...to ask your honest thoughts when someone tells you they're a hairdresser?

I think "they must think my hair is shit".

That they must be very creative and skilled

Going to college to train or undergoing an apprenticeship isn’t the same as ‘dropping out’.

That I wished I'd married a hairdresser. My friend is my hairdresser & she sometimes feels a bit intimidated when her more supposedly intellectual & professional friends start talking.
I just remind her who was missed the most during lock down - hairdressers or solicitors/accountants etc 😀

This.
I'm not interested in hair, would hate having to stand up all day and would hate having to make small talk all day, would probably have a breakdown after a week! But it isn't judgment, I'd feel the same way about being a GP and/or other supposedly enviable careers.
I understand there's a lot of skill involved in hairdressing, and it can be very lucrative so good on anyone who makes it work for them and enjoys it (I still hate going though).

Meh. It's just a job. It can give you a bad back though, a lot of standing.

"Wow, you're so brave. How on earth did you get to the point that you had the confidence to chop into someone's hair?"

This is a very British attitude. In all other countries in the world hairdressers are very well respected and sought after. The UK has a whole list of jobs that are looked down upon only here, but else where people really respect those trades. Along with hairdressers, travel agents, bank tellers, parking attendents, plumbers, painters, electricians, builders, plasterers, childcare workers, beauty therapists, hospitality, florists and many other trades that are seen as Mickey Mouse by UK standards, but the world over they are highly respected and highly skilled jobs. It just shows how elitist this country is when your measure of success is only defined by very few professions. Medicine, Law, and Finance. We really do have a problem in this country with snobbery when it comes to professions that are "deemed acceptable" This is simply not the case elsewhere.

I’d think lucky them. I wanted to train as a hairdresser when I was a feckless but creative and practical school dropout but my snobbish father put me off and I continued to drift for years.

That they cut hair for a living?

Creative, skilled, businesswoman, with the patience and tact of a saint.

Have had my hairdresser for 27 years. I think I know more of her secrets than she knows of mine which is a good job because she cuts dh's hair now too.

She came to the UK with little English, learnt her trade, took over the shop, built it up, manages the beauty side (they are challenging to manage) and rents a couple of chairs to other stylists.

If I.go on a Friday night, we drink wine; on a Tuesday morning, coffee.

She's quick and efficient and a brilliant colourist.

I really detest the English for being snooty about the vocational trades. Where would we be without hairdressers, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, carpenters, etc. Usually small businessen who are organised and disciplined. We were invited to our decorator's wedding - we were thrilled and had a great time. In an emergency one of his mates always helps us put.

A great hairdresser is seriously underrated. Our local lovely lady has done my my teens from when there tiny and My dad when he was in Hospice

So this is what I would have thought about the girls in my school when I was younger. I don’t really think that now though when I meet people that are older and they have the experience / have pursued this as a career. Not judging your post @Blueeberryby the way, just quoting to piggyback off that as it used to be my thought

As I said, I’m not tarring everyone with the same brush and there definitely is a very skilled/knowledgeable minority in the hair/beauty professions. I seek these practitioners out!!

I would think how can you talk mindless drivel with all those different people in one day? And, don't you get bored doing the same thing over and over again?

However, my hairdresser is very intelligent and an original thinker. She does not spout mindless drivel. She's not afraid to disagree with me, and we have some great discussions.

I know an engineer who retrained as a hairdresser.

Honestly I'd love to be able to do hair. I can do it so it looks okay, just hasn't got that neat look that people who are good at hair manage to get. So probably admiration really.

It's meant to be one of the happiest professions. I don't judge people on what they do. I generally just ask if they enjoy what they do.
I always think of hairdressers as artistic and good communicators. Just go for it if it appeals, don't live your life according to other people's attitudes. You'll always be in work that's for sure.

Sad to see people assume hairdressers dropped out or didnt do well at school. It’s literally taught as a subject at my kids school.

I always check out their hair. I worry that they are judging mine 😂 I wish that I had a practical and creative job tbh. I have a memory that hairdressers were surveyed as one of the happiest roles…but maybe I’m misremembering.

Well yeah I have a hairdresser as a friend, and a tax barrister, events manager, 2 accountants and a cleaner. Job is a job, why would anything " think" anything of it. ( With exception of traffic wardens obviously)

I would wonder whether they could give me a cheap cut and colour.

From what I know hairdressers don’t make much money unless you own the salon. Hours can be hard too, no time off before Christmas and new years and no Saturdays off. I have a mate who’s a hair dresser and her hands are damaged (arthritis), she’s only in her 30’s, I don’t know if she’s just unlucky.

I’d warm to them - creative, cool and friendly- what’s not to love?

Nothing. Same as if someone tells me they are a solicitor, in banking or anything else.