Turned down at hair salon...

[SweetSkull]

So I was walking in my high street today when I saw the 'looking for models' sign on a hair salon window.

Went in and asked for info and the receptionist asked me if I was ME who wanted to be the 'model'.

So she got one of her colleagues (I think he was a hairdresser) he looked at me, and he said something to her that I didn't understand.
So she came back to me and said that: the hairdressers working with the models would be trainees therefore they needed a 'easier' hair to work with.

I totally get that and said: it is fine, I know my hair is difficult...

But, don't do they want the trainees to learn??

I am not upset or anything but next time I am looking for a hair salon as a payer costumer I am certainly not going there.

This would be my [https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=curly+frizzy+hair&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=hBJhUrKuNfOY0AW26oHwDg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=738&dpr=1#facrc=&imgdii=&imgrc=GKTQJ7vhTEA-IM%3A%3BAQdDI4IhpzNmNM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.dkimages.com%252Fdiscover%252Fpreviews%252F1245%252F45056246.JPG%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fredsea1.forumchitchat.com%252Fpost%252Fcurly-frizzy-hair-931999%3B655%3B768 hair on a bad day]

And this would be my [http://satansangel.net/care-for-curly-and-frizzy-hair/hair on a good day]

Tbh I'd be thankful they turned me away if they didn't think their trainees were up to the job. They have a responsibility to the models as well as their trainees, nobody wants to be responsible for ruining someone's hair.

I guess if the trainees aren't at a level to cope with a difficult cut then it would be silly to use you as a model. Having had an awful experience with a trainee hairdresser many many years ago I wouldn't go anywhere near!

hair on a good day

hair on a bad day

Today as a bad hair day.

YABU. They probably would have messed up your hair anyway. Dealing with difficult hair takes years of experience, the trainees obviously weren't at a level to deal with it. (ex-hairdresser here)

Ah but it wasn't for cut.
It was for highlights.

I completely get your point - so I think YANBU

I've got thick, wavy hair, and it takes me ages to find a decent hairdresser who can deal with my hair, so I literally mourn them when they move to another area. I agree that trainees should be shown how to deal with more difficult hair types otherwise how do they learn?

Sounds lime a lucky escape to me.

Curly hair is difficult though, I'm lucky that my hairdresser totally understands my hair. It's going through an awkward post baby phase, where it's lost it's curl, but it's coming back in at the roots so she tries to find me the best style for my hair at the time. I wouldn't let a trainee anywhere near it!!!

Perhaps the trainees they have are very new, and need to get confidence first with less tricky hair, before tackling the more complex.

Don't take it personally :)

i'm guessing their trainees just aren't quite up to that level yet? i think it was probably better of them to turn you down than to just let you go in and then ruin your hair! lol

When i was at university, there was a group of us on the hunt for cheap hairdressing, and we'd volunteer just about anywhere that had a sign up for models. We reckoned it would be about 5 rejections for one cheap do - they only say yes if your hair, and what you want doing to it, fits with what they are training at the time.

My hair is like this and it is hard for qualified hairdressers to do a good job.
I think you need to be at least a level 3 and experienced for this hair.
Saying that the trainee level 3's at our local college did a better job than the manager at Tony and Guy

I understand that.
I know the trainees were probably not that confident.
That is why I am not angry but also I don't feel confident going there even as a payer costumer.

Sometimes I see signs like "models wanted, straight hair"...maybe that is what they should have done.

TBH I have never found a hairdresser who can deal with my hair anyway, so that is why I don't mind trainees playing with it.

Just a question though: is a curly frizzy hair difficult for highlights too?

Isn't curly hair more porous or something?

I have hair like yours, and it is difficult to dye or have highlights in because no matter what you do, the ends tend to be very dry and damaged so colour takes differently at the top near you head to how it does at the long ends. I have suffered this way!!

I used to do quite a lot of hair modelling for students when I was younger, they'd usually snap me up because they had to work one someone with our hair type to add to their portfolio and get their qualifications. It was always cutting or upstyling though, not colour.

If you want to be practiced on you might be better off going to colleges that teach hairdressing NVQs and the students are more closely supervised.

Also, try going to black and African hairdressers if you want a hairdresser that knows what they are doing. People who are used to working with Afro hair have always done a much better job with me.

Thanks Broken
I have to travel quite a long way to go to the African hairdressers area but I will save up and see if I treat myself before Christmas.

Woah..... is that what those signs mean? I've always assumed they were looking for actual models, to do their hair and take pictures for the wall or catalogue or something. Am I incredibly naive? Would this save me money?

I also have really thick curly hair. The hair salon I use has a lot of apprentices and from chatting to them when they wash my hair this type of hair is level 3 hair.
There are hairdressers out there who can cut and colour this well in my lifetime I have had 4 who have done a really good job. They all have continued their training by spending a week every year at the Vidal Sasson training school. So yes they are more expensive, but the cut and colour quality you get is fanatastic.
A few years ago I went somewhere cheaper a really massive mistake. Since I switched back friends rave about how fab my hair looks, how much younger, more stylish etc.

My friend has hair like yours. She used to go to Vidal Sassoon as a model. She was always cut by the teacher, who was thrilled to have someone to demonstrate on. Her hair was always beautifully cut. This was a long time ago, but you might have better luck at a fancier hairdressers.

They need models that working on would actually help the trainees to learn. People don't learn anything by presenting them with a difficult case before they are able to do the easy stuff well.

If you were to join a maths class, for example, the teacher wouldn't just pick a textbook or worksheet at random from all the potential maths available. They'd pick one that will help you learn. There's no point in pulling out 'advanced calculus' for people who actually need to learn the basics of algebra.

The people at the salon are doing everyone a favour by choosing models carefully. And it's probably impossible to put more than models wanted on a poster because it takes a kind of expert knowledge to tell what kind of hair is suitable for a trainee at a particular level that can't easily be communicated on a poster.

Maybe another time they'll be hoping that people with hair just like yours will respond to the models wanted poster.

I was asked to be a model for Vidal Sassoon when I was an undergrad. My friends were most annoyed that I was asked (in the pub) and not them. It was only because I had long hair and a willingness to have it cut off at the stylist's whim though.

The haircut was great though.

I would have much more respect for a salon that turned me away as a model than one that allowed their trainee to mess it up!!!

googling Vidal Sassoon
Thanks

I was a regular hair model for Vidal Sassoon, was picked out on the street originally as I had the 'right' type of hair apparently. Was very long and curly.

I have difficult hair, Sweet, and, to be honest, I would rather take it to a salon who have had experience with my type of hair than risk who-knows-what with a trainee.

Ask around Sweetskull many, many hair dressers go for regular training at Vidal Sasson so there are usually people local to you who continue to do on going training there.