Hairdressers. Why do you do it? Anyone else?

It has taken me ages to train my hairdresser not to feather the ends of my very fine hair, which made it look like straw, and I don’t want it shorter than shoulder length. She’s a good cutter overall so I went back and she has finally got it. In her defence, English is not her first language so there has been a lot of miscommunication at times.

I ditched the salons years ago, only one of the hairdressers I ever had would cut my hair as I asked and also did not chat to me unless I chatted to her. She also would blow dry my hair without also using straighteners as I don't like them. Unfortunately, she left to have a baby and never went back.

I now have another mobile hairdresser who cuts really well, colours well and does pretty much what I ask in the cutting area. However, after three years of blow drying she still uses a small brush when I like a large barrel brush, it puts more volume in, I've now given up asking her to put volume into the style, I now use my Revlon One Step after she's gone to put the amount of bounce into it that I like.

Fortunately, she's much cheaper than a salon, she's also nice and so I put up with the blow drying annoyance as everything else is good.

@Barleysugar86 The best haircuts I ever had were by a male hairdresser too, apparently trained at a famous salon in Paris.

He was so so skilled at cutting curls. It's as if he could see, not just the curl on the day, but also visualise how it might be in different humidities, and how it would grow, and then cut at exactly the right angle in the right place so that it fell beautifully, not just then but for months afterwards. A curl whisperer!

Unfortunately for me, this was some 35 years ago in Cairo, and I've not been able to get back for regular trims.

I feel you OP. Currently heavily pregnant and stupidly decided to try a wispy fringe to hopefully offset the face bloat and give it some shape. It's just not what I showed or asked for at all and it usually wouldn't bother me as much but I just feel horrific right now there isn't one thing I like about myself.

This thread is crackers! So many peopls saying "s/he never does what I ask" "s/he always gets it wrong" - going back to the same person when you know they didn't get or do what you wanted the previous time. Isn't there some quote about the definition of madness being to repeat the same thing and expect different results?

Where are you all finding these terrible hairdressers? Does noone have a friend with nice hair who you can just ask for their hairdresser's details and go and see them. Obviously even better if your friend has similar hair to you, but a decent hairdresser will be able to work with more than one hair type!

Taking the time and effort to find a good hairdresser is worthwhile, but I think mainly done through word of mouth. The look/nature of the salon tells you nothing about the actual people cutting the hair. Decent hairdressers will have a portfolio (maybe on instagram, maybe just something they keep themselves), so you can see what they've done for other people and what kind of cuts they seem to favour. And going to the same salon each time (but not necessarily the same hairdresser) is essentially starting again each time. Just because someone cuts in the chair next to the person who did a good job before, it doesn't mean there will be any similarities in their approach or ability!

To counter all the horror stories here, I think I've only had 3 hairdressers since I moved to the midlands in 1996. The current one is probably on her 5th salon, with a stint of mobile/at home cutting too. I've had cuts from pixie to shoulder length, and been blonde, copper and brunette. She knows what my hair will and won't do, and tells me if I ask for something daft!

This is why I love my salon and hairdresser.

Each Junior has to be an apprentice for 3 years, go to college once a week and they close the salon on a Monday and Weds at 5pm (open till 8pm every other day) for the Senior Stylists to do extra training for those in their last year of college.

As a result, they’ve been going for over 40 years and have brilliant staff and customer retention. I have to book 2 months in advance (book again at the end of every appointment) but they always always listen. I’ve been with them for 10 years and have seen 1 person unhappy at the end of their colour. The manager (does my hair), went straight over and came up with a FREE plan to put it right. Brilliant service and brilliant stylists.

Hunt down similar!

I don't understand why you booked in with a different hairdresser instead of making and waiting for an appointment with the only one you trust and making sure you could get there when the time came? I understand you might have wanted a pick me up, etc but ime it's always worth waiting for a good hairdresser.

Are you choosing the right hair cut? I go for a trim only, no washing or blow dry and it’s £18. They don’t faff around layering or thinning or making a particular style because that’s not what I’ve paid for. I wash my hair that morning and they just spray wet it before trimming.

I got so fed up with the mess and damage from not getting what I wanted and then the corrective works, that I shaved my mid back length hair off two years ago. It's now a tie back-able bob, and all my natural colour. Thinner than I thought, but I think the bleaching over their colour mishaps had frazzled it so much it gave the illusion of thickness until you got too close!

I currently have a great hairdresser. He's been in the industry for years. Before I found him I tried a couple of the chain hairdressers. Did a great cut but not what I asked for and didn't suit me.
When I mentioned this to my current hairdresser he said that the problem is that many of the chains have a set of styles that they cut and stylists get limited training outside the current trends.

I feel your pain @theworriermum . It took me 38 years to find a hairdresser to work with my fine wavy hair. Then I moved tp Spain 🇪🇸. Researched hairdressers in the region, went by recommendations from FB and friends . Came out with a lovely cut . 8 weeks later, went for a trim and came out looking like a mushroom 🤷‍♀️.
Didnt have a haircut for 18 months until a friend said she had been to a new hairdresser who listened and would even speak to your former hairdresser.
She is amazing.

Yeah this is why I haven’t been to the hairdressers since last year. I was actually quite happy with the last cut and don’t want to risk it again… I’m fairly sure if I went back to the same lady and asked for the same again it would still be cut completely differently.

I’ll never forget the time I went to Toni and Guy and checked the price like 3 times. The price was there on the booking. From the moment I sat in the chair she kept going on about how thick my hair is. On and on. When I went to pay, it was £20 more. I showed her the booking confirmation with the price on and she directed me to an asterisk which said in tiny writing they could adjust depending on hair thickness. I’ve never felt so scammed in all my life!

Yes feel your pain. Also thick fluffy hair..sometimes it helps to bring a really specific photo. I also show them a photo of what my hair looks like not straightened Repeat endlessly ...blunt. no layers...no thinning scissors and don't take your eye off them. It's really frustrating.

Oh op I’m really sorry, that’s rubbish. Lots of people say oh it’s ’only’ hair but it makes such a difference to your overall look and how you feel about yourself! Having had a few disastrous colours (not so much cuts as my hair is just as it grows, v thick and v long with a couple of inches snipped off the end and that seems fine to most hairdressers!) like when I wanted blonde highlights and got yellow hair with the same dark roots, or back to my natural colour of a fairly mid toned brunette and got deep dark red (I digress!) I found an amazing hairdresser. She was perfect, did everything exactly as I pictured it and wasn’t hideously expensive either. Then she developed an allergy to bleach 😭 awful for her but selfishly awful for me as I’m back to square one 🤦🏼‍♀️

This is why I’m currently without a hairdresser. I went to the same one for years, decent salon, not cheap. I had really long hair and she couldn’t really go wrong with it. But then I wanted it cut into this popular blunt bob with a bit of a wave. She wouldn’t do it for 6 months then when I insisted she gave me an inverted bob, so short at the back. It was awful. I couldn’t wave it because it was far too short. I felt that she thought she knew my hair and how I deal with it better than me. Then I grew it out a bit and went to a second hairdresser, explained the whole situation and how nervous I was. She literally spoke to all her friends in the salon for the entire cut, didn’t say 2 words to me. At the end asked me if I wanted the wave like the photo. I agreed and she put tight curls in with a straightener. Horrific again. It’s now touching my shoulders and I just want to find a lovely hairdresser who’ll listen!

I have a mane of grey curly/wavy crazy hair. I grew the colour out during Covid, like many others. My hairdresser, who I’ve known for years and see socially as we share a hobby, hates my hair as it is now, thinks it’s “ageing” (I’m 61). He always tries to get me to let him colour it blonde, and always straightens it so I come out with a shoulder length straight bob. That style looks to me like every other older woman and isn’t me at all. I only go once a year now because I can’t bear it.

I'd almost just about tiptoed up and coaxed myself into the idea of the necessity of a professional haircut - it's been 10 years - but this has reminded me of all the reasons I hate going 🤣.

I lost mine in handfuls thanks to Long Covid, more than half of it, and had to hack off the surviving length to match the regrowth, so there really is no discernible shape left. Plus, curls/crinkle.

So. nearly. there. 😆.

Hairdresser here.

Blame the piss poor education system!

Back in the 80’s, a hairdresser followed a proper apprenticeship programme (like they did with electricians and plumbers etc.) that took a minimum of 3-5yrs to complete and included working in a salon 4 days a week and day release at college. On successful completion you’d become a junior stylist. You had to work another few years before you could be promoted to Senior stylist.

Nowadays, you can do a 9 month level 2 college course and call yourself a qualified hairdresser with zero proper salon experience!

I completed my initial training via college and at a salon and then took advanced courses at the Sassoon Academy in London where I learnt so much more.

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.

Don't straighten your hair before you go! She needs to see your hair in its curly state as feathering is not good for curly hair. Maybe Google curly hairdressers need you

It took me years to find a decent hairdresser that would just give me a dry trim and and tidy up and not leave me with unmanageable, ugly hair.
Sadly the salon closed during covid and I have no idea where she went.
I have gone to another salon and have worked my way through their ‘stylists’ with varying results.
I’ve settled on the one that causes least upset, only go twice a year and only have a dry trim.

To be honest, it sounds like OP went for a dry trim seeing that she straightened her hair before the cut. I personally don't trust hairdressers who offer this service. You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

https://www.lilyandjacks.co.uk

Am feeling your pain. I have curly hair. Despite all requests, photos etc, i have still been hit by the:

• triangle..when I specifically asked not for a triangle
• "Oh, it bounced up more than I thought" YES! I did warn you!

I still am astounded when I remember asking my stylist to dry my hair curly. Normally when I had it coloured I got it dried straight. Couldn't be faffed on this occasion, so asked her to just dry it curly. My hair is ringletty curly. Not just wavy.
She then blow dried it straight and put curls in with the straighners. That was it. I never went back.

The prices are so high now that I always want my hairdresser to cut quite a bit off as my hair grows quickly and I can't afford a visit every three weeks but she's quite cautious about it, I'm not asking for a short back and sides but she does look like that's what I have asked for i.e looks shocked, when we discuss the inches off!

The moral of the story here is don’t let randoms cut your hair and get your appointments booked in advance. Childcare is the reason you’ve been hacked. I’d rather clip my hair back than let someone I don’t know cut/highlight my hair…