Horrible haircuts AIBU to.complain?

32 replies

Brightyellowspyrograph · 30/05/2025 11:24

My 16yo has very thick hair with a cowslick. I remember cutting it during lockdown and it was a huge task.

Unfortunately this means that every hair cut he has had in a barbers has been awful. Shorter on one side so it looked like a beret had slipped. Repeatedly terrible slipshod haircuts. So we changed barbers and the last cut wasn't great it was uneven and there was a bit cut out. Today the fringe starts too high on one side of his head, dips down in the middle and then ....well the rest of it was a cm longer.
He's 16 and doesn't want to say anything so he's stuck looking I cut it with crayola craft scissors ...blindfolded.
My hairdresser wouldn't leave my hair looking uneven like that.
Is it common for barbers to.let teenagers walk out their shops looking lopsided because they know the customer is too embarrassed to say something.
My kid is already self conscious of his looks.
AIBU to ask for a refund. Its caused a massive fight with my son who thinks I should leave it.
I want him to go somewhere half decent where they know how to cut thick hair properly

OP posts:

KrisAkabusi · 30/05/2025 17:44

the last time I sat in the barbers they were so busy chatting to each other and other customers they can't have been concentrating.My hairdresser the wonderful Irene just concentrates on me and my hair.

Yes. Hairdressers are famously silent while they work.

WtafIsThat · 30/05/2025 17:56

i also take mine to the Turkish barbers and they do a good job of my DC’s hair. They’re not all bad.

We also have a men’s hair salon where we live that does actual styles and has a cafe. It’s a pretty cool place for teenagers to get their hair cut.

Original poster

Brightyellowspyrograph · 30/05/2025 21:00

Not silent but only talking to me. About my hair

OP posts:

FarmGirl78 · 31/05/2025 14:41

What would you rather have?

A Son who's self conscious about having a wonky haircut?

Or a Son who's self conscious about having a wonky haircut AND having a Mummy who goes marching back to the barbers and embarrasses him?

Original poster

Brightyellowspyrograph · 31/05/2025 20:03

abracadabra1980 · 30/05/2025 15:59

Hmm, I have trained in hairdressing/barbering teaching. Hairline patterns as you describe can be really difficult for inexperienced barbers and hairdressers. I'm going to be honest here. It's half term. Many barbers will have stood all day in the heat, relentlessly cutting hair and rightly or wrongly, a teenager with loads of thick hair, with difficult hair patterns who is maybe the last customer of the day is often seriously unwelcome. There are of course, many shops whereby this is not the case, but the nature of the beast is that it's a minimum wage job, and getting employees who are unprofessional and don't give a shit/sick of kids, is not unusual. You'll need to try different places and as someone suggested, a unisex shop may be the answer, but in my experience not everyone in even a unisex shop will be proficient with clippers, particularly the staff who mainly do ladies. And avoid foreign barbers full stop, they rarely attend colleges, they often train each other. The reason a PP said they come out looking like 'thugs' is that these kids will be asking for skin fades. They are what most of the foreign set ups do and are one trick ponies. You'll not get a nice surfy cut from them. And many just photoshop their photos on social media, or employ 'barbers' in a rent a chair capacity, so it's never guaranteed that the same staff will be there from one week to the next. It is extremely sceptical where their funding comes from - there's 22 in my town and I know some have been selling drugs)... anyway, going back t a skinfade - it's basically what many of the footballers have and in this country, most boys from teens to their 30's copy them. Music doesn't have a huge influence e like it used to - well maybe Sam Fender and the other odd one. OP, it is very likely your sons hair will take time and a half to cut, so it's not a 'quick snip' for the barber, if it is as thick as you say it is. Personally I think pricing should be by thicknes of hair, and time needed for the cut (skin fades take longer - it's like doing fine art). Good luck for the next snip!

I think you are bang on there. It's going to take a month to grow it out. His hair is wilful like his Nan's.
He also needs a new style.

OP posts:

mathanxiety · 31/05/2025 20:16

Go to a place that specializes in curly hair. Expect to pay an arm and a leg.

mathanxiety · 31/05/2025 20:20

andHelenknowsimmiserablenow · 30/05/2025 15:27

Maybe he needs to grow his hair longer rather than keep it short. My nephews have cowlicks and one keeps a nearly shaved head that he does himself, and the other has shoulder length hair he ties back. Both look good but anything in-between just looks unruly.

This.

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