Hairstyle looks like a mushroom!

[Poppysball]

My hair badly needed cutting as it was overprocessed from too much colouring. My hair is quite thick and has a natural wave to it. I went in to a new hairdresser’s with some pictures from pinterest that I liked and that I thought looked like they would work on my hair type.

As always seems to be the case, the hairdresser decided to give me a nice short bob. With very long front bits hanging down like spaniels ears. She proceeded to blow dry it with a big round brush and then straighten it into an almost sleek looking bob which I knew I could never recreate. It looked ok but it’s not what the pictures were like that I showed.
I also am crap at blow drying my hair and don’t like it poker straight either. Why do they always want to dry it like that?

Anyway, I didn’t like it but thought I’d get used to it. It’s now 2 weeks on and I still don’t like it and I can’t get it to do anything. It looks all uneven with the big longer bits dangling at he front. It’s also goes out wide at the sides like a mushroom!! The slanty fringe that I asked for hangs by one limp strand over my eye.

I know all I can do is grow it but is there anything I can do in the meantime to lessen the mushroom effect?!

Why oh why do so many hairdressers not take any notice of the ideas you have? I feel like I’ve had this bloody mushroom bob cut one too many times now. Is it the standard cut for a hairdresser or what? Regardless of hair type?

Laughing and nodding reading this.

This thread is a testament to just how much shit, technically poor hairdressing there is out there. The thatch solid helmet bob is a follical crime of the highest order.

Also, the awful spikey blokey short cuts for women where what is needed is a soft layered pixie cut.

I've met my current hairdresser 10 years ago and only then I realised what difference it makes to have a hairdresser who isn't just cutting hair but cutting your hair. I've turned up to see him with a picture and he'd say: No. Your hair is too thin to hold that shape and I know that you don't like styling your hair. I won't cut it that way.

That level of integrity and experience is rare.

I've sent folks to him and they never looked back for exact same reason. Your hair next day looks the same as when he did it for you.

Death to mushrooms I say!

I’ve switched to the curly girl method (google it) and my hair is so different now! It might be worth a go.

I'm laughing too. Sorry OP.
But, you were totally totally unrealistic if you expected to get anything like that picture.

that picture, 1:requires lots of different scissoring and cutting by the by the hairdresser.
and 2: would require a lot of daily styling by you, which you clearly don't want to do. so the end result was never going to happen!!

This is why when I found a hairdresser able to deal with my hair I refused to use anyone else, I'll happily wait months to get in to see her if I have to. I actually took that exact same photo in the last time, my hair is very curly and very thick and she got it spot on (other than the fact she straightened it, but I was able to add waves when I got home with a mix of sea salt spray and hair putty, my hair needs to be straight before I can get waves or it just goes into corkscrew curls). She thinned it out and added layers too, I'm pretty sure if she'd done only one of those things I'd have ended up a mushroom head too, first time I ever had my hair cut shorter I ended up resembling Toad from the Mario games and I refused to go back to that salon, so I'd say ask around and try somewhere else, once you find one that doesn't turn you into a mushroom then don't let them go.

Glad my post has caused a few laughs! 😂Have to say I have been chuckling myself at some of the descriptions especially Tudor hair🤣🤣. I don’t think mine is quite that bad, it just doesn’t do anything for me at all.

I have no idea what would or wouldn’t work on my hair as I am not a hairdresser. That is why I pay a hairdresser quite a large amount of money so that they can advise me and with their expertise inform me that said picture that I showed them is not achievable. Instead of this I got an uneven haircut which was then blow dried to within an inch of it’s life and then straightened into a flat graduated bob. My hair has a natural wave to it so I personally thought the picture I showed would work quite well as that is also wavy although I realise this probably involves a fair bit of styling. I wouldn’t care if I couldn’t have that style, it would just be nice to know what would work with my hair type rather than giving me the bog standard graduated bob that looks fine on leaving the salon but then looks shit from the next morning on when I can’t recreate the mammoth blow drying exercise.
I have arthritis so I do find lots of drying and styling difficult which is why I had my lovely long hair chopped off. It just took too so long to dry and style that my hands were almost dropping off by the end of it. Ideally I would prefer it longer, it suits me better but the condition was poor due to lots of colouring.

I just want to find something that looks nice and suits my hair but I feel like I am destined to be a tudor mushroom!😩

What style do other people have similar hair? Please share any pics if possible.

I could be you OP. I've got thick not straight not wavy hair and it's been an on going challenge for years with many photos of styles I thought would be good to come out with hideous, straightened to within an inch of its life layers.

What helped was finally finding a good hairdresser who has not only got a good reputation with thick hair ,she's also honest about what my hair can achieve and made me realise that the photo you posted (I've used the exact same one in the past) just isn't achievable with as much hair as I have.

I now have a one length shoulder length bob, no layers no messing. I was terrified when she suggested it as I've been birth before but as long as I tease it in the right direction when it's wet it suits me and doesn't require too much styling. Stick a blow dryer on it and it's complete Lord Farquad but no blow dryer suits me fine.

Thanks Formerly but how do you avoid it looking too ‘wide’ with a one length bob? When I have a short bob it looks mushroom and when shoulder length it looks triangular.

I've trained my parting over to one side and when it's drying I tease the roots at the top upwards so there's volume upwards. I then only straighten the ends with a slight curl under. For some reason it just doesn't look as triangular as it has done in the past.

Forgive how messy it is today, I've been lying on the sofa ignoring paw patrol all afternoon.

This is it without any heat styling, just teasing the roots upwards as it's drying and I use bed head control freak serum when it's wet.

I always leave the hairdresser with damp hair (I have short hair) to go home and blow dry it myself (the salon is only 5 mins from my house). As soon as the big round brush comes out, I’m offski. I’ve been with expensive hairdressers and local hairdressers and how good a cut I get varies wildly and indiscriminately...but NONE of them can blow dry for toffee. It’s always the same puffed up helmet I have to rush home and soak away. It’s that brush you see...no good at all.

Thanks for sharing pic, yes I would say mine is a similar hair type but wouldn’t look as nice as yours if I just left it to dry. I think it doesn’t help that I have a tendency to tuck it behind my ears so then it goes out wide and triangular.

So how can I find a good hairdresser? I’ve been to so many over the years. I mean you don’t know how good they’re going to be until they’ve done it do you?

As an older teen in the late 70s I had a perm but insisted I didn't want my hair cutting or any layers putting in. I looked like this - only worse .

I agree pictish and with the prices round here I could save a lot of money ditching the blow dry!

I’ve given up going to hairdressers and now cut my own hair. I’ve ended up with all manner of shit haircuts over the years- I’ve been in with that exact kind of choppy wavy bob and come out with a sleek classic ‘mum’ bob dried with a big bristle brush (what the fuck is it with them and drying using those giant barrel brushes?!). I’ve had awful layers that made me look like I was in a heavy metal band. I’ve also had no layers so my hair lays limp like spaniel ears. I’ve had a good short hair cuts and then when I’ve gone back for a trim they’ve cut it completely different. I also find they are DREADFUL at drying my wavy hair and make me either look like Katie Melua or a frizzy weirdo. In the end I gave up with the waste of £ and now trim my own hair into a chin length bob. I go back and forth on drying it v wavy or dead straight tho, I’m never happy with it and if it’s straight the tiniest bit of moist air makes it go wavy again.

oh, the dreaded mushroom. It always amazes me how many times I come out with that exact look, regardless of my detailed instructions - or indeed, request to 'do what you think best for my hair type and face shape.'

It is bad. Really bad. First mushroom I got was right before a trip to Disneyland. I'd injured my knee, so had to use a wheelchair. DH did mention once or a hundred times that my hair cut made me look a bit... well, special is how he put it. I thought he was being sweet. Every. Single. Character. ran straight to me and danced and hugged me. Every single character. My flabber was truly ghasted. I finally found myself waving my arms frantically when I saw them coming, stridently saying 'it is my knee that hurts, not my brain.'

The mushroom does little for any of us. I may or may not be sporting a version of it as I type.

@2018sofarsogreat haha haha!

Think we've been to the same haidressers

I second what @DownUdderer says about curly girl

when people say 'my hair is neither curly nor straight' or complain that it's frizzy or voluminous or they've had misadventures with thinning scissors or hairdressers don't understand it and all this is because they have some sort of wave and/or texture to their hair. And you're right, hairdressers don't understand it. I'm currently doing my level 2 nvq in hairdressing, and I can tell you, from the course material alone, there is almost zero understanding of curls/texture. Fortunately I am training on the job in a salon which has a curly specialist and many curly clients and I have wavy hair myself. but I know that the struggle is real.

ANYWAY, I'd advise anyone who's ever felt at odds with the texture of their hair to check out @powerdomi on instagram. Here is an article where you can see what type of hair she started with and how her hair looks now she cares for it differently. I'm not saying that curly girl will give everyone results like this, but if you've ever felt frustrated with your hair then it's worth checking out.

And for anyone still reading, whether curly girl applies to you or not - if you are in a salon and you are having a bad experience, SPEAK UP we're not bitches or monsters, we're not here to fuck with you for our own pleasure, we want you to like your hair and enjoy it every day, not just the day you leave us. If you don't want the straighteners or the thinning scissors or the pomade, say so! it's ok to say 'I'd prefer you not to straighten it' or anything else. it's ok to ask questions. IT'S YOUR HAIR, and we are not the boss of it!

Madame what is curlygirl?

I've also been mushroomed many a time, so much so that I'm very firm as soon as my bum hits the seat that there should be no layers shorter than earlobe length as everything just pouffs out and it's Miss Mushroom, we meet again. Most hairdressers don't need to be told to be fair (the good ones anyway). They recognise that even with an above the shoulder bob my hair needs a bit of length to weigh it down.

Hair disasters are such a rite of passage. I remember wailing to my my friends one Saturday afternoon that I couldn't come out that night as I had suffered a fringe trim calamity and I looked like 'Joan of fucking Arc'!
Medieval court jester was another memorable look.

And the time I was in a rush dyeing my hair before a night out, made a right hash of it and ended up with one side of my head about four shades darker than the other. DH tried to pacify me saying "I thought two tone hair was all the rage?" Yes, maybe on the lengths, not on one side of the head!! 😂

Hi Poppys

the Curly Girl Method is a way of caring for hair that was popularised by Lorraine Massey's book called the Curly Girl Handbook, which is with a look if you decide you're interested (make sure you get the 2011 updated edition if so)

here is a little summary - basically it means not using sulphates, silicones, drying alcohols, dry brushing or excessive heat styling

it sounds very labour intensive when you first start reading about it, but it doesn't have to be - just by changing your products and how you apply them on hair wash day can make a big difference in terms of the time you spend wrangling your hair on a morning. For eg now washing my hair takes a bit longer, but on a morning I wet it and leave it to dry, maybe add more product if necessary, and that's that.

if you check it out you may be surprised at how much wave there is in your hair - I was always one of those ppl that would class my hair as thick and bushy but neither curly not straight until I had a bit of a crunchy hippy phase a few years ago and stopped using sulphates and silicons and then I was like damn, I actually have some curls happening here, wtf.

I have super curly corkscrew hair and remember half crying and half laughing all the way home from the hairdressers when I was about 10 because they cut it into a bob while it was wet and I could feel it curling as it dried. By the time we'd walked home my mum and brother called me mushroom - luckily all in good humour and it was so ridiculous even I had to laugh! Long hair forever now!

Tears running down my eyes with the 'special' look in Disneyland!