Learning stylist

[Nadira]

Might be a quite stupid question but:
How do you teach a playable sim stylist qualifications without spoiling the faces of your whole neighborhood?

[J. M. Pescado]

If you do not have a home business, you can mutilate your friends and family members instead. Other than mutilating somebody, though, there's no way to practice this. Why not practice mutilation on Sim-Gali? She deserves it.

[gali]

 

If you do not have a home business, you can mutilate your friends and family members instead. Other than mutilating somebody, though, there's no way to practice this. Why not practice mutilation on Sim-Gali? She deserves it.

Thanks for the advise, JMP - very funny...

Nadira, first, take your sims to the salon community shop, and if you have the Merola's Mirror, select the stylist and see what are her skillings. This way you can know which skills to maximize.
 
Without cheats - I think that you have in OFB the "selectable" option too - make the stylist selectable and write down her personality traits and skills.

Logically, the makeovers demand high creativity and cleaning skills. Your stylist will have to increase too her mechanical skills. Besides, your stylist has to be with high neat points.

The Guide write this:

Cosmetology

No badge - high failure rate, clumsy animation.
Bronze - lower failure rate, faster work, more flourishes.
Silver - lower failure rate, faster work, more flourishes.
Gold - lowest failure rate, fastest work, most elaborate flourishes. Customer gets Hygiene boost.

I wouldn't touch a customer without creativity/cleaning/mechanical maxed skills, but hire an employee with at least silver badget, while your sim studies meanwhile.
Then begin to practice the makeovers, and you will possibly succeed.

You can save the game before each makeover, and if you created a "monster", exit without save, and try again, or study more....

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

[Karen]

There is a "no bad makeovers" hack available at MTS2.  It seems to work pretty well.

Karen

[Motoki]

I don't think the skills make a difference and even if they did, only cleaning matters (according to the guide) and only in the sense that it supposedly makes the time it takes to get a badge go up faster, but Pescado has already said they were wrong about logic making the register badge go up any faster so that may be the case here again (I know *gasp* the Prima guide being wrong. Who would  have guessed?)

If you don't want to cheat and use that hack, and Squinge has a whole range of hacks over there to make a perfect shop where everything runs perfectly and nothing ever goes wrong  , then do what Pescado says, practice on family and friends with free makeovers. It shouldn't take long to at least get bronze. And you can easily fix the mess ups by either giving them a makeover again until you get it right or just use the vanity mirror from university to give them a makeover to fix them as it has no possibly of failure. There's no need to make anyone selectable, though if it's a family member they can also just go to a mirror themselves to fix a bad makeover.

Remember, even with a failed makeover you are stilling gaining skill so it's not a waste.

[Nadira]

Thanks a lot for your advices (Pescados was just what I had expected, that´s what I love about this site ...).
My sytliste is already a senior and has maxed or nearly maxed all of her skill so it should not be that (but one never knows ...). I have already run on squinges hacks and downloaded them, but usually I do no like cheating except in emergency situations. But I like Motokis suggestion of the vanity mirror - stupid that I did not think of that myself! As I do not want to spoil the carefully designed makeups of my family members, that sounds a good option! Thanks!

[Ancient Sim]

In my game, Dina Goth runs the Bluewater Salon.  When I'm controlling her, her makeovers are perfect (as the makeover thingy comes up), but the only one she's done off her own bat (when I sent a Sim to her store on an outing) was a total failure (the Sim looked like a clown).  Luckily I knew how to get rid of it, but I noticed that the make-up used isn't available in the appearance changer thingy.

If neatness is important, I've picked the wrong sim in Dina, she only has 2 neat points.  And she's so lazy all she wants to do is lounge on the sofas or soak in the hot tub anyway.  Even when I max out her comfort she still wants to lounge on the sofa. 

[KellyQ]

I would just like to see someone actually PAY for a makeover. I've opened two salons so far and not once has someone actually paid to have a makeover.

[Riez Forester]

You need to ahve 2 people working on that. Assign one as a stylist, while the others charm the buyers using the sales social. Once the 'bling' sound heard, the stylist will gave the customer a makeover and you'll get paid. I think you sometimes receive tips (or maybe i've seen doube money sign).

[KellyQ]

Tried that, didn't work.

[Jysudo]

 you cannot have distractions in ur salon. You need to put ur salon chairs in a private room away from other ware you are peddling. That *might* make the sim concentrate on the salon chair instead of the other stuff.

[notovny]

Does anyone know of a hack that maintains the rection and results of the bad makeover, but  leaves the appearance of the Sim the same?

[Liss]

I built my first home salon tonight, and you have to assign one sim to the chair, "be stylist."  eventually one of the customers will come look at the chair, and the buy bar will be over their head.


you CAN (if you are quick) have your stylist sim work on sales at the same time.  You go to the sim with the buy bar, give them sales pitch, and IMMEDIATELY click "be stylist" again.  This is much easier with 2 sims though.  One to be the stylist and one to handle sales.

[Riez Forester]

I also noticed that if you have a chair in your saloon, and no stylist yet, those 'bling' customer will sit at the chair and wait for a stylist to be assigned.

[Nadira]

I have now set up my styliste at home where there is also a plant and gardening shop.
1) Astonishingly after this first bad series that made me start this thread, she did not spoil any more customers, although she has not yet earned the bronce badge
2) Customers are only interested in buying, not in getting restyled. On my business lots (residential or community) buying any kind of items overruels everything, even piano-playing, whirlpool, coffeedrinking or other usually addictive habits.
3) I made my styliste offer restylings to the customers visiting the gardening shop part of the business to get some practice and customer stars. At first I thought she would not earn money by that because there was no bying action of the customers and no "ping" (well of course, it´s supposed to be a free makeover!!!), but then I noticed that immediately after finishing a restyling successfully a plus of > 400 simeoleons showed over her head (where shortly before there had been a minus of some 200 whatever for - materials?). There was no selling/restocking action at the other part of the business at that time, so it should not have been money from the gardening business showing over her head (she is the owner). Has anyone else observed this?
The combined businesses have only reached level 2 by now (I have not yet been playing them long), but only have minor financial losses, so I (wrongly ) supposed there must be some income from the styliste too. But I am irritated - reading this and other threads on styling I am not yet really understanding this whole business. And why is it rated so low compared to buying items? It should be the same kind of sell and buy action, but yet in my game this is not the case.

[shezoe]

I don't think the skills make a difference and even if they did, only cleaning matters (according to the guide) and only in the sense that it supposedly makes the time it takes to get a badge go up faster, but Pescado has already said they were wrong about logic making the register badge go up any faster so that may be the case here again (I know *gasp* the Prima guide being wrong. Who would  have guessed?)

If you don't want to cheat and use that hack, and Squinge has a whole range of hacks over there to make a perfect shop where everything runs perfectly and nothing ever goes wrong  , then do what Pescado says, practice on family and friends with free makeovers. It shouldn't take long to at least get bronze. And you can easily fix the mess ups by either giving them a makeover again until you get it right or just use the vanity mirror from university to give them a makeover to fix them as it has no possibly of failure. There's no need to make anyone selectable, though if it's a family member they can also just go to a mirror themselves to fix a bad makeover.

Remember, even with a failed makeover you are stilling gaining skill so it's not a waste.

yeah-i don't think it's a waste either. i just try to be "selective" in who i have them practice on so i can easily fix them or i don't care cuz they are a townie that has nothing to do with my sims.  seems like the only thing fun about ofb is the challenge of "getting somewhere" in your business, so i try not to cheat (umm-TOO bad-ahem) unless it's something really dumb and pointless-like the maid following you all around the house to complain at you when your shop is CLOSED for cryin' out loud 

[Regina]

I'm trying to decide if a salon would be a good business for a geeky little half-alien girl who's always trying to be hip! LOL

Anyhow, please keep posting the tips because I haven't tried this yet and a half-hour spent reading this board sometimes saves me hours of trouble in my game!

[Nadira]

... so I (wrongly ) supposed there must be some income from the styliste too.

I am ashamed! I posted stupidities! I deserve my lips being ripped off! Of course a free makeover is just that - free, no money earned at all.
It was wishful thinking. I had hoped OFB to conform to my expectations. I was wrong. Customers do not buy restylings as long as there is a any object item to buy on the lot. If you want to have a successful stylingbusiness, you must not have any distraction in your saloon.
It´s boring. I consider reverting to NL. Or just quitting the game and play something sensible, logical and intelligent ...

[DMDye]

If you 'spoil' a face, you can always choose another 'free makeover', after a couple of 'free' makeovers you get to choose... if you choose a Whole Face Mask, and then Unselect it, the Sim goes back to his/her original look. I did this a couple of weeks ago, but had a 10-day-work-week after that...  and now I'm getting sick! I'm sure it's *at least* pretty close to this to fix things - maybe this weekend I can double-check for you; or look up something of the sort elsewhere.