Seven questions to ask a beauty salon before you sit down

You are about to let a stranger work on your face for two hours. You are allowed to ask questions first. A salon worth going to will not mind a single one of these.

1. What exactly is included at this price?

The most common unpleasant surprise in this industry is the bill. Ask what the number covers and what is extra. At Yana a gel manicure price includes cuticle care, cleaning, filing and colour; nail art is separate and we will tell you the figure before we start rather than after.

2. How do you sterilise your tools?

You should get a straight answer, not a vague one. Ask whether anything touching you is single-use, and how the rest is cleaned between guests. Hesitation here is worth walking out over.

3. What happens if I am not happy with the result?

Ask before, not after. Find out whether there is a correction, what the window is, and whether it costs anything. If the answer is "that never happens", that is not an answer.

4. Is aftercare included, or extra?

For lashes this is the difference between a fair price and an expensive one. If a refill session is charged separately, the real price is higher than the one advertised. Ours includes one free refill within the first 7 days.

5. Can I see healed work, not just fresh work?

Anything looks good in the hour after it is done. Ask to see photos taken weeks later. Healed brows, grown-out nails, lashes at week three — that is where technique shows.

6. Will you tell me if a service is wrong for me?

Ask directly. The answer tells you what kind of place you are in. A salon that sells you whatever you walked in asking for is a shop; a salon that occasionally talks you out of something is a studio.

7. Who is doing my treatment, and can I come back to the same person?

In a large chain the answer is often no, and you start again with someone new each time. In a single-studio salon like ours, the person who takes care of you today is here next month, and they remember what worked.

And one thing to check without asking

Read the one and two star reviews, not the five star ones. Five star reviews tell you a place can have a good day. The low ones tell you what happens on a bad day and how the salon responded — which is far more useful.

If a salon is uncomfortable answering these, that is your answer. You are not being difficult; you are being sensible about your own face.