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Horrible haircut Toni and Guy - long rant!

116 replies

higgle · 23/01/2011 11:34

This morning I'm feeling like having a real moan.

Due to a cock up over dates I couldn't get an appointment with my usual hairdresser on a day that suited me. I though I'd go to Toni and Guy in Bristol for a restyle and colour and foolishly thought that "the" "style director" there might give me a new look that was abit more edgy that the haircut I usually have - sad delusion.

Having agreed to pay an eye-watering amount for these services and with an assurance I'd be out for 12 noon I turned up to be told I was due at 9.20 not 9am - I knew then I'd not be out for 12.

My usual hairdresser is top notch at colour, and I asked the colourist at Toni and Guy to use 3 colours and that I wanted my hair darker but rich in tone - I even explained what the 3 colours usually used were. He didn't show me any charts, said it would look lighter and proceeded to use 2 colours only. They didn't even check how it had taken before washing it off, and now my hair is brown, plain boring brown exactly as nature provided me with, but with a tiny glint of cheap red if you shine a light hard on it.

Bad enough, but when "the style director" (who then told me it was just a grade and there were several of them) got started, it went from bad to worse.

I wanted a new haircut and mentioned 3" off and lots of choppy layers, she told me it had only grown an inch and a half and proceeded to administer a pudding basin bob. I kept saying that I didn't want a sleek blow dried look and she carried on doing that, only spending a few moments on the layers after I had pointed out she had not cut them at all.

I couldn't just sit there - I spied a lady about twenty years older than me leaving with a horrible bob like the one I was being given and started to cry - the stylist said it was nothing to do with the cut but to do with the products applied and I couldn't have it sorted out if I had to be gone by 12. She then dragged the poor colourist in to hear what I thought about the colour and lovely chap that he was I could only say the truth - that it looked plain brown with no sign of any highlights at all.

When I got home DH said it didn't look as nice as usual - he was struggling to find something to say actually. TBH I look like some of the old ladies who use the care service I run - flat bob seems to be all the rage with the 80+s these days, especially the very religious ones.

I'm dreading going to work tomorrow - my colleagues know I was off to spend £££s on an edgy new look, they will laugh their heads off. It looks like a DIY job and an application of brown Nice and Easy.

They did give me £20 off because I wasn't happy - so it "only" cost me £126 !!!!! But quite frankly I feel violated - should I spend some time writing a vociferous letter of complain to the manager about it?

Can anyone recommend a hairdresser in Brisol/Bath or Cheltenham ( or area in between) who will actually listen to what I want and deliver me something that looks half decent?

Perhaps I should forget all about it and head off to M&S to buy a nice long flowery Per Una skirt to complete the look.

What did I do to deserve this - I turned up at the appointment wearing a shortish jumper dress, boots etc - all carefully chosen to give them an idea of the sort of look I like.

Sorry for length of this rant - I'm so fired up about it I feel like heading back to the Salon on Monday with a placard saying "don't go in if you don't want to look like this!"

OP posts:
OldLadyKnowsNothing · 11/10/2012 03:16

Zombie thread. This conversation is from Jan 2011, I think you're a bit late with your defense, HOLA.

gregssausageroll · 11/10/2012 08:28

sniggers. i am another who will never go back after bad experience in edinburgh

WildThongyoumakemyringsting · 11/10/2012 08:38

old lady
I just read this full thread and didn't notice it was from last year. How weird.

CuriousMama · 11/10/2012 08:47

Phew, been reading your replies and am so glad they listened to you. I used to work as a stylist/colourist and have never in all my years (around 15 in a salon) had a client cry! I've had a couple complain but it's been put right and that was actually another stylist. Not bragging I just used to listen, something a lot don't do sadly. We did have a few who you just knew weren't going to pay at the beginning but we still got them too.

I wish I lived closer I'd help you. I was thinking of going freelance and this has spurred me on tbh. I only do friends and family nowadays and need a job. I just need to stock up on some colours as have the main equipment.

I think it's awful how they treated you Sad

CuriousMama · 11/10/2012 08:49

Oh it was someone from T&G who resurrected it? I just noticed it's very old too. How odd?

poocatcherchampion · 11/10/2012 08:54

Probably searching through forums trying to counteract bad publicity. Grin

savemefromrickets · 11/10/2012 08:57

When I complained about my wonky hair cut at T&G I was told that nothing would look good with the clothes I was wearing (work uniform)!!!

Eliza22 · 11/10/2012 09:03

I feel your pain. I went to Toni and Guy and paid an extortionate price for something I left the salon saying "I'll just try to tie it back, and grow it out". I have poker straight hair and am really lucky in that, cut well, I can wash it and leave it to dry...... And every hair falls and swishes back into place. However, at the time, I needed to be able to tie it back for work. I explained this and I was left with "coppy" layers so short that it needed a ton of hair grips to nail it up and all the time, bits were falling out, under my hat. My partner said on one photo I looked like bloody Worzel Gummage and he was right!

I made the mistake of returning to the salon and allowing the stylist (Edward fucking Scissorhands) to have another go at it. By this time, it was too short to do anything with. I remember sitting in the chair, tears in my eyes as he ran his dings through it, pushing it forward onto my face telling me it had more "movement" now.

I should have sued them for assault and emotional trauma. I will never, ever set foot in Toni and Guy again. I'd rather cut it myself. And what that man did to my hair a 5 yr old cold have done with those little plastic scissors you get at nursery school!

If you paid by credit card, I'd try and cancel payment.

CuriousMama · 11/10/2012 09:06

Shock savemefromrickets. What a fucker!!

Well it'll have the opposite effect imo? Just rakes up bad publicity tbh.

FoxtrotFoxtrotScarier · 11/10/2012 09:12

Bit of a PR fail there, HOLA, resurrecting a thread from January 2011 and bringing a whole host of new people with hideous T&G experiences to share them.

I asked for a crop in T&G when I was 17. I was told I wouldn't suit it and left looking like Princess Di. Two weeks later I went very short and haven't let it grow back 17 years later. I look great with cropped hair (even if I do say so myself).

MorrisZapp · 11/10/2012 09:16

Awesome result. In Edinburgh we have Cheynes, the Ryanair of hairdressers. If Ryanair charged ££££....

I hugely recommend Hot Head to any Edinburghers. Don't give that millionaire another penny.

HorraceTheOtter · 11/10/2012 09:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

higgle · 11/10/2012 09:46

I was very surprised to get my thread resurected ! Yes, I got my money back after making an enormous nuisance of myself. It wasn't so much the fact that the cut and colour were dreadful, I wasn't scalped or made to look utterly ridiculous. It was just that neither the stylist or the bloke who did the colour listend to a word I said and sent me home with poor colour, done in a lazy sub-standard way and with an old granny cut. I'm back with my old hairdresser now and am very pleased with my hair again.

OP posts:
mazziesmith · 07/06/2014 18:17

Avoid Toni & Guy Cheltenham at all costs!! Had a hair colour nightmare - hair overbleached and chemically damaged (told the colourist I wanted warm caramel and chocolate colours - I'm a brunette). My dark is naturally glossy, now looks like it's been set on fire. I'm disgusted at the apathetic attitude of the salon to make it right. Made to feel like I'm in the wrong! Upset, sorely disappointed and £163 out of pocket. June 2014. Used to be a massive fan of Toni & Guy. Never again. One star given as there was no option for less.

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 07/06/2014 19:32

Old threat alert!

dalek · 07/06/2014 22:57

This is why I don't go to Toni & Guy anymore. I had the same - rubbish colour that faded after one wash and horrible haircut despite me being very specific about what I wanted.

I was told by someone that the "trendy" salons instruct their stylists to make sure that customers walk out with a Toni & Guy (or whatever other salon) look no matter what the client asks for.

Bindibach · 07/06/2014 23:09

Maybe someone from Tony and Guy will see this thread and realise that this is very bad publicity for them and that they need to re think their training and customer service. Hope so.

peasandlove · 07/06/2014 23:28

I have heard many times that toni and guy seem to do standard haircuts and no matter what you ask for you will get one of their cuts.

fridgepants · 08/06/2014 00:01

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the user's request.

GhettoFabulous · 08/06/2014 10:49

I go to an old-lady hairdressers and pay £12 for for a cut and blow dry, get exactly what I want and good advice too. The fancy salon up the road who charge £50 for the exact same thing are very nice and do a good job but nothing special and not quite to the same standard.

cinnamontoast · 26/08/2014 12:06

Very late to the party on this one, but if you're still looking for a good hairdresser in Bath, I can thoroughly recommend Cath, the manager of Essensuals (the one opposite the White Company). Cath always listens and is brilliant at giving me exactly the cut I want. I have never known a hairdresser do a fringe so painstakingly before either - taking just a little off at a time so she never chops off too much.

MrsSkinnyLegs · 26/08/2014 13:28

Emma Hibbs at Basement7 in Bedminster - she works great magic. Have a look on Facefart or Twitter for her clients.

SingingSilver · 26/08/2014 13:49

Oh, another T&G victim. We should start a support group! I went in once for a cut and mentioned in passing that I fancied a temporary change in colour. I was thinking of picking up a wash in wash out colour from Superdrug, but ten minutes later I was in front of a colourist who picked out two semi-permanent shades of red saying it was perfect because 'red never stays in hair for long'. It never left mine! When I spoke to him again at the salon he did a complete u-turn and said 'Oh, red is the worst colour for getting out of your hair, I would have told you that!' I used brown hair dyes but it still showed through. Three years later and I'm hopefully about to get the last of it cut out. And I'm too embarrassed to say how much I paid...

SingingSilver · 26/08/2014 13:50

OMG 2011...

Ladyfoxglove · 26/08/2014 15:25

I think Tony & Guy are famous for simply doing what they want with your hair, depite what you ask for. They have 'brand styles' that they give to everyone. I don't think their training is up to much. If you search online for reviews you hear a lot of this.

I think the best thing you can do is go back and complain and take pictures of what you actually wanted. Write to the Manager and Head office too.