AIBU? My hair is awful! What do I do?! Pics included….

[forgoodnesssakee]

I went to a hair appointment this afternoon, which I was scheduled in for since 2 weeks ago. It was a free of charge ‘model’ appointment for the hairstylist, who was completing a trial session in the hair salon. (But many many years of experience in other salons)!

I was booked for today at 4.30pm - and messages at 4.05 and again at 4.15 to say I’m running behind as two taxis cancelled on me back to back, so I had to walk from home to the closest shopping complex (8’ min walk) to find a taxi that was available to get me to the salon, which was 22 minutes away.

On the way there, as expected, we hit every single red light imaginable and I ended up arriving at the salon at 4.36pm - so six minutes after my allotted appointment time.

On the journey there, the stylist was kept informed on my estimated arrival time etc. when I text to say I was 2 minutes away, the stylist text me to tell me their next client had arrived, and that they will no longer be able to do my colour appointment and will just be able to do a wash and dry.

Baring in mind that at this stage, I’d just arrived to the location and had paid £52 for the taxi as I was stuck in heavy stop start traffic almost the entire journey.

When I get into the salon, the stylist is rude and extremely unwelcoming and tells me - again, that he is not willing to do the color service. I explained that I was sorry for being late, and another member of staff came over to ask what the problem was.

The stylist then proceeded to tell the other member of staff that I was 36 (!!!!) minutes late for my appointment, and that I was actually booked for 4pm. This is categorically untrue and I showed them both my appointment confirmation for 4.30. Again, I explained that I was sorry for being late and at this point I was getting extremely upset and red and embarassed. It turns out he had a 2nd client booked at 5 and the salon closes at 7. He’s not left enough time.

The stylist then reluctantly tells me he will do some minimal ‘scatter’ highlights if that makes me ‘happy’ and that will be it.

Before I can answer he’s sectioning out my hair - no prior consultation to ask me what I’m looking for - and proceeded to start putting the bleach on. This literally happened in the blink of an eye. I had no time to react and didn’t even have a gown on at this stage.

Fast forward and he’s added some random highlights to diferent sections of my hair, and it’s left on for 35 minutes, before being washed out.

When washed out by the assistant, the stylist was asked if he wanted to check the highlights. The stylist then proceeded to come over and say they’re fine without even really looking, and when the assistant asked which toner they wanted to use, the stylist said none - my hair doesn’t ‘need’ it.

I’ve been blonde all my life and NEVER have I ever had highlights without a toner.

When I was back in the chair and my hair was being dried, the stylist didn’t speak to me.

Once dry he told me I’m done. The other member of staff then came and looked, signed off his work and I was told I’m finished and can leave. I’ve never felt so rushed and unwelcome in my entire life. I know this was a free appointment but I’ve left feeling even worse about my hair than I did going in.

Girls - what do I do? My highlights are uneven, chunky in parts and thin in others, some start up higher on my root than others, and they’re so brassy they look yellow.

Please give me some advice? I feel like I don’t have grounds to complain but I also feel humiliated and disrespected and like I was an inconvenience for helping the stylist out on their assignment.

I wouldn’t want anybody else going through this. I’m so upset I’m in tears.

I’ve tried to take a photo as clear as I can, and to be honest the photo doesn’t even do it justice, it’s so yellow and awful. The blonde is so yellow and it’s making my hair even look oily?

I don’t want to cause an issue as I don’t want to cost this stylist their potential job - but at the same time I’m really disappointed with the outcome. It’s only since I got home that I’ve noticed how bad it is! In the salon the lighting was very low and moody and it didn’t show so much.

Do you not have a mouth. They held you down and forced this on you?

I think it looks very yellow. The stylist was very rude.

I would be very very unhappy if my highlights came out looking like that and I've had some shockingly bad colouring jobs myself.

I'd be sending the pictures to the owner of the salon and asking for them to be corrected. If it costs the stylist the job then so be it. You will be saving the salon owner a lot of future grief.

Were you?

🙄

Did you have a skin test a couple of days before your appointment? If a salon doesn’t insist on doing this, they’re not operating to a professional standard and you should walk away!

Bleach ALWAYS needs toning as it strips away the colour and leaves a raw undertone. However, if he’d used a highlift tint, that lifts and tones in one go, then that doesn’t need toning afterwards.

However, it’s extremely unprofessional to start applying any colour product without first gowning up the client properly and doing a thorough consultation. .

So many Red flags for unprofessionalism, I’d chalk it up to experience and never return!

It’s stripy and a bit yellow, I’ve complained about similar before and had the salon fix it but I paid so I get where you are coming from that you aren’t sure about how to approach this as the service was free (but shit).

Honestly I would just book somewhere else and get it fixed and just avoid that salon, they didn’t handle the very minor lateness well I doubt they will be very nice about a complaint and I wouldn’t want someone who was pissed off at me near my hair.

I think you need to complain, and you need to accept that the stylisy may not be taken on because of that. As you think he's rude and not good at his job, why would you be concerned with his not being hired? You don't want him to do your hair again.

If you don't want to complain and ask for a refo from the salon, you need to put a toner in yourself, or purple shampoo at a pinch.

It's a legitimate question. Eye roll elsewhere. 🙄

Exactly! That's what I wanted to know! 🩷

Were you really only 6 mins late. There was a lot of backstory and you seemed to text them multiple times. Including about 30 mins before… surely if the traffic was that bad / you hit every red light you wouldn’t have known at that point you were going to be late.

I think if you’re going to be 5 mins late then texting 5 mins before is fine. He was probably cross because he assumed from all your messages you were going to be very late and planned accordingly. You made a big drama about it and so did he

I’d probably moan to the salon/owner due to the rudeness of the stylist, but as it was a free model session I wouldn’t expect it to be ‘fixed’ for free.

I think the way it’s parted very flat, as if it’s just brushed straight down is exacerbating the stripes. I think once you’ve brushed it/run your fingers through it so it falls naturally with a bit of movement it will be more blended.

I’d probably tone it with a semi, a few shades lighter than your natural colour to help blend it.

It’s not a disaster, just not quite what you were hoping for… and it was a free model appointment. So I think you can complain re the stylists manner but that’s about it.

Yes I was really 6 mins late.
I don’t live in the UK. I’m in a manor city with terrible traffic hence I left so much time to get to the content. The taxi I pre booked cancelled, so did the next and I had to walk to a more populated area to find another.

He had asked me to come an hour early due to a previous cancellation which I told him I couldn’t. I assumed letting him know I’m running behind is more polite.

Call the salon and tell them you want it fixed , if what was done to your hair is an example of a trained colourist’s work he needs to go back to hair school and get more training .
They have a duty to correct it and reiterate that if this is the type of person they hire it reflects very badly on their salon.

The stylist sounds awful, I'd give him a bad review, his attitude was outrageous.

Your hair doesn't look too bad considering, it is rather stripey though. A decent toner should help.

Oh bless you! I’d defo be trying to get it rectified, but maybe by going to a different salon

Just because the service was free does not mean it should have been done poorly. The stylist wanted to show off his skill. He is not a student, fgs. That is the point that should be made to the owner. OP handled everything badly. However, the stylist is the professional and never should have rushed the job if it meant sacrificing the experience and outcome. Both are at fault. But, ultimately the stylist should have sucked it up and done a good job (look at roots not done on the streaks on right side of head/left side in pic) after consenting to do the service with OP late and time spent arguing. I'm guessing OP came across as less than polite and quite insistent which riled up everyone. Not an excuse, but an assessment. Again, OP coulda walked at any point but she consented to sitting there.

Honestly, I don't know what other pps are seeing but it's not good. It's not even close to the root and had left a horrible shadow where not enough foils were done. You 100% need a toner at the very minium.

I'd contact the salon and let them know. They will definitely remember you. See what they offer. But at a bare minimum I'd ask for and pay for a toner. The manager/owner will absolutely want to see the work. If this stylist is getting complaints for free work, while not running a fully booked column, turning out shoddy work. I dread to think what disasters thay salon will see.

I don’t think it looks terrible but the stylist was rude and clearly didn’t give you proper attention.

that said you didn’t pay a penny. These threads are filled with people who somehow pay £200+ for bad colour jobs

I’d chalk it up to experience, pay elsewhere to get it fixed and not go back. Leave a (as balanced as you can) review after a day or two when you’ve realised your hair is actually fine you’ve just had a bad experience generally

There’s no way you didn’t have a chance to say ‘please stop’ while he was sectioning out your hair and bleaching it. Sorry I think this is your fault for not speaking up (even though he was rude) - you should’ve stopped him.

Well it all sounds a bit odd because if it was a free trial for him to potentially get a job, it’s unlikely that he would have had another client booked in for your 6 minutes of lateness to make a difference. Usually he would only be there for the one trial client. I’m also finding it difficult to believe that he would have been so rude when only trialling for a job even if he is normally a total asshole, and as others have said it did not happen that quickly that you couldn’t have left if you weren’t happy.

Also if it was a trial, presumably someone (I assume a manager) inspected your hair to assess the work he’d done before you left the salon. What did they say when they looked? Did they ask you if you were happy with it?

Anyway if you’re not happy with it, I wouldn’t be expecting them to rectify it for free when it was a free trial. Surely the whole point of a trial is that they are unsure what the standard of work is going to be like, and they are not making any guarantees.

What an awful experience! I would t be impressed either and would be tempted to contact the salon to leave feedback.

My stylist doesn’t use toner on my hair and uses purple shampoo to tone it. Saves me money and it looks great, I think I he leaves it on for 20 minutes. I hope that helps tone the blonde for you.

He has 2 full days of clients booked according to what he told me when I arrived.

I dont have any reason to fabricate a story for the purpose of posting here (anon).

he was exactly the way I’ve explained and I’ve got all of the communications via message before I even arrived to the appt.

Like I mentioned in my post, he did get it signed off by somebody that didn’t really seem like they cared either way. They came over. Said It is fine. I was told I can leave.

I feel sorry for you personally. My hair is the one thing I like about myself and gets me out into society and not hiding away.
I had an awful dye job once - I trusted the stylist and couldn’t see the colour developing due to the foil. I felt like a clown after and would only leave the house once I had covered the colour with a brown root touch up spray. I now go to a lovely hairdresser somewhere else.

I think your options are:

• email the salon owner, complain about the treatment, send pictures and ask how they would advise it could be corrected - I would be willing to pay for a toner on the basis that what was done originally was free as long as it wasn’t done by the person you saw the first time. They may offer to sort it, give you advice on what you could try at home instead though.
• go somewhere else and get it fixed, write the taxi off as a bad thing that happened and pay for your hair to be done, just like you would have paid if you had booked a regular appointment.
• try something yourself at home, the issue is this could make it worse or harder to fix.

I’m sad to say that purple shampoo cannot fix everything. Hope you get sorted.

That’s quite simply false. If your hair has been styled by somebody else then it will absolutely sit differently when done yourself. The cuticles won’t necessarily lie the same way, the texture won’t be the same. Nobody’s hair looks exactly the same when styled at home as opposed to a salon.

The stylists behaviour sounds appalling, aside from the work that he carried out he clearly has no customer service skills, I would make a complaint, normally people who are on trial at work behave well, this person seems to be trying to do the opposite