I'm a Millennial. I remember before.

I remember making someone a mixtape. Finger hovering over the record button, waiting for your song to come on the radio, starting over if the DJ talked through the intro. I remember Blockbuster on a Friday night, and the agony of the one you wanted being rented out. I remember the September JCPenney catalog, circling back-to-school clothes with a pen.

Back then, getting something that felt made just for you was rare. It was a little bit of magic.

Here's what I can't stop thinking about: there is an entire generation sitting down in our chairs who never had that "before." And it's quietly changing what it takes to win them.

She's Not a Future Guest. She's Already Here.

We love to call Gen Alpha "the next generation." But the oldest of them are about 13 right now, and they are already beauty consumers. Tweens are spending billions on beauty and skincare every year, more than any other age group. The 10-year-old in your chair already has a routine, a wishlist, and opinions about brands.

So this isn't a someday conversation. It's a right-now one.

And it matters more than it might seem, because this generation's spending influence is projected to reach trillions within the next few years. The habits they form about where they feel seen, and where they don't, are forming in your chair today.

To Her, Personalization Isn't a Perk. It's the Floor.

This is the part I really want salon owners to sit with.

Gen Alpha has never known a world that wasn't built around them:

• Spotify knows their taste before they finish picking a song.
• Netflix lines up the next show before the credits roll.
• Amazon knows what they need before they search for it.
• Their For You page is a mirror. Their group chat is sorted and ranked. Even the ads know the exact lip gloss they've been eyeing.

For my generation, that kind of personalization felt like magic. For her, it isn't magic. It isn't a feature, a luxury, or a treat.

It's the floor.

It's the baseline she's quietly measuring your salon against before she's said a single word. So when she walks in and gets booked with whoever had a Saturday opening, handed a generic consultation, and offered the same retail as the guest before her, she doesn't think, "This is fine." She feels that something is off. The room didn't bend toward her the way every other room in her life does.

That gap, between the experience she expects everywhere else and the one she gets at the salon, is the whole opportunity.

You're Not Winning One Guest. You're Winning Two.

Here's the part that changes the math: when a 12-year-old sits in your chair, you're never winning one person. You're winning two generations at once.

• Mom is the bank. She pays, and she has to trust you with her daughter.
• The kid is the buyer. She actually chooses, and she has to think you're worth coming back to.

Win both, or you quietly lose both. There's no winning just one.

And the parent's influence runs deeper than we give it credit for. Most parents say they discover new brands through their kids, and the majority are more likely to buy a product because of them. That display of kids' product on your shelf isn't a side note. Nearly half of those purchases start with the youngest person in the room.

So the kid in your chair isn't a "someday" client. She's the front door to an entire household. Today.

Get the First Match Right, and It's Not a Haircut. It's 20 Years.

Think about what that first appointment actually is.

Get the match right (the right stylist, the right communication, the right pace for that kid) and you don't have a client. You have a relationship that compounds. The first real haircut. The first balayage. Homecoming. Senior pictures. One day, her wedding.

Get it wrong, and here's what stings: you don't just lose the kid. You lose the mom too. And they almost never tell you why. They just don't rebook.

A perfect first match isn't a bonus. It's the foundation.

Which means the consultation matters more than ever, and it's changed. The new consultation isn't "tell me what you want." It's a translation. A 12-year-old sits down, mom's in the corner half-scrolling, and the kid pulls out her phone with a video already cued up: "I need a dimensional cowboy copper balayage. And we need to use a bond builder."

The salons that win her are the ones who can meet that fluency: take her seriously, translate it into a service and a plan, and make her feel like the expert she already believes she is. The kid respects you. Mom silently thanks you.

You're Not Competing With the Algorithm. You're the Antidote to It.

We keep framing this generation as "too online" for us to reach. I think we have it backwards.

Her entire world is personalized, matched, and algorithmic. Every screen already knows her. So the rarest, most valuable thing you can offer isn't another perfectly tailored feed.

It's a real person who remembers her name, her last color, and the show she won't stop talking about.

For everything the screens give her, this generation is starving for the real thing: hands-on places to go that aren't home or school, and a person who actually knows her. That's not your weakness against the algorithm. That's the one thing the algorithm can never do.

You're not competing with it. You're the antidote to it.

Your Next Step

You don't have to overhaul your salon this week. Pick one thing:

• Audit your new-guest experience through her eyes. From the booking to the consultation to the retail handoff, where does it feel generic instead of made-for-her?
• Treat the consultation as a translation, not an interview. Take the kid's references seriously. Repeat them back. Make her feel understood, not managed.
• Win the room, not just the chair. Speak to the kid and the parent. Hand the product to the kid, look her in the eye, and let mom watch her daughter be taken seriously.
• Protect the first match. It's the difference between one appointment and a 20-year relationship.

Small, intentional shifts, done consistently, are what turn a first-time tween into a lifetime guest.

Final Thought

The most valuable guest your salon will ever have might be ten years old right now. She's grown up in a world that bends to her, and she can feel, instantly, whether yours does too.

The salons that figure this out won't just gain a client.

They'll gain a generation.

About The Author:Danielle Anderson is the Head of Marketing at mya, a client recruitment and marketing platform built specifically for beauty and wellness pros. Before mya, she spent years running operations behind the chair, from inventory and team coaching to (yes) unclogging the backbar sink. She spoke on winning Gen Alpha at Salon Today's Data-Driven Salon Summit this year.

Follow @join_mya on Instagram.