Breaking up with your hairdresser

[Innermagic]

Would love some feedback from people on the reasons they decided to find a new hairdresser.
I've noticed I've lost a few loyal clients recently and can't help take it to heart.
Would also like to hear from other hairdressers on how they deal with this.

Sorry phoebemac and SpringsInMySteps I'm in Barcelona

Are your prices too high? That's the main reason people leave

I've left hairdressers because I didn't like the small talk - they weren't friendly enough, felt bored, distracted. I've been seeing my regular stylist for something like 15 years now and colourist for about 6 years, because I like them so much and they appear to like me! They also do a great job.

I'm 51 and usually change my HD every couple of years. They always start off fab, listen really well and give me what I want, then they get bored complacent, stop bloody LISTENING and do what they want.

I'm just about to change again, and I've been with her 18mths and thought she was a keeper, but no.

I have the same rich, chocolatey brown colour. Last time it ended up have reddish tones, which I fucking hate on me. I mentioned it and she just said "oh yes I've added a bit much of that tone, I'll make sure I don't do that next time". I'm too stupid nice to demand she did something there and then.
She knows I also like volume but the last few times its been so flat, it's stuck to my head

Over the years I have changed hairdressers for lots of reasons, including moving. Mostly, it's been boredom with their ideas or because

• they didn't look at my face and the way the hair grows
• the cut was bad, or the colour poorly chosen/executed
• the style was boring or out of date
• the stylist became a huge superstar in his own right and kept vanishing to attend to celebrities and meet with the shampoo company making his products.

I have followed my current hairdresser through three salons, and travel miles to visit her. She's a former editorial stylist, teaches, trained as a fine artist in portraiture and her ideas are as restless as mine. So I love her and would pay whatever she charges.

I left mine before Christmas for several reasons.

It was getting more and more expensive.over a period o
Ther was too many times when I told DH that I was getting my hair coloured after work, on my day off for DH to remark didn't you get your hair done then? When I asked why he would say that y roots were still obvious and he thought I'd gone to get them done. He wasn't being mean, it was true
The hairdressers would always have loud dance music on. I understood maybe Friday night but it was a killer when I went in on a Saturday morning.

Before Christmas I went to a hairdresser that DS sometimes goes to. The colour was amazing and NO roots. The hairdresser was young 21, I think she said and absolutely lovely and good fun without being full on. Best of all my bill was over £40 cheaper. My hair has lasted until now which is the longest time ever. I am booked in at my new place. DS said she has cut his hair a few times and is always on trend with it.

I've left hairdressers because of huge price increases (£75 for highlights and cut/blowdry suddenly became £104!), being very fixed in what you have to have done eg, if you are having a colour then you MUST have a cut and blow dry and then the awful hard-sell of expensive products. I hate that with a passion.

I also had to change hairdressers because she turned my hair green when trying to tone down the over bleached highlights she'd done the time before. Ended up having to have it seriously chopped after her attempts to fix the colour made my hair break off terribly.

The current reason for me (not that I'd do it as known her a long time) is price...

Also if they don't do a good job. I've lost count of how many hairdressers when I had highlights in the past would make the colour blocky and not weave a darker colour inbetween - these were mid range price hairdressers too so not cheap. I should not have to tell a colourist to put a darker colour inbetween or if I suit finer highlights so re-growth isn't more visible.

Cuts are also important. If I say I only want a trim then that's what I want, not an inch or 2 inches off!

I do think good communication is important - if you have a picky client (ie me!) listen to them but don't try to pull the wool over their eyes but doing something then hope they don't notice!

Bakeoff I had that too recently!

Had gone from blonde highlights to dark brown - my choice and a big job. That went fine. However next time I went she added a reddish tone to my hair, I immediately made her change it then and there as that wasn't what if asked for at all! Why do hairdressers do this?!

Years ago an "avant garde" hairdresser told me he was doing a "surprise" on my blonde highlighted hair, so it was dark brown with blonde streaks! I hated it, made him change it immediately and he knew I didn't want that! I was a regular client too! Why do that?!!

One that I allowed to become too familiar, she started getting personal and making fun of hairstyles I mentioned wanting to have. Also talked incessantly.
Second one I loved, but salon changed management and greatly increased prices. Also caught another stylist rolling her eyes when I popped in for a 2 minute fringe trim on a quiet midweek afternoon. That was enough to never go back.

Oh and one classic. It was June 2013 and I had a three week old baby. I had grown out the colour of my by now very long hair. It needed a couple of inches off the ends and the highlights I wanted could be done on my virgin hair. A home hairdresser (recommended on Facebook) came round. She gave me an amazing cut BUT dyed my hair dark reddish brown. Not highlights - (my hair is mid but rather mousy brown) SHE ACTUALLY DYED MY HAIR DARK ORANGE. Hair I had spent the best part of two years growing the colour out of. I then spent another year or so and several brutal cuts getting rid of that colour, only last year to have my hair fried with bleached highlights - (which should have been tinted) . I totally dispair and in fact this thread has convinced me to try the Klnik in Islington which comes recommended as being able to mend my hair.

Or do I just give up, and get my mum to trim it and put wash out brown dye on my hair (Nice and Easy 6/8 wash) until it looks nice again/. I appear to have spent my 40s growing out crap cuts and colours...That is why I don't use hairdressers - because they don't give me what I want. In my job if I didn't get it right I would be fired...

I have spent my thirties growing out shit hair too! Am never taking much of a risk again!

Oh god. So many.

Despite me never being late and always keeping appointments, being made to wait up to 25 minutes as they've squeezed someone more important in before me.

Talking all the time, none-stop, even when I'm reading or on my phone with ear plugs in. It's so stressful.

Having my very long hair burned off with bleach highlights left on too long so that I was left with a layer of hair only four inches long on top and breaking off. That's happened twice, because they used juniors despite me booking in with the owner/senior stylist so the senior stylist could go and see to someone else more important
Being huffy and rude when asked to rectify and even acknowledge said destruction of hair.
Bitchyness and gossiping about each other in full earshot of customers.
Bad cuts, ignoring requests just to do their own thing.
'Young' salons not caring about older, established customers, just chasing after the younger ones.
The pushing of whatever product is overflowing on their shelves that month. £26 for a bottle of shampoo? No thank you!

I always tip 20% so don't know why I get treated badly.

Current hairdresses is award winning and I spend £150 every six weeks on cut and colour but it's worth it to save the nightmares of past experiences.

Reasons I like my current hairdresser:

• good cut and colour
• punctual and pleasant
• nice salon atmosphere

Reasons I am considering leaving:

• too expensive. I need to go every 6 weeks to hide the grey, and the prices are too high to go that frequently.
• Would be nice to talk about how to freshen up the cut / colour. Feel she's found my 'look' and goes through the motions (very well, but still....)
• complains too much about her problems. We're friendly and know a good bit about each other's lives, but it can be 'heavy' listening to her issues with her divorce, her ex, etc.

But mostly, as others have said, it is the price. I was there a few weeks ago and had
base colour
highlights
cut / blow dry
bought a bottle of shampoo
I was shocked when they told me the amount. And I'm supposed to tip in addition? (She's the salon owner, so I never know the etiquette of that....)

I think she does hair for many people who don't mind what the price is. I've reached my limit, I think, and will be looking elsewhere. The cut / colour elsewhere might not be quite as fabulous, but I think I can find something that will be fine for a much more reasonable price.

Would be nice to talk about how to freshen up the cut / colour. Feel she's found my 'look' and goes through the motions (very well, but still....)

To be fair, isn't that up to you on arrival when you sit down in the chair?

She's probably assuming you just want the same old, if you're not actually saying you want something different.

I've left hairdressers because of price hikes which seem unreasonable compared to other service price increases, noisy salons and an hairdresser which cancels due to sickness regularly.

I've just left my lovely hairdresser of 8 years and feel awful about it. However, my new hairdresser is amazing and I've had lots of good comments on my new style.
It was a difficult decision, but I found that she wouldn't try anything new when I asked her and I really needed a change.

Being strong armed into paying extra for treatments I don't want and for pre-colour stuffs that don't work. And for not listening. And for leaving me genuinely disappointed.

I've been going to mine for exactly 2 years now. I get a cut and head of blonde highlights and low lights every 10 weeks. I love her cut and colour, but one thing that annoys me is that when I'm leaving, she will say things like 'You should really book your next appointment now as X is my busiest time and I might be booked out'. I do wonder if that's true. What do you all think?

I left my last hairdresser as she was over booking, so had far too many clients and not enough staff. I was left sitting waiting, then with foils in, then after hair being washed, etc for far too long while she worked on other people. The final straw was when I was 37 weeks pregnant and she did nothing to prioritise me, she still left me sitting on the chair for up to 30 mins in between washing, cutting etc. I think I was there for nearly 5 hours

I've left two different hairdressers for telling me too much about their personal problems. I had so much detail about their divorce / delinquent son, they should have paid for therapy. I used to feel absolutely drained afterwards.

I left another because she kept me waiting for more important clients. Once I booked an appointment weeks in advance for a wedding and she kept me really late while she did her sisters hair.

Another was really sneering when I took in photos to show her " well yes of course we'd all like to look like X celebrity but I'm not a miracle worker".

One insisted on giving me warm highlights instead of the ash ones I'd asked for " to brighten me up" . Then when I complained it wasn't what I asked for, said " oh well I'll use a number Y next time " .

I've leaned to stay away from female hairdressers with gold highlights as they seem incapable of doing anything else. I go for men or women with purple/ other crazy colours as they don't seem to find they concept of cool colours too frightening .

To be fair, isn't that up to you on arrival when you sit down in the chair. She's probably assuming you just want the same old, if you're not actually saying you want something different

Every single time my hairdresser asks me how I'm finding the colour /cut and what I would like this time. Isn't that their job - to find of what the client wants and advise them if that's possible ?

Kr1stina i agree with you to some degree but some hairdressers don't ask or listen (the ones who did my blocky highlights did it like a dream, I didn't notice etc) to their clients.

Or you get a hairdresser a bit like my current or previous one who either don't like what you want (they think they know better) or don't do it that way. I went from blonde highlights to my natural hair colour which is dark mouse but I actually really suit darker Browns. Hairdresser took some persuading that's what I wanted, but it really suits me! She agrees now. Isn't that part of their job though to know what colours suit you or suggest changes?

• One because she insisted on spraying some sort of mousse onto my roots every time 'to give it volume' even though I told her that it made my hair look greasy by the time I got home.

• One because she cut my 2yo DD's hair so unevenly that I had to straighten it out myself at home. If she can't manage a trim on a non-wriggly toddler then she's not coming anywhere near my hair.

• One because I moved house.

• One because the salon closed down.

• One because I booked online in the morning for an appointment that afternoon and she moaned the whole way through about not knowing I was coming, she was so rushed, hadn't had a proper lunch etc. I felt like I was imposing on her and it was really uncomfortable.

I really just want to go somewhere nobody knows me or wants to talk to me, be sat down by someone who knows what they're doing and asked what I want, they then get on with it, I pay, leave and book the next appointment whenever I feel like it. I hate the feeling of being obliged to make friends, be sold products and book the next appointment before I leave. Hence, I haven't had a haircut for over a year now

On that note, it isn't a hairdresser but a beauty salon near my office has a notice up in the waiting area saying that they'll only chat with you if you start it off because they realise that lots of people just want to be left in peace. I like that salon!