... to think that hairdressers should understand plain English?

[Annahmolly]

AIBU to think that hairdressers should know that 'a shoulder length bob, all one length', should not be two inches longer at the back?

I showed the hairdresser the picture of Jessica Alba, but ended up looking like the lovechild of Kurt Cobain and Agent Scully from the X-files. I'm not even (just) trying to be funny - it is really hard to find any other pictures of this preposterous haircut on the internet!

Now I have to wait a week before I can go and have this fixed somewhere else...

Do hairdressers use a completely different dictionary from the rest of us? Other gems I've had include going a warm reddish tone when I asked for 'ash blonde' (this has happened at least three times), and getting purple/black hair when I asked for 'a cool dark blonde'.

My hairdresser is fab, i told her no layers and she listens. Had some dreadfu cuts and perms (in the 80s) some h/dressers really do not do as you ask. Glad ive found a good one, took a while.

I had disappointment after disappointment with different hair dressers in my 20s. Layers when i asked for a blunt cut, 6 inches off when i've asked for a trim, stupidly short fringe, etc. The very last time i went to a hairdressers i wanted highlights put into my then dark blonde shoulder blade length hair. She proceeded to put a highlighting cap on my head. I told her my hair tangles terribly easily and it would not run through a cap. I said when it gets tangled it needs LOADS of conditioner to get it to slip enough for knots to come out. I said i thought i was going to have foils. I was sure they had said foils at the consultation.

''Nope, it will be fine''. This was years ago and i was too dippy to argue. What happened? My hair got into such a bloody awful tangle that it took hours to sort out. Every member of the team had a go to get the knots in my hair and the cap sorted out. Sometimes double teaming. I was nearly in tears. The small talk dwindled into uncomfortable silence as my hair took up hours of every ones time. What an awful, painful AVOIDABLE bloody mess. Ending up with ... LOADS of conditioner to get it finally combable. Why do they think they know better than you? Arrgghh.

Since then i've done all my own colouring, dark to light and back again over the years, plus chunky highlights (using foil!) trim my own fringe and just let my hair grow long. It kind of stops around bra-strap length anyway. I've learned how to trim my own ends too.

My hairdresser is cheap, listens to everything i say and thanks to her i have the haircut i'v wanted for years!

I have long straight hair. I want it cut to still be long straight hair with no layers. You can hear the hairdressers vying for a tea break when I walk in.

There was one fab place (a Supercut branch) where every time I went in two of them would fight to cut my hair but I moved shortly after finding them. Having someone who likes doing a straight cut on waist length hair is a special thing.

I'd forgotten that Harp ad

I love my hairdresser. So much so that I've booked my appts for the rest of the year as she is taking mat leave later on in the year. I came about mine by pure fluke when my regular hairdresser had left and I didn't find out until I turned up to an appt. the day before I went on holiday. Cue much panic and nearly tears when my current hairdresser stayed late to fit me in. I was so grateful and so happy with my cut I've never gone anywhere else since. Plus I let her do what she likes to my hair as long as it fits with me growing a short cut out at the moment.

I found my hairdresser when I was working across the road from the salon and needed a last-minute appointment one night. I stuck with her for a year or so before I moved from Edinburgh to Glasgow. I tried a couple of different people over here but no-one was as good so I now travel to her every three or four months for a tidy up and the amazing coffee and stack of Caramel Wafers on offer in the salon

I make sure to meet friends for coffee or pop down to see my parents to justify the trip

YANBU. I had a fringe which took me an age to grow out. It finally reached chin length so I decided to get my long hair cut to all the same length in a bob-type style, which I then could grow long. Hairdresser cut a bloody side-sweeping fringe in, so it graduated from eye-length down to my chin. Haven't been back for over a year and a half so my hair is finally long and no longer has a fringe.

And don't get me started on my experience with "going blonde" at 18. My hair was dyed black, so with hindsight, hairdresser should have told me there and then it was impossible. I was young and clueless and obviously not a hairdresser. She said she would do highlights all over and dye the rest "a lovely caramel" colour. So under the foils I went along with hours of faffing with dyes and washing. My hair turned out white at the roots, yellow round the middle and bright fucking orange at the bottom. Cost me £70 for the privilege and I cried as soon as I left. Wish I had the balls back then to say, "WTF IS THIS?!" but instead I dyed my hair brown as soon as I got home.

Something I've learned:the importance of repeating. At work I always repeat the client's requests in different words to make sure we understood each other properly. It's amazing how the same word can mean totally different things from a person to an other. Add the fact that many people don't always listen properly ...

Maybe next time you could show/tell what you want and then ask the hairdresser what s/he plans to do?

Update:

On the day of the appointment I had made to correct the mistake, I spent some time explaining what was wrong with my hair, showed a bunch of pictures of what I wanted.Hairdresser said she could see what the problem was and she would correct it.

I was to have some highlights put in first. I showed the colourist some pictures of what I wanted. I have dark blonde hair and wanted an ombre look with very light ends. She said that she would not recommend this for my hair, as it would not be visible enough, as my hair is already very light. (It's actually a mousey blonde and not very light). Instead, she recommended putting 'slices of white' on the sides, covered by the top layer of hair so there would be no roots. I asked her if this would actually be visible with a one-length cut without layers and she said yes. She said "trust me, this will look much better", so I let her get on with it.

When the bleach was washed out it became pretty obvious to me that there were no highlights to speak of. The hairdresser who was to cut my hair said "your colour is looking lovely", presumably to make me less likely to complain about the lack of result. I have noticed that they are more likely to rave about the result when it is not very good, presumably to pre-empt complaints. The colourist, of course, agreed that the result looke "lovely and natural".

I was not too bothered by this, as my main reason for coming was the cut. When she was about halfway through, I told her that the hair still looked longer in the back, as I could see it curling up underneath the shorter hair at the front. She assured me this was not the case (something about it curling over my shoulders - even though the hair in front is not long enough to touch the shoulders!). She said "you'll see when I have dried it off that it is not longer in the back, it just looks that way now".

By the time she had dried it, I needed to get back to my baby as I am breastfeeding and my husband had tried in vain to give a bottle of EBM and was texting me, asking when I would be finished. The hairdresser had also styled it so well that it looked nice despite not being what I had asked for, so I did not complain. But, yeah, it was longer in the back, still.

So here I am, two hair appointments and more than £150 later, and my hair still does not look the way I wanted. I guess a long bob that is all one length is some kind of impossible, unattainable goal. I'm just gonna grow it now, as I have lost hope of ever finding a hairdresser who can follow basic instructions.