working out what ever problems may affect you jointly a comparatively easy matter. Prices may be agreed upon, hours for opening and closing decided, salary or commission scales for operators established, etc., and once agreed upon the ethics of beauty culture should demand adherence to them rigidly. 

It is beneath the ethics of good practice of the profession to "knock" a rival shop owner or operator. 

It is quite unethical to seek by unfair means to entice trade from another shop or another booth in the same shop.

It is unfair to deliberately undersell.

It is untruthful to publish or make misleading and extravagant claims for your services or merchandise.

It is unsportsmanlike to be envious or jealous of another's success. 

Remember, business is like a game. We play it cleanly, honestly, truthfully, never resorting to unethical, unfair, underhand means to win.

ADVICE TO SHOP OWNERS

Do not fall into disfavor by cutting prices below the other shops. It may be permissible to give special offers now and then as a business booster, but to make your entire price scale permanently lower than your competitor's is a virtual admission of inferior workmanship.

In your relationship with other shop owners, if there happens to be no hairdressers' association or club in your city or locality, do not be afraid to discuss your work, your methods and your ideas with your sister operator. An exchange is always fair, and oftimes great benefit is derived. 

If your education is limited, improve and advance yourself by study. Study hygiene, read good books, and keep well informed. While costumers do not come to your shop to be entertained, far from that, you are expected to be able to give an intelligent answer to almost any practical question. 

Caution your operators and take heed yourself, lest you find yourself discussing personal and private affairs with your patrons. If the patron is inclined to talk, let her direct the trend of the conversation, for, in the end, she will admire you for your tact and refusal to gossip. 

TEN COMMANDMENTS OF THE BEAUTY OPERATOR

1. Be considerate of the property as well as the feelings of others.
2. Love your business. This will lighten your labor, make you

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forget the clock, bring improvement to your patron and bring money to you.
3. Do not be boastful, but be sure of your ability.
4. Go about your work silently, accurately and with confidence. The patron relies on the assurance that she is in competent hands.
5. Whether at work or at play, live above reproach. 
6. Do not cut prices or hold enmity against your competitor. Remember, every knock is a boost.
7. Do not neglect to advertise. If you do not advertise, your competitor will. 
8. Keep your shop windows attractive and keep up-to-date.
9. Keep yourself and your operators clean and your shop freshly decorated.
10. See that you have a full supply of Madam C. J. Walker's Preparations at all times and remember that a sale to each customer is more money for you. 

PROPER CONDUCT OF A BEAUTY SHOP

A beauty parlor or shop should be a place of rest, peace, improvement and enjoyment. It is therefore most important that each room and booth should be a spot of beauty, breathing forth purity, cleanliness, inspiring the customer with the beauties of creation rather than the hard, cold facts of the world. 

The patron comes to you to rest, and to be improved. She leaves the chatter and the noise of the nursery, the drudgery of housework, and the worries of business, to come to you and relax, to be soothed and to be made beautiful.

Your freshly decorated walls, your clean windows and clean curtains from which shine warmth and sunlight; the odor of your chosen perfume, your windows tastefully decorated, well-watered ferns and palms placed here and there, your spotless uniform and your snow white towels and hair cloths surround your patron with an atmosphere of peace, beauty, purity and restfulness which will compensate her for seeking your shop after a hard or nerve-racking day at her home or office. 

EQUIPPING A BEAUTY SHOP

A well-equipped beauty shop is provided with plenty of windows for air and sunlight, individual operating booth, a reception room and a shop kitchen or laboratory. The Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company will give expert advice to any and all operators who contemplate opening a new shop or improving an old one. This service is free and is the result of many year's successful operation of a chain of popular shops. 

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