Hairdressers. Why do you do it? Anyone else?

[theworriermum]

I don't know if it's all hairdressers or just my hair type (long, thick, coarse) but unless I'm absolutely prescriptive and borderline stern, they go to town.

Right now, I'm 4 months postpartum, heavier than I usually am and looking tired but my long brunette hair was my saving grace! I walked around with a birds nest in 4th Trimester to give it a break from heat. I straightened it before the cut for the first time and it was gorgeous and healthy. So long, long feathering across my jawline and neck.

I took my eye off the ball not saying 'trim only, no thinning, and please NO dramatic diagonal scissors for feathering'. I did say keep the length and that I liked the existing cut but it wasn't stern enough.

I couldn't see what she was doing at the back but it's clear to me now that she has thinned it without asking. A lot of them do this as I have thick hair but I hate it. At the front I asked for shorter parts to frame my face, which I already had but she has taken it way too far back, I look like a Shetland pony and the most infuriating part.... when she went to feather my hair, rather than trim the existing feathers she angled her scissors away from my face at a drastic angle and before I could say anything she slid them down. I asked her to stop but she said 'it's not even' and kept going, so now between the Shetland pony style side fringe, and OTT angle feathering, my actual hair only starts behind my shoulders. It's so ugly.

I'm devastated tbh. 2.5 weeks on and I still hate it. It's going to take months to grow this out. Last time this happened it took 10 months and I've been growing it and protecting it since.

Why? Why do you do it hairdressers? Anyone else?

I wouldn't mind the Edward scissors hands approach if they knew what they were doing. It's a shame the only person I trust to cut my hair is fully booked for weeks and I only know my window of free time a day or two before being mum of 2.

I think the worst haircut I ever had was as a poor university student. She was renting a space in Fitness First and i went in with my typical long thick non dyed brunette hair. Her exact words were 'I will use my magic texturising scissors' and I was quite excited at the time. I came out looking like a Mushroom or the mum from Brady bunch. It was just awful. My bf at the time pulled a shocked face when he saw me.

I've been going to the same hairdresser for years. But I was really upset last time I went.

I was early and watched her preeming and tweeking the lady before me for ages. She really spent a long time after drying on more cutting.

By the time it was my turn she was running late. I get it. I have terrible hair. She doesn't have much to work with. It's thin and my shiny scalp is very obvious. I felt like she saw me waiting, thought I was easy and she could just do the usual without the fuss. No extra preeming and tweeking for me 😟I left feeling really rubbish.

And I bet I paid the same price.

I swear nobody in the history of hair has spent as much as me and has so little to show for it. I've tried so many different lotions and potions and hairdressers over the years. I always go to good salons with good reviews and non of them come cheap. I genuinely think DH would do a better job sometimes😱

My DD and I have learned to do one another’s now and our long straight hair do’s look healthy, we certainly don’t look any worse than some of the horrors we’ve had and it’s so expensive when essentially we want a trim.

its easy too. Pair of clippers and cut it bluntly, place chin on left shoulder and cut into line with the back then do the same on the right. It makes a lovely blunt long bob style.

I do my own hair now - ultimately because of the cost, because I did eventually find someone who did what I asked for, but I've had many of these experiences. Or just weird things like asking for front layers but being told it wasn't possible as my hair was long - so now I just do it myself. I've also started doing other people's hair now as well!

With very thin, fine hair I hated going to the hairdressers. Always far too much removed with layers so short my hair looked as if it was leaving my head every morning. All is well now. A small, local salon with an understanding hairdresser who listens. I opt for a dry trim, quicker, cheaper and we can both see what’s happening and if necessary call a halt. The last time I just wanted the back trimmed, nothing from the crown or sides. Instant agreement and understanding, a happy client for sure.

My American friend says that over there, there's a famous home-haircutting device called a Flowbee, which - wait for it - attaches to your hoover. Apparently it's quite popular! Must have been invented by someone in sheer frustration at their poor haircuts.

I also have very, very thin and fine hair. I have tried so many different things and never found one that worked. Have given thought to trying Nutrafol but figure it will turn out with the same results.

George Clooney uses the Flowbee, lol!

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/dec/04/go-with-the-flowbee-george-clooney-reveals-how-he-cuts-his-hair

I can't believe that I've found my people. I have this exact experience. I live in a small town and have been going to the same hairdresser for ages. She sometimes does it and I love it but it's completely hit and miss based on who-knows-what? This time she has cut my fringe like a young Rod Stewart despite me asking her to just trim it in the same shape as she did last time. Literally the same as a lot of you have described - scissors angled and then literally thin layers about 5 inches long are in my lap with her just having a mad half hour angling great chunks out. It's maddening. I know it grows but in between I look like I've borrowed an 8 year olds hair. I wish I knew the answer. It's as though once every 2nd cut she's decides she hates me.

I’m with you re sons hair cuts? I always cut my boys hair myself but as they got older they wanted to go to a barbers.
The barbers didn’t listen to a word my boys said and in fact cut their hair so short they all got told off at school as there are strict rules on hair.

After that they were back to mums hair cuts, their choice . Even now and they are older and at Uni

In terms of my hair I gave up wasting £60 a time getting a hair cut I didn't like. I haven’t been to a hairdressers since December 2019 as I decided to grow it long during the pandemic……
Ive never looked back

Also for @fridaynight1

My hair started to recede and thin post 50.
Ive been using Regaine and it’s amazing. It really does work as long as you use it every day.
Get the mens version ( as it’s exactly the same just cheaper ) and use once a day.

Yep.

All I want is a simple slanted bob, short at the back (not stracked, just straight), longer at the front, ending below my chin. That's it. No goddamn LAYERS, no fringe, no colour/highlights/whatever. A simple slanted bob. I have decent hair, fine, but lots of it, naturally wavy. This messy, tousled, wavy bob suits me.

Do I get it? Do I fuck. I take plenty of pics with me, pics of models, pics of myself with the hairstyle from all the sides and back. Nope. They nod nod nod and then make it longer, make it shorter, make it straight, add some layers, you choose.

I just can't deal with these imbeciles anymore. My tween cuts my hair now, after watching a few tutorials and trying on a mannequin a few times. She does a better job than all of them.

It's hardly rocket science. They charge arm and leg and are completely incompetent.

I can recommend a good hairdresser in Swansea who is happy to give me the same haircut I've had since the 90s- straight line round the bottom, shorter bits at the front, no layers, doesn't insist on drying it before I leave. Took some finding though.

You are my people! I have fine, straight hair but lots of it. A gently angular bob suits me. I remember vividly sitting at the mirror as a hairdresser gave me a great cut - sleek and simple, slightly longer at the front with just a hint of long layers. I smugly thought I’d found the holy grail. Then she uttered the words ‘I’ll just do your ends’ and in a nano second the lovely crisp front was gone and I had a jaw skimming mushroom arrangement not unlike Velma from scooby doo… Thankfully new hairdresser understands, for now at least 🤞

@Mindedmy @FreedomandPeace I learned early on that our local barbers cannot do anything other than one style, nor can they do a scissor cut. Took DS to the village salon and it’s a game changer! He comes out looking great rather than someone joining the army.

Unfortunately the salon was much the same for ours. My eldest walked out and refused to pay he was that upset

I went through years crying as soon as I left the hairdressers.

I have very thick dark brown hair that’s almost black but I suit it lighter so I’ve been blonde for years. It ages to lift and too many hairdressers have been scared to leave the bleach on long enough so it had an orange tinge to it. I went to one woman a few times who insisted it was make up or fake tan!
According to my current hairdresser I have the most difficult hair she’s ever encountered.

I went to a hairdresser who made such a bad job I had to have it all cut short, I spent six months growing it back so it was almost chin length and went somewhere else. I begged them not to touch the length and just cut my fringe but they insisted it’d grow quicker with a trim. They ended up taking a couple of inches off and I cried for hours.

I have an amazing hairdresser now I’ve been going to her for years but it’s very expensive, they have the best reputation where I live but it’s £200 for a 3/4 head of highlights and a cut and blow dry. It takes 5 hours to do it and thats over an hour just to put the foil packets in.
My DP thought I was crazy at first to pay that for hair but now he’s just relieved he doesn’t have to hear me moaning about it.

My hair is currently very very long but I’ve decided to get it cut a lot shorter on Friday, it’s the most drastic change I’ve had for years and I’m terrified I’ll hate it. I just hope if I’m unhappy with it that it grows back quickly. I swim daily and unfortunately the chlorine takes its toll.

Another fine, thin hair person here. Never in the history of ever have layers made my hair looks thicker, fuller, or more voluminous. They just make it look straggly and sad. Yet periodically the hairdresser puts them back in my hair. It's exactly like they hear my request (2cm off the bottom, straight across, no layers) and instead of thinking "great, a quick one" they go "I have 1/2 an hour booked for her, I'd better fill in the time by making the haircut last the entire length of the booking". Then it takes me years to grow the top layer out to match the bottom, my hair looks thick (or as thick as it can look, which is objectively thin and sad) and the whole layer process starts again.

This is such a good idea and wish I did that. If I had literally said don't touch the front if we decided to then trim it I am sure she wouldn't have given me curtains like a 90s boy band. Only saving grace is it shouldn't take more than a couple months for it to grow beneath my chin where I can get it fixed.

Yep I took in a pic of Cat Deely as like I had her hair is long with long layers and some feathering but clearly not slanted scissor lazy feathering. I liked her blow dry also but I got neither.

I’m the same. I have spent an absolute fortune over the years and never really liked my hair. Obviously it’s never going to be magically thick and swishy but I’m currently (a year on) still growing out what looks like a short Bob that was cut in the top layers of my long hair. I’d just asked to get rid of some tatty split ends and I can’t even get it cut again to blend in because the pieces are so short.

I just shopped round to find a hairdresser i trusted. Now I just say "do your stuff" and he does! I think its a case of finding the right one for you.

Not a cut, but a colour disaster. Many years ago, I went to a training Academy (L’ Oreal) to get some subtle highlights put in. I used to go to a hairdresser and he would use a cap on my very, very short hair to put these highlights in. The Academy was a lot cheaper so I thought I would try that. Big mistake. The instructor got the students to put foils in. Once they removed the foils and washed the bleach out, the students started sniggering behind me. It wasn’t until I got home and looked in the mirror that I realized I looked like a fucking tiger with orange stripes across the back of my head. Next time was back to my original Hairdresser.

I have had the same experiences too. And any time I have found a hairdresser that actually listens to me and cuts my hair to how I’ve asked I’ve been so happy that I finally found the hairdresser for me. But then they tend to disappear. Either they have left the salon or they are booked in months in advance or if I have booked in months in advance I am unlucky enough to find out that they are away today and this other hairdresser “who is just as good” is going to look after you today. And I feel too worried about hurting feelings so I don’t say no thank you I would like to reschedule with the hairdresser that I booked with.

With some hairdressers I think that they think they know better than you about what would look good with your hair, so they just do what they want.

I have had more than a few hair disasters over the years, I'm 60. I have alot of fine straight hair . The 2 worst hair disasters still incur nausea when I think of them!

When I was early 20s i had shorter hair and a hairdresser convinced me to have a sort of perm thing to lift my hair at the root as it was so fine and straight...she made a mistake somehow and left me with a large chunk of kinked hair at the top that absolutely nothing would correct. Took forever to grow out.

Years later having learnt to be specific i brought a picture of a to the shoulder hair cut of a choppy bob. My hair was at my shoulders when I went in. He got me to put my head forward and cut my hair up to just below my hairline. One side was longer than the other too. It barely went past my ears. I looked like a boy. I cried. I never went back.

Currently i live rurally and so options are slim. My current hairdresser is nice I've had to go back a couple of times because one side was longer than the other. I went back to an old hairdresser of mine before a big event last year. Sadly it is a 2 hour drive away. She advised me to always go to them with straight hair, and leave with straight hair don't let them curl it with tongs or fluff it up as that covers up any imbalances which just seemed to keep happening, I think because I wear a side part or I have a wonky head or something. All I want is a choppy bob but anything that involves detail seems to be too much to ask. So I just get a trim. 🙄

I also have thick hair and whilst I appreciate that it can look bulky, stylists tend to go overboard with layers leaving it looking lank. Why????

Also I'm a middle aged woman and my hair is s long. The stylist always wants to turn it into a bob. Fudge off! I don't want to turn into a clone of my mother thank you. Why can't women just have long, textured, blunt cut layers? Is there some kind of hairdresser code that outlaws it?

I haven't been to the salon for eight months because a) I can't find one I like and b) I refuse to part with a big lot of money only to be disappointed afterwards. I also HATE small talk. Cut my damn hair and stop asking about where I'm going on holiday ffs. i'm looking for a unicorn. (If anyone has any recommendations for SE London DM me).