She couldn't do my hair

[HawksAreRed]

Mobile hairdresser, she came to do a consultation, but on meeting decided that she hadn't had the training to be confident in colouring it. She was happy to cut it though.

Is this a thing? Does afro hair react differently to hair dye? I've never heard this before.

I feel undeniably sad. I'm also sad that my DC watched the whole conversation and my 6yo asked me "But why? It's just hair."

I have watched brandamondo and with coloring it's the same all hair types.
He does videos on lots of different hair styles and he does comment on them. when it comes to dying the hair it has always been the same tips. Dye the roots last becuase they process quicker and never put T18 on yellow bleached hair. Colour thin layers to avoid patches. And good hair dresser should no the basics.

And to add, any one can test dye using a few strands at the back of the head to see how it catches on. People should be happy for this to be done to make sure the hair dresser understands the hair and processing time.

@emuloc

Yes FigureOfSpeeh it should be the case as you say in your post. I wonder if white women experience any issues when they go to black salons?

I have an experience with this — I'm white with very fine, very thick, dark blonde, only slightly wavy hair. I went to a black salon once because it was a bit urgent, they were the only place open, and they weren't particularly busy, and though it took a bit longer than usual, they did a really lovely job of my hair (basically, a bloke's cut, short back and sides and longer on top, so I usually pop into the barbers for it because a lot of women's hairdressers are clueless with clippers and my chaotic nape pattern, but barbers aren't often great about cutting my very volumey hair into something that'll be a good shape when it dries). I'd have understood if they'd said no because of my hair type, but they agreed to cut it and I appreciated how careful they were to do a good, nicely-shaped cut on it. Definitely one of the better haircuts I've had and the person who did my hair didn't seem to object to my asking them if they could cut it, though I did feel uncomfortable about asking them to do something that might be outside their usual preference/expertise. But then I have to go through the discomfort dance every time I ask a barber I haven't been to before if they'll cut women's hair, too. I feel for people trying to find someone to do a decent job on a locally-uncommon hair type; must be a right pain in the arse.

I have mine done by a curly hairdresser in Lancashire who is excellent and not mega expensive
It's ridiculous that hairdressers are only just now expected to be trained on curly/coily hair
Mine varies from 2b - 3a and people just can't bloody cut or style it, there no understanding it needs a product with a pretty firm hold otherwise you diffuse it and it turns into cotton wool
My uncle and cousin have 3c hair and go to a standard place as just have it very close cut, nobody else in the family has curly hair

I have curly hair, which also can get easily overprocessed during colouring and the number of times, that hairdressers have used the wrong approach when doing my hair, is astounding. So, I would appreciate the honesty, OP and look for someone who does work with your hair texture successfully.

FWIW, my current hairdresser has said, to dye my hair successfully, she has to do the complete opposite to what her training would have recommended. We only learnt that after a horrendous dye job, which had to be corrected.

@BeauxRingarde your friend in Abuja obviously hasn’t tried very hard to find a salon in Nigeria then. If you’re in the sticks like someone upthread who mentioned Ibadan, fair enough. But Abuja or Lagos? Lots of white women manage to get their hair done!

If she had never done it before on your type of hair she may not have felt confident she could provide a good service, and felt it was better to say upfront than half way through. Different hair types can react very differently to being dyed.

It’s irritating but at least she told you, rather than leaving you with badly dyed hair.

I wonder if white women experience any issues when they go to black salons?

When I lived in Latin America I had a friend with fine blond hair who had a total nightmare finding a hair dresser. In a city of 3 million she eventually found one hairdresser, who was passed around the blonds we knew.

I had thick brown hair so was ok.

I have had plenty of issues with hairdressers. I don’t know why but having fine hair but a lot of it is somehow difficult for some hairdressers.

I had one hairdresser complain midway through cutting my hair that my hair was difficult. I ended up with an awful haircut. I wish she had been upfront with her limitations so I could have gone elsewhere.

For a few years I’ve ended up cutting my own hair because I didn’t want to risk going to the hairdresser. But I only know how to do one style and so I have gotten bored with it and have been to hairdresser.

My friend has some Romany & Irish heritage, so she has lovely black spiral curls but finds it difficult to get a hairdresser who is confident enough to trim & style her curls.

My hair is blonde, wavy but very fine & porous, I've had a lot of trouble finding a hairdresser who knows how to cut it so it appears thicker. She also does highlights for me.

My sister is completely opposite to me in colouring & hair, she has masses of brown curls which can tend to being dry & frizzy without lots of products, shes found a good hairdresser to cut it, but as she's going grey she colours her own hair with box dyes.
I just can't remember which makes sorry.

[quote jesusandjollof]@BeauxRingarde your friend in Abuja obviously hasn’t tried very hard to find a salon in Nigeria then. If you’re in the sticks like someone upthread who mentioned Ibadan, fair enough. But Abuja or Lagos? Lots of white women manage to get their hair done![/quote]
She has particularly fine hair which apparently is difficult to work with. Nobody wants to touch it. I've no idea, I'm just saying what she said!

@HawksAreRed

She was perfectly nice and I'm not complaining about her personally at all. It's just not something I had realised was an issue.

I have no idea where to get my hair done, the high-street salon I used before never reopened after lockdown. I didn't know I needed a 'specialist'.

Try being a redhead where hairdressers have no clue how to colour it, its like chucking money down a drain, dont think this is just a black womans problem.

@HawksAreRed

Mobile hairdresser, she came to do a consultation, but on meeting decided that she hadn't had the training to be confident in colouring it. She was happy to cut it though.

Is this a thing? Does afro hair react differently to hair dye? I've never heard this before.

I feel undeniably sad. I'm also sad that my DC watched the whole conversation and my 6yo asked me "But why? It's just hair."

Try and find a mobile Indian or Pakistani hairdresser. They usually have more experience with different types of hair.

I wonder if white women experience any issues when they go to black salons?

I am white w/ curly scottish hair. The only salons I go to nowadays are black salons and they are fabulous. I get a dry cut.

But they do always go 'wow' when they wash my hair after the cut; and thats because my hair goes completely straight for 10 minutes before turning back into a fluffy poodle.

Tbf I thought everyones hair did that. So it was quite the revelation.

@Letthelightoflove

Surely it is better that she was honest about her skill level rather than wing it and possibly do a terrible job?

This

@MauveMavis

I've had my hair cut in China and been aware that the hairdressers were discussing my fairly typical fine hair with great disdain in Mandarin.

They were gobsmacked that there was so much of it and it was so fine.

Until this moment I wouldn't have thought it was that different from the hair they were used to seeing...

One of my best friends at school was Chinese and after swimming she could just comb straight through her hair, it didn't tangle at all.

It always looked very smooth, but it was really difficult to plait (popular break time activity) because it just sort of slithered out! It was as if each strand of hair was thicker, and determined to hang straight.