To ask you to settle this debate?

[HappyHappyHawaii]

Listening to friends earlier - one of which is a hairdresser and a very good one at that. We will call her friend 'A'. Friend A said someone complained about her the other day at work because she was apparently too opinionated on a haircut someone wanted andnshe told them it wouldn't suit them. The customer did say she wasn't rude, but she wanted to feed back that it's not for her to say what she would like, she just needs to do her job. Friend B completely backed this saying that yes, even if someone wanted the worst haircut in history she has no right at all to suggest anything different as they are paying for a service, not her opinion. Friend A said she takes pride in her work and she would not want to put her name to something that looked so bad. Fwiw this is about a haircut not anything like a colour change or something that couldn't be done because it would damage the hair. I dont know anything more about what the customer wanted. I am conflicted and intrigued - what would you prefer?

Yabu- friend a is right
Yanbu - friend b is right

Friend B is right. Just about. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that say a pixie cut in curly hair will not look like a photo of a pixie cut in straight hair but beyond that - they do what's asked.

Dye is different. They're entitled to refuse something that will cause hair to break or turn bright orange.

It's not a question of one person being right and the other wrong. Personally I would only trust a hairdresser who spoke up if she thought I was choosing something that would not suit me. There are hairdressers who will always attempt to do what the customer asks for without arguing, but sometimes it is literally impossible, for example if they ask for a cut that only works for straight hair but have natural ringlets. Much better for the two people to mull it over and come up with a compromise.

Friend A is right.

She's a professional, and if she doesn't believe that a cut will suit the client she should say so.

I would agree with A. If I am going to make myself look silly, then I would like to know before I do.

I would expect my hairdresser to tell me if she thought something wasn’t right for my hair/face shape etc. I wouldn’t be offended at all.

I think Friend A the Hairdresser is right. If I’d met her then Younger Me wouldn’t have had the terrible pixie that was completely wrong on my long face, big nose and tall body.

I think it totally depends how much she pushed it. Saying once something like “are you sure, I think maybe if we do X it might suit your face shape a bit better while still having a similar length/easy to style/(whatever thing they liked about the hair style they suggested)” is fine.
But they shouldn’t push it

I’ve been the customer in this situation. I wanted a V cut and had to insist this to the hairdresser, who really didn’t like that style and said it looked like when someone hasn’t had their haircut for ages. This (with other reasons) is why I didn’t go back to that salon.

Friend A is right….if a haircut makes a client look hideous it reflects badly on her.

I am with A. My hairdresser knows to tell me if something I suggests isn't going to be a good fit for my hair and face shape. This is a part of what I pay him for

Its not clear from your post if the one who cimplained was the client or if she overhead.

My hairdresser would tell me if it didn’t suit. I appreciate that.

Well, I go to a hair stylist not a hair cutter or a barber. Perhaps Friend B doesn’t.

I can see friend B's side as I wanted my hair lighter as I felt it might help with the gray roots coming through, my hairdresser put a colour and gloss on my hair (that I agreed to) and it made my hair so dark in comparison to the previous colour. I had a massive argument with him as he kept saying it suited my facial colouring to be dark (close to my natural colour) but I kept saying that blonder helps with gray regrowth. It got a bit heated and my point was that if I wanted pink and green stripes he should do what I want as I am paying for it, not what he wants without telling me! But in fairness the dark does really suit me but he doesn't have to live with the regrowth so I think we are both right... it is tricky but the person whose hair it is gets to decide and the hairdresser can just give their counsel to not do it, but in the end its the customers choice!

I would love to find a hairdresser who gives an opinion like A does

It's one thing to offer constructive advice about what will work with face shape, hair type, etc.

It's another thing to just outright criticise someone's taste. Hard to know from the OP which one it was.

Friend A is correct, as long as they were polite. I took a photo to my hairdresser and she said that my hair was just too thin for that style and she recommended an adaptation to the style I wanted. It looked great and I’m so pleased she told me as it would not have looked good had she copied the photo!

As long as friend A was polite and respectful and offered a variety of alternatives, she was right.

A is right.
I would rather have a professional's informed opinion.

What I then do with that opinion is up to me, and they shouldn't push it after I've given my opinion in response, even if I chose to disregard their advice, but then they've done their part.

I think this holds for pretty much every profession - you can tell me it's a bad idea, and I can listen or not, but if I decide to do it, that's up to me to make my own mistakes if I wish.

Edited to add, and if I was making a bad decision, it's also the professional's choice to not work with me in implementing that decision, if they feel it would affect their professional standing/reputation/credibility.

Does friend B have a form for teaching a plumber how to do his job? Would she insist on having her toilet mounted on a ceiling and expect them to just go along with it because the customer is always right?
An experienced hairdresser should absolutely advise the client on hair styles. Not least because many people show up in the salon with pictures from the internet where the model has a hair with completely different texture and also professionally styled. And the client expects to walk out looking like a picture and, more importantly, being able to recreate it at home when in reality they wash the hair and use the car air conditioning to dry it on the way to work. Typical result - upset client because they, mysteriously, don't look like Barbara Streisand fresh out of their morning commute and are now posting on social media about their shit experience with a hairdresser.
Of course, friend A is correct. No question.