Have you ever told your hairdresser the truth?

[Owaisa]

This is for messed up haircuts/colour/highlights etc.

My recent experience with my regular hairdresser has been horrendous. I asked for a blonde balayage (I showed her an inspo pic) but instead left the salon with orange/brassy and uneven coloured hair.
I had to order a toner online and wear a hat for a couple of days until it arrived and I applied it.
She said she wasn't happy with the result and she's very critical of her work but didn't offer to rectify the result. She blew dry it, styled it and got the back mirror out and said you asked for a brighten up and "look, it's not bad".
Because she's my regular stylist, I didn't want to be honest and tell her what I thought. I just said, I'll see if I can get used to it 😭. I paid, didn't tip her (she looked very surprised) and left the salon.
Side note - I've been getting highlights/balayage for the last 3 years so my hair is already light apart from my roots this time around.

Absolutely I have, it's my hair, I have to wear it on my head all day every day so I want to be happy with it!

A good stylist will always want their clients to leave happy and feeling confident, even if that means fixing mistakes and not just pretending they didn't happen.

Also learning to express unhappiness, disappointment or dissatisfaction politely and without feeling awkward or bad about it is an important life skill.

Do you feel up to going back in and saying, "I gave it a try, but I can't live with it. It's not what I wanted - what can you do to fix it?"

It is hard to be honest, especially in the moment, and particularly if you are upset at the outcome, but I think it's quite okay to approach it a few days later, when you have practised what you want to say, and you are armed (again) with the photo of what you requested. Much easier not to be emotional then.

Yep, I have. I had hair extensions installed which were sourced and coloured by the stylist (pricey). When I returned for my re-fit and colour refresh, she took it upon herself to change the colour formulation, which resulted in the extensions no longer matching my real hair. The next day, when I seen it in natural light, I sent her a photo and queried what had happened and got her response that she tweaked the colour formulation as she thought it would match better - it clearly did not.

In fairness, she got me back in with her that day and spent the best part of 7 hours trying to correct it with a bleach bath and re-colouring. But the extensions never again matched like they should have. I offered her £40 that day towards the products she had used (plus she had spent hours on it.) She accepted the money which irked me a little but that's on me for offering and I still haven't decided whether I was right or wrong to offer it.

I never went back to her for colour despite having been a loyal customer for years. It's a shame because I've never had a haircut as good since.

Be honest. Tell her you weren't happy

This happened to me recently - full head highlights and a toner and it was too orange / brassy. I got home and realised I hated it, messaged the next day, stylist replied immediately, agreed a time for me to come in the following day for a fix up. Still too brassy for me but 100000000x better. He handled it very well and it's why I go to him and will keep going. Having said that, I didn't love it on the day, but chickened out of saying something and it was the next day I knew it needed to be fixed. Plus I spent £200 on it. Much happier now. You should let her know you aren't happy, and if she doesn't respond positively, you should consider another stylist, especially since she knew she'd not done a great job in the first place.

On a lighter note, I regularly came home from cut and blow dry and dashed up to the bathroom to wash all the products out and was left with limp and pathetic locks. I hated the feel of it all but could never have said anything to her. Got over it about 15 years ago by giving up hairdressers altogether.

I always say something and get it corrected. No need for it to be difficult. I never say I don’t like it, just that it wasn’t what I expected.

"She blew dry it"

I think you mean "She blow dried it."

Really 🙄

I would go back and say you can't get used to it and it's not what you asked for. A good stylist will understand and want to rectify their work.

Not a fuck up, she did exactly what I asked which included clipping the back like an undercut but showing.

She even checked I was happy with her doing that first.

When she showed me I just came out with "blimey - that's a bit brutal!" She looked really hurt and I felt awful. After a week or so I'd got used to it and loved it. I even went back sooner than I usually would for a trim so she didn't think I would go elsewhere.

She got her own back by moving o the other end of the country 😄

I used to have an amazing hair dresser, he was so creative and always spot on. Sadly he moved on to the big leagues and I then spent about 10 years trying a range of hair dressers and not once did I leave the salon really liking my hair. I began to question whether I just wasn't able to communicate effectively about hair and I guess that's a possibility, but I would take in actual pics of my own hair for them to use as a guide.

Mine is naturally wavy but needs a specific approach to bring down the frizz and make curls, it's excetionally easy, takes only a few minutes, and one of the most important parts of this is the right shampoo and condition and NO product, occassionally a tiny bit of hair oil, and super minimal heat But no, every time, ages under a high heat hair dryer and product - I'm aways curious to see why they still chose to do it and I want to see the outcome - it was never good. Product makes my hair go flat and oily in 24 hours whereas working with it's natural needs means I have full bouncy shiny hair that doesn't have to be washed for up to a week (I go to the gym too often for this but you see what I mean). My amazng hair dresser did use heat and products but somehow it always worked.

Anyway, I now save a fortune having learned how to give myself a good hair cut.

Surely nobody, either stylist nor customer, tells the truth.
We know the truth, the salon is a place for fantasy.

I had a diabolical haircut once - I showed a reference pic of an actress who has natural hair just like mine so completely achievable - and it looked nothing like. I was left looking like a fraggle with a freakishly short fringe. She asked what I thought and I said 'gosh I don't like it'. She went out the back and must have burst into tears because the salon owner came out and shouted at me for making her cry and threw me out of the salon.

I left a review with a photo of the reference and a photo of my hair before and a photo of my hair after the cut and a comment that said 'this is what I asked for and this is what I got'. Nothing more than that. They took the review down and banned me.

We used to have a hairdresser who came to the house. I showed her a photo of a movie star with a pixie cut and she set to work.

When she showed me in the mirror I burst into tears and ran upstairs and locked myself in the bathroom. She was horrified.

I was only 12 but still

I've had some absolute horrors or haircuts over the years, but each time it's been cut far too short so there hasn't been much point in saying anything. I don't want to encourage them to cut any more off so I've just left it and not gone back.
If it's something doable like take more off or add more layers I will happily ask.

she said she wasn't happy with the result and she's very critical of her work but didn't offer to rectify the result

Sorry, but this not a good hairdresser. She got a subpar result (unfortunate, but it happens), she knew this wasn't the color you wanted and then doesn't offer to rectify the problem? Completely unacceptable.

I've known my hairdresser for years and we've actually become friends. I don't hesitate to let her know if something doesn't work for me. It costs a small fortune and you should be happy with the result.

(Now if your expectations are unrealistic then the stylist should be clear about that before starting the work).

I currently live in a part of the country where it appears to be the law that if you're Caucasian, female, and over 45 you have to have a shoulder length pageboy style blonde bob. (Especially if you're visiting stately homes in the Lake District.)If you're younger than that you have to have gently rippling waves or chemically straight hair at least halfway down your back.

I moved from a part of the country where there was much more variety; all of the six plus stylists I've tried up here in the last year and a bit have no bloody clue how to cut short hair on women despite my having plenty of photos of what my hair looks like when previous stylists cut it. Next time I'm going to try a barber, they can't be any bloody worse.

You need to ring up and be honest it won't cost her anything to fix it apart from time but she can work around it between clients , which is fine , don't waste your money leaving it , it shouldn't come out brassy if she uses the correct percentage and toner.

I have, I once told a hairdresser I was probably going to Spain for my holiday when I knew I wasn't.

And then to make matters worse I said I was really looking forward to it.

Fortunately when I went back after my 'scheduled holiday' I was able to concoct a story about being struck down with leprosy and so I didn't have to make up some stupid lies about what I did in Spain (which I never went to in the first place - if you remember).

Yes and she got quite defensive, so I emailed the salon owner who was mortified and fixed it for free - I never went back

It happened to me recently. My regular hairdresser messed up badly but I said nothing. I just paid and left and never went back. When the trust is gone it's gone.

I’m the same. Had highlights done which are way too light and she’s put a toner on top to try and hide it, underneath my hairs white so I know what they will look like when the toner washes out. I’m so scared when the toner goes. She’s tried to disguise the lightness on top.