Hairdressers' opinions on "thinning out" thick hair.

[MrTurtleLikesKisses]

I have very, very thick hair. It's wavy, but sadly not in a gorgeous beachy way, just in a big, messy, needs-straightening-to-wear-down kind of way. It takes at least 40 minutes to straighten it properly and I don't do it unless I'm going out. It's in a ponytail every day.
For about ten years, I've gone to the hairdresser and asked for the same thing - to keep as much length as possible (as in visual length, I know there might be short layers in there somewhere but I like it to look long, and to be thinned out as much as possible. This has always resulted in me getting exactly what I want - it looks only a little bit shorter but is so, so much more manageable. It feels and behaves like hair that is much finer.
ANYWAY, I moved a few years ago and don't see my amazing hairdresser from back home anymore. I get a haircut about once a year and trim the ends myself in between. It's up every day and I like to keep it as long as I can anyway. I went to a hairdresser I've never seen before last week and asked for the same thing I always do, to keep as much length as possible, not go too short, to have it thinned out as much as he can etc. He was a bit of an arsehole and went on about how I wasn't making much sense, how could I keep the length yet have it cut? Did I mean layers? Because that's the only way to thin out hair you know! Some hairdressers use thinning shears but they're terrible blah blah blah. Anyway, he layered my hair and I was really happy, it looked great, I paid and went home.
But now I've realised he hasn't done what I wanted at all. My hair is now behaving like hair that is thicker and bushier than before I got it cut. This is why I keep it long, the weight of my hair pulls it all down and stops the triangle effect I've currently got going on. It doesn't feel any thinner and it's actually more difficult to manage.
So, was this hairdresser just a total arsehole? What do I need to ask for next time to get what I've been taking for granted in previous haircuts? It was a £50 treat for the summer and I'm so disappointed.
That was so long and boring so congrats if you made it here.

I've got so sick of hairdressers never giving me what I want because my hair sounds just like yours. Grows out rather than down and is so thick it ends up in a matted mess . I had mine cut recently and the hair dressers hacked into it with the thinning scissors and the weight was gone but I have had some terrible ones too. One gave me nothing I asked for and then bleed dried it and gave me so much volume underneath the Bob and then when I washed it , it was like I hadn't had it cut. Sometimes some hairdressers think they are styling a modelling head. They do what they want to do to our hair.

I'd say getting your hair cut once a year is where you are going wrong, I've got very fine hair but lots of it and if I don't get it cut/thinned every 6 weeks I can't do anything with it. Mine just uses her scissors when she's cut and dried it - she holds around the last 4" of hair, and cuts into it in a feathering motion. It leaves the length but takes out the bulk if that makes sense, and gives you movement through the ends. My hair is a nightmare without it!

Go to a different hairdresser.

I have very thick hair too and can't cope without it being thinned out.

i would say you need a trim every 6 - 8 weeks and should be asking for layers and it thinned out to take some of the weight out.

Thinning scissors are a definite no no. A good hairdresser would get a better cut using normal scissors to thin your hair out.

Thanks everyone. I feel like when I find the right hairdresser I'll have my hair cut regularly again, but then we moved 4 years ago so maybe I'm just making excuses. My latest experience has put me off going for another cut for a long time!
He gave me three very distinct layers and insisted this was the only way to thin it. I've never paid much attention to how it was thinned out before but don't remember thinning shears being used, think it was "cut into" like some of you have said so not sure why he went off on one at the mention of it being thinned out.

Sometimes some hairdressers think they are styling a modelling head. They do what they want to do to our hair.

I didn't feel like this at the time numbmum but I do now. I don't think he can have possibly understood what it's like to have very thick hair. I've had it transformed into hair that looks and behaves like much finer hair so many times before so I knew it was possible. He seemed to know what he was doing and just be doing it another way but it's just thick and bushy now.

I've been to a hairdressers a couple of times and she said the thinning shears were bad. She didn't use them the second time and now my hair is bushy a couple of days after it has been cut. I'd never come across this before and even my old expensive well trained hairdresser would thin my hair every time!

My hair is thick, wavy and bushy. For years I asked for my hair to be thinned or have long layers, but it just made it difficult to manage and unless I straigntened it properly it didn't sit nicely.

Over the last couple of years my new hairdresser told me not to have layers but all one length and my hair sits much better. It's now chest length now rather than shoulder length which I'm sure helps.

I'm interested to hear that thinning has worked for you though - it means it may be possible for me! (if our hair is similar enough).

I have fine hair, but a lot of it, and it is very straight. If it is not thinned properly, it becomes like helmet hair. Most hairdressers do thin it, but not enough, and I end up thinning it again at home, with my own thinning scissors. It generally takes a good few times before a stylist knows my hair and cuts it properly.