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.

You could have spoken up when the assistant asked. In fact you could have spoken up many times, but you choose not to. The pic looks fine and far from uneven, go buy some purple shampoo

I don’t understand why you don’t want him to lose the job. The point of the trial was to see if he was good enough, and he’s not. I doubt the salon want to hire a rude stylist who also is going to leave customers unhappy with their hair. That’ll cost them a fortune. So I don’t understand the logic that you’re okay to screw over the salon and future customers just so some guy gets a job that he’s terrible at?

A selection of looks? I'd love to know what 'look' this was. "Madam, can I interest you in the Amateur Shit Outdated option?"

I think it looks really nice.

It is a chunkier highlight.
I only have a toner if I'm going for a specific blonde, it's not something they would throw in on a free trial.
Ring them back.
The horrible experience was avoidable, if you had arrived earlier.
I don't understand why you would pay £52 for a taxi for a free hairstyle.
There's no such thing as a free ride.

Because I’m British and the majority of people on here are also - hence the automatic conversation to a currency the majority will be familiar with.

YANBU to leave a factual review complaining about the rudeness/brusqueness of the stylist if it would make you feel better. It’s reasonable to let people know about that, as having a personable hairdresser is important for many people. You were only just over 5 mins late, it happens and you apologised, there was no need for the bad attitude from them.

But YABU imo to complain about the actual work they did since it was free and you didn’t complain about it at the time. If you’d paid, I’d have suggested you went back to ask for a toner since the result wasn’t what you expected, but that might be a bit unreasonable now for a freebie.

It doesn’t look like they have damaged your hair or caused any real issues, it just looks more amateur than expected for a supposedly senior stylist - maybe a bit stripey and perhaps too warm/too much contrast with your natural colour imo but nothing that you don’t see everyday with a lot of people’s hair (so nothing to be embarrassed about imo).

You are right that a darker, cooler toner applied afterwards would likely have made a big difference, so I’d really try to let the negative experience go now and just accept that you’ll have to buy and apply one for yourself. It’s a pain but you’ve still saved a lot of money overall, bearing in mind the typical cost of highlights. And obviously a strong purple shampoo will help as well once the toner wears off.

If you can afford £50 on a 20 minute taxi rather than walk/get public transport it would be better to use that money towards a paid service in future. A model appointment is usually for the stylist to demonstrate something, it’s not for you to choose what you want so ‘what you normally get’ is irrelevant. If they are being assessed they aren’t necessarily going to chat with you like a normal client. You aren’t a normal client you are a freebie they’ll likely never see again. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. From the photos it looks fine and you can change your parting for a few weeks if you don’t want them so obvious.