Hairdressers. Why do you do it? Anyone else?

I now have a hairdresser that I know and trust. I was traumatised in my early 20's when I went for a cut before heading out to a Big Party (full of people I wanted to impress). I asked for a short, punky style and came out looking like Jane Torvill, so bouffant that it was surprising I could get through the door. It did not suit me or my face and I spent years avoiding having my hair cut after that.

My DM said she’d treat me to whatever hair treatment I liked so after a consultation at a local reputable salon I was booked in for a body wave perm so I could “wash and go”. My hair is thick and has a natural wave so the hairdresser said she wouldn’t need to leave the solution on for too long. DH dropped me off and I sat down, gown on to be told the hairdresser was sick so someone else was doing my hair but had been briefed about what I wanted.
I should have left immediately!
My DH picked me up with our 2 children in the car as we were going to the park afterwards, I got in and he took one look and said “oh I’ll just check I put the football in the boot…” and got out, my son (4) piped up “why is Daddy leaning over? Why is he shaking?” My daughter (6) “he’s not shaking he’s laughing, what’s funny Mummy?”
Mummy was🫣!!
He got back in and said “ you look very pretty, are you pleased?” Pleased? I was in shock, I looked like the leader of The Hair Bear Bunch (google them I looked exactly like Hair Bear)😩 they’d left the perm solution on too long so I had tight curls that they couldn’t brush out. They’d tried to trim some off but eventually admitted defeat so I was booked in for a correction a week later. I couldn’t leave the house without a beanie hat on (this was July🥵), I became a legend in the family, people “just popping in to see DC”, no they weren’t, they couldn’t believe it was as bad as I said!
It was😳
When I went back the original stylist was shocked it was so bad but tried her best, it didn’t relax so I had another cut which made it easier to brush but I still looked like the 118 118 man without the moustache😂 It look a year to cut it all.
I still shudder whenever anyone mentions they fancy having a perm.

A while ago now I went in to my local salon and showed the stylist (and her colleagues) what I wanted and I specifically said that I did not want a bob cut hairstyle. I had already had one of those and as it was growing out, my hair looked like that which belongs on a Lego person! So I knew what I wanted, showed them pictures of what I wanted and what did I end up walking out with - you guessed it! A bob!!!

Haven't been back since!

I used to be a regular in this salon and would specifically make appointments for Christmas eve for me and my daughter to have a wash & blow dry for Christmas (a nice treat for her).

Now I've taken my business elsewhere.

@theworriermum - you have my sympathies. It will grow out and I'd try as much as possible to style your hair in such a way that the way it was cut is not the bit that you see.

I have been cutting my own hair since the 90s, except for one time I stupidly decided to go to a hairdresser before an event six years ago and, predictably, they messed it up. I asked for it to fall onto my shoulders a bit and got a jaw length bob.

My DH uses the clippers. I learned to do my boys scissors cuts; they don't want to go anywhere else. My daughter always got me to do her hair and now does her own, dye and cuts. Even my eldest son, who I wouldn't say is particularly artistic, learned to do his girlfriend's haircut from watching YT videos. She still got him to cut it after they broke up!

No hairdressers for any of us.

Yep - 'take the weight out'...no no no...I want the weight for my hair so stay in one place rather than layers that wing out everywhere. I swear they do it to justify the cost. Was toying with going to a men's barbers next time to get a trim...

Your last paragraph...my lovely hairdresser, when I used to straighten my hair, he would dry it straight using the hairdryer and big round brush. He'd get it straighter that if he'd used GHDs!! He's amazing and I'm so glad I found him!

Just wanted to say I love my hairdresser — but I (metaphorically!) kissed a lot of frogs before finding her…! I also essentially have the same haircut every time, so she knows what to do now pretty much with no discussion — but the reason I love her so much is that she asked lots of questions about what I wanted (and really listened to the answers!) the first time I saw her…

Hairdresser I went to for over 35 years kept cutting my fringe way too short even after I showed her where I wanted it cut , just below my eye brow . She kept cutting it an inch above my eyebrows. It looked like a pudding basin cut . The third time she did it I never went back again. I guess she just didn't want my custom anymore.

I love this thread. After a lifetime of thinking I'm being weird about professional haircuts or have awkward hair, it turns out there's just a LOT of bad hairdressing out there!

Their claim of being 'the only nationwide salon finder in the UK is spurious'. I looked at the 3 towns closest to me (all within 4 miles), population of over 200,000 in total, and not one salon is listed. The closest it gave me was 9 miles away.

Salons will pay to be in that guide, so most good ones won't need to (because they're busy enough already), and it's entirely self selecting.

It's great that you found a good one through it, but the Yellow Pages (remember that?!) would have done the same job.

Even the same hairdresser doesn't cut it the same twice! Learn to cut your own hair..when a hairdresser gets it right it's amazing but it's such an expensive gamble.

I go to a salon which is part of a small chain where they have apprentices that train through to level 3. Their training is really thorough and well supervised. I never get a bad hair cut there.

My hairdresser is pretty good - I've been going to him for about 10 years and whilst he listens to what I want and does it, he seems to be a deranged conspiracy theorist. He was talking to me about submarines and listening technology last time ("they're watching us all you know") and I have to agree because, you know, he's got scissors.

I had to change colourists after an experience last year where she was so distracted, despite me asking her to cover up the white hair just above my ears (I'm a redhead and go bright white rather than grey), she missed a big chunk and because the rest of my hair was coloured, I ended up looking like bloody Wolverine until it all calmed down! Aveeno clarifying shampoo was my savour!

Maybe this is it, my hairdresser is older than me, and I absolutely love her. She started out as a hairdresser and she’s one of my dearest friends

she is a phenomenal hairdresser

im so sorry you’re all having such awful experiences.

I find things always start out well in the beginning but once you become a regular customer they stop bothering. My last one cut a great shelf of hair off by my chin while the rest of it was below shoulder length.

The one before was worse. First she said she couldn’t see me that day but would get her trustworthy colleague to do it. As he started cutting, I asked him how long he’d been at the salon and he told me it was his first day!

Moments later she walked past and said loudly “Still the same, old haircut Sweetgingercat?”

I will never go back there.

I have a lady that cuts just as I ask, but I still have to work myself up to booking with her. Why?

She drops her comb down and it flicks my head, not super hard but quite firmly - like being flicked by a finger. Every time. snip flick snip flick snip flick. It drives me insane. It is like a form of water torture.

I have asked SEVERAL times to stop, one time I asked five times during a single cut. She nods politely, but nonplussed like she doesn't see what the problem is, and after a few rounds, she forgets and goes back to it. I get more and more irritated during the cut and it ramps up each time I ask her to stop and she restarts. Flick snip flick snip.

Why do I put up with it and go back? because I have wild thin baby fine hair with a huge cowlick at the front and a double crown at the back that if cut wrong falls into a shape that makes me look like I have a tonsure. As an added complication the two crowns have two hair patterns, in opposite directions.

She is the ONLY person who has not given me a terrible cut, she doesn't chatter, she doesn't thin my hair, she doesn't layer, she works round the cowlick knowing it jumps up and she cuts perfectly at the back to work with my two crowns. She is absolute perfection as a stylist except for the constant assault by the comb. flick snip flick snip flick snip.........arrrrrgh

I have found my people! I have fine straight hair and endured stylists chopping layers into it for years. They always said it would give my hair more body. Except that, having had one over-priced shit experience too many, I went to Supercuts for a trim and, when I commented on layers not being cut in, the stylist actually said "Oh no, you don't want to do that with fine hair. Why would you cut it off?" I could have hugged her. Since then I've only ever been to similar places where they dry-trim my hair. Literally just trim, nothing else. It's brilliant and costs about £20.

I did once find a hair stylist who would be honest (albeit off the record) about why things can be so bad - she said it's because badly trained and/or lazy stylists only bother to do one style and they do it to everyone. Fine if it suits you but you're screwed if it doesn't!

My advice is to NEVER choose the cheapest option in the salon as you’re likely to get someone with very little salon experience and more likely to be disappointed with the results.

Unfortunately one of the worst hair cuts I ever had (so bad that another stylist asked where on earth I'd had it done) was done by a Director, the highest grade available at a "luxury" salon. When I complained and went back, they gave me another stylist who went to great lengths to tell me why I was wrong in my opinion that I didn't like my hair having chunks chopped out of it or being different lengths. And then charged me full price. I never went back.

I have thick hair and so many stylists try to get the thinning scissors on it. Many hairdressers also still seem to think that everyone wants the Jennifer
aniston layers which years later baffles me!
im super cautious now after having my hair re styled at 20 and it being the biggest disaster.. at that age it really did ruin my life.
on balance, I now have an amazing and very experienced hairdresser.

https://www.goodsalonguide.com/about-us

I found my hairdresser from this website and have been happy with her for over 15 years.

This is why I have used the same hairdresser for 30 years - every time I came out of his salon feeling like a million pounds and walking on air. I can only afford the £70 for a cut and blow dry two times a year so I really appreciated him and how he remembered what my hair does and the way it grows and he did the most flattering and low maintenance cut so the hair could do its thing!. But now he has retired and I have no idea where to go or what to ask for from my next hairdresser!

I feel you OP. I have very thick, coarse hair and have tried so many hairdressers over the years. I always joke that if I look away for one minute, I end up with thinned out layers. I don't mind having thick hair, I do mind thinned out strands that looks unhealthy and looks like a mullet in 2 weeks. I think once they start thinning out, they're like 'oh shit, there's so much' and they don't know when to stop. My best advice would be to find an old-school hairdresser, not a chain - they generally seem to be better trained in blunt cuts.

I’ve only ever found three hairdressers that I was happy with. The absolute best one left to go travelling and I haven’t got over it several years on. He came back after a while, but not to our city and it’s just too far to get too. Plus, he’s so popular that he’s not taking on new clients and I’d need a mortgage to pay the prices anyway.

At least even bad haircuts grow out.

I feel you. I’ve got very thick curly hair. I like it layered and thinned and to keep the curl. All hairdressers seem to want to do, though, is introduce a couple of long layers and blow dry it straight. Maybe we should swap?

I have found that paying a small fortune at an upmarket salon gets me what I want. Maybe some hairdressers have only one style that they can cut, and that’s what you get?

Try cutting your own hair. EBay sells scissor sets. One for trimming one for thinning.

Why would you take that position? Believe her - she made her feelings known and they were disregarded. Even if the hairdresser was right, they should not have proceeded against instructions without getting agreement from her first, as part of the consultation. You 'bet' it looks lovely - it doesn't matter if you, the hairdresser or every single other person on the planet thinks that her hair looks good - if she doesn't like it, that is all that matters, and not only does she not like it - she specifically asked the hairdresser not to do it.