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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To HATE going to the hairdressers?

156 replies

pugsandseals · 23/04/2010 15:12

Is it just me? I thought women were mean't to find the whole experience pampering & relaxing- I just come out wanting to kill someone!!! Why is what I want done always wrong? I either need it cut slightly shorter/longer than they want it, or want the wrong type of fringe. All I want to do is have it cut the length I want it with a few layers & a front bit that pushes back, but oh no. I have to have straigteners, backcombing, hairspray & a full discussion on why what I want is not trendy!

AIBU?
Maybe I should go to the barbers next time

Sorry, needed a rant before I explode!

OP posts:
lovemyOJ · 23/04/2010 17:23

do you like talking to a random stranger? no? me either but apparently we have to. im welcome to the chance to think up my shopping list for later when i have a non talkative person

mysteryfairy · 23/04/2010 17:24

I quite like my hairdresser who has been doing my hair for quite a while and don't mind the catch up re respective children, holidays etc - I think the fact that we start from a position of knowing quite a lot about each other makes the chat slightly less inane.

However I absolutely begrudge the huge chunk out of my free time every time I go - I am in there for 2.5 - 3 hours (half head foils plus cut) - and often let my hair get quite dire before I go because I can't afford the time. Can't escape it all together though due to grey hairs.

I also LOATHE it if anyone massages my head - yuk. My own hairdresser knows this but if a junior ever washes my hair and catches me unawares I want to throw up.

Original poster
pugsandseals · 23/04/2010 17:24

Thanks OJ

OP posts:
lovemyOJ · 23/04/2010 17:26

dont get me wrong when i get a chatty customer im happy to chat but im equally happy to sit and not talk (besides the obvious haircut related talk)

i think with salons the manager is usualy the one pushing the stylist to be talkative if we looked like we had got a grump on we got a bollocking

StephysFamous · 23/04/2010 17:28

I hate going too, 5 days a week actually. But I do have to make my money somehow.

Molesworth · 23/04/2010 17:28

Of course, if you knew your hairdresser was an MNer there'd be no shortage on the chitchat front ...

addictedisinthesecondtrimester · 23/04/2010 17:36

i hate the hairdressers because i cant find the right one, every time i go they say 'what do you want doing?' i say 'i'm not sure i quite fancy some thing diffrent and trendy something fresh, what do you recommennd for me?' they say '(in a rather disintrested voice) i don'know...(insert long pause)...not sure, how about trimming it, putting the layers back in, giving you a side parting and feathering the fringe' 'oh ok (smile sweetly whilst thinking it already looks like that!)'

sorry i'm having a rather ranty daytoday (i blame the pg hormones!)

i havent been to a hairdresser in over a year and it despratly needs cutting, my hair is now literally past elbow length. and on that not if any one knows of a really good hairdresser in cheltenham/gloucester area i would be very grateful for a referal.

Raahh · 23/04/2010 17:39

I very nearly posted a very similar thing- I loathe going to the hairdresser- and haven't been for well over a year. Fortunately my hair is naturally curly, so i can get away with the split ends. It never looks like I am in desperate need of a cut, iyswim.

But it is precisely because it is curly that i hate going (and I have ranted on here before about it). The first thing a hairdresser ever says to me is-
'So, are we straightening it for you today?'

Er, NO.
YOU ARE NOT. JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE ONLY EVER BEEN TRAINED TO BRANDISH GHDS AT SHEEP WITH BLONDE BOBS.

I do not say that, of course. It would be rude, and probably untrue. And i don't want to leave with it wet, i want my hair done!! And this is not a one -off- it has happened every time I have gone to a solon in the last 5 years.

I dream of the day curly hair is 'on trend' (hideous phrase) and I will get a decent hair-do. But I am probably VU.

craftynclothy · 23/04/2010 17:40

YANBU, unless you have my hairdresser in which case YABVU; dark haired hunk with pushed up sleeves, shaky hands and a stammer . He could give me a skinhead and I wouldn't care

expatinscotland · 23/04/2010 17:44

i'm tellin ya, invest in some good scissors and two good mirrors and do it yourself.

no small talk, juniors, expecting a tip, too short hair or spending tons of money.

taffetacat · 23/04/2010 17:51

Why don't any of you use a mobile one?

I have a brilliant lady that does all the family at home ( and lots of my friends too ), no childcare needed, comes after school or at weekends, yes you have to sweep up the hair but thats what DS(6) is for and now its sunny we do it in the garden. You choose the music, no surly nailbitten teenagers expecting a tip for getting shampoo in your eyes, and its a fraction of the cost.

Admittedly you don't get a break from the DC, but then there a few salons I can never revisit anyway as when DS was yoounger he was a bit of a mare in them ( took me 15 minutes to coax him out of the window display of one once). The only thing I miss about going to salons is having a nosey at the other people having their hair done.

DeborahDevonshire · 23/04/2010 18:05

I wouldn't use mobile ones as (a) I would have to make her a cup of tea and (b) make conversation.

What a miserable awld hag I am

Molesworth · 23/04/2010 18:06

I wouldn't use a mobile one because that would mean tidying up the house

DeborahDevonshire · 23/04/2010 18:06

Oh yes and that as well

izzybiz · 23/04/2010 18:16

I do think you need to try a few till you find the right person.

I get my hair cut at Toni & Guy, the girl that does it is expensive (£50.50) but I like the way she cuts it, she seems to always get it right, she is friendly but we don't chat all the way through it!

Because I wear my hair long and layered I can get away with not having it cut too often too!

I really don't think I could cut my own hair, I'd end up with one side shorter than the other or something!

expatinscotland · 23/04/2010 18:17

Good scissors much cheaper over the long term.

If I lived near Riven I'd go cut her hair and she could do mine .

delilahbelle · 23/04/2010 18:29

addictedisinthe....

I use Jenny at Love the Salon (in the Virgin Gym, but you don't need to be a member, outside of Glos)

She is excellent, very friendly but not too chatty and I love the way she cuts my hair. Give her a go

CurlyhairedAssassin · 23/04/2010 18:33

It's a bit risky going to a granny salon. I go to one as it's right across the road and really cheap cos I never get it blow-dried, I just run home and finish it myself. Plus it's great for getting the DSs hair cut - really easy and they know the girls in there.

But my cut is shit really (curly). It's starting to look a bit mullety even though I say "Keep the layers on top long please, and put more layers in the bottom to thin out the bottom and shape it into my neck".

But if I went to a different salon it would be really awkward if I carried on taking the boys to the one across the road. I've been going to the granny salon for about 4 years with the same girl doing it and I wouldn't be able to look her in the face!

taffetacat · 23/04/2010 18:39

I never tidy the house for the mobile hairdresser. I did make her some dinner last night though, poor love was starving.

EmmaBemma · 23/04/2010 19:08

I'm not keen on the experience. My hairdresser always does a good job but the girls who wash my hair have obviously been instructed to make conversation during the hair washing, and their opening gambit is always, always to enquire as to whether I'll be going out that evening. I then get a shiatsu head massage, which I find an uncomfortably intimate experience for a public setting and I never know whether I'm supposed to look like I'm enjoying it, and what sort of facial expression that should entail anyway.

notnearlyasblondasiwas · 23/04/2010 19:34

I hate it too, but have recently found a polish hairdressers where only the manager speaks english, so you tell her what you would like, the stylist does it exactly and in blissful silence - is fab and cheap too!

2old4thislark · 23/04/2010 19:35

I've never liked it - probably because I had a Saturday job in one eons ago.

I colour my own hair and make myself get it cut every few months - do sometimes have a go at it myself too.

I have found a completely adorable, very gay young man who is lovely so I actually enjoy it when I do go now. He makes me laugh and he never cuts too much off, bless him. He's so cute I want to adopt him!

Conundrumish · 23/04/2010 19:49

I hate it too. A lot of hairdressers really don't listen very well; thankfully I have found a good own who does listen.

Alouiseg · 23/04/2010 19:53

Love, love, love it! Only have a cut about every 4 or 5 months but a colour once a month and a blow dry nearly weekly.

I have two hairdressers so that i don't go into a decline when one is on holiday. I also see 2 beauticians for the same reason.

In my defence i have extremely thick hair which takes me forever to look glossy and shiny.

starkadder · 23/04/2010 19:55

I absolutely hate it too. Really, really hate it. Also I don't understand about tipping. Are you supposed to or not??