To hate going to the hairdressers?

[SebastianTheCrab]

I just hate it. I don't find it relaxing at all.

I hate being trapped in the chair for hours, having to make awkward small talk with the receptionists, assistant and hairdresser, staring at myself in the mirror, having to fob off the endless attempts to flog me products and expensive treatments, smiling and nodding at the end while they gush about how great my hair looks (are they complimenting me or themselves? I mean, I've just been sat on my arse scrolling Mumsnet for hours while they've done all the work?) and then fiddling about with tips for everyone at the end.

But today took the absolute biscuit. I went in for my once-yearly colour and ended up there for five hours. It killed my entire day. I had so many errands I was supposed to run today and had to bin my entire To Do list. I literally walked out in the middle of the blow dry so I could be on time to pick up my son from nursery.

I have no idea what they were doing for so long. They kept putting goop in my hair, washing a bit out, adding more goop, putting me under the heater thing, combing through, adding more goop etc etc. After 3 hours I asked how much longer it was going to take and my eyes nearly popped out of my head when they said 1.5 hours. It ended up taking a further 2.

And my hair looks almost exactly the same.

Dear hairdresser, this is massively obvious who I am if you read this - I'm sorry. I just hate going to the hairdressers!

Also the stylist maybe doesn't like you coming in either aha ha love this comment. Let's remember everyone's probably hating the "pampering" experience, including the hairdresser

Blueskysunsout I'd like to make clear that I have absolutely nothing against hairdressers - the ones in my local salon are all lovely and always do a good job. It's just the actual process and sitting there, trying to come up with smalltalk, having people mess on with me etc.

I realise that this is absolutely a ME problem, not a hairdresser problem.

Me too, OP, so I just don't go! Been five years now. My hair is very long

Thank you for posting from a hairdresser's perspective @Blueskysunsout. It must be difficult trying to gauge what a client wants if they won't engage with you.

Feckingirritated DD has fine hair, so she brushes it before going to the hairdresser then ties it back. It makes it much easier for the hairdresser to comb through her hair.

I like it. I like sitting and reading a book in peace and quiet. My hairdresser is great at judging when to natter and when to not, the chairs have a massager in them, and I genuinely look better for going there.

It's a win all round.

Me too, I hate it. But I adore my hairdresser, he's been cutting my hair for 35 years. He knows my hair and always looks fab after he's cut it. I colour it myself and he loves the colour and smiles when he sees the shiny result of his work.

We've been through marriages, marriage breakdowns, kids, the lot. we
even go out for drinks together and have snogged once.

But I still hate sitting in front of the mirror, having my hair washed and our conversation in the salon. Outside the salon he's a lovely cultured intelligent man, in the salon he repeats what I say and I know it's his method of dealing with small talk.

I've never told him I hate it, I've always hated it (like the pp who has bad memories from childhood) it's like going to the dentist but with a nicer outcome.

Find a place/stylist that you like.

I have tried several, some I don't like the atmosphere, too hip and trendy, often big busy salons have a high staff turnover too, so stylists may only stay a year or two.

Generally I don't like visiting the hairdressers, but have found a gem of a stylist in a local unassumming salon.
No head massage, not much small talk, she really understand my hair, I always get just a simple cut.
Very happy.

I used to until a local hairdresser looked at the picture I brought in, discussed it with me and proceeded to give me the hairstyle that I should have had years ago when I first showed the same picture in another hairdressers, but was completely ignored.

I used to love going to my local posh hairdressers purely for the nice smelling potions, the glass of fizz and the shoulder massage at the start and and hour or so of mindless scrolling the internet. But when I decided I needed to start covering the greys, having never previously coloured my hair, the time this now took was just too long, too boring to spend that long in the hairdressers (coupled with fact was never that happy with the colour and the price was horrendous) so started colouring my hair at home. However even just for a cut and blow dry her prices have steadily increased so much over the past couple of years that I baulk at the cost and not even the fizz and aromatherapy massage makes it worth it now so have started going to a far more big standard place.

You don’t have to go, you know

I love it but it never lasts more than 45 mins (I just get a cut)

Never bothered with colour myself, why do you bother?!

There is such a simple answer to your whiny post- don't go.

And accept what you'll look like.

@MrsRogerLima - yes - blimey - I'm surprised that only you picked up on that. 😢😢😢

@OrigamiOwl - your mum used to 'cut your hair' when she felt you'd been bad? That's awful, I'm so sorry.

Well I went for my dry cut but she took too much off. Most do I find. However it was quite fast and pleasant.

I love my hairdresser and have been going there for 10 years. She's great at judging chat vs me zoning out as a child free break, I take my book, they make nice coffee and my hair always looks lovely after.

I think half these situations come down to poor communication. How many people book a cut and blow dry and then come on MN complaining that they take ages and are using (blow drying and styling) products? My hairdresser always just blasts my hair with the drier because that's what I ask for and I'm not paying for a blow dry.
She also has a proper discussion about what will work or not work, and one thing she's always said is hairdressers have a real issue with clients bringing photos and insisting they want a photo recreated exactly regardless of whether it's suitable for their hair type and then being annoyed they don't look like the photo that the hairdresser said was unlikely to work.