Why don't hairdressers learn about curly hair? (rant)

[sweetmama11]

Ugh... I'm just so sick of crap hairdressers. I have thick, wavvy hair and I've NEVER found a decent hairdresser in like, nearly 30s years! I always get them to blow dry my hair straight because they never seem to know how to properly style curly hair. It's so frustrating. I never wear my hair straight, as I actually prefer it in it's natural state. But it's always a nightmare when a hairdresser tries to style it naturally. I don't get it. Do they not learn about curly hair? It's not like it's some totally unique, rare condition! Lots of people have curly hair! What is going on?! I've been to high-end, expensive places and those super cheap, no appointment needed places too. Always terrible. Why does no understand curly hair?!

Don't mean to offend any hairdressers out there but I'm just so sick and tired of it. How can you be a professional yet still be so clueless? I've honestly never found a hairdresser in 30 years who knows how to style curly hair properly. The one I usually go to is ok, but I always get it straightened. She did a balayage which is again, ok but not brilliant. It'd be nice to pay for a service and be really happy with the results. Most of the time I just cut my own hair, especially during lockdown. It just seems crazy to me that hairdressers can be so clueless about curly hair. I know that curly hair has its moments and that sometimes it's out of fashion and then it'll come back round again, but it's always the same in the hairdressers. I feel like a burden or an annoyance because of my hair :(

Have googled and googled but I can’t find any curl specialist salons in Pembrokeshire if anyone has any suggestions I would be hugely interested. The last hairdresser I had who knew how to handle curly non porous hair packed up her scissors and went to work in an insurance company. Haven’t had a decent haircut since the late 1990’s.

@SweatyBetty20 yeah it's a type of curl grade. It's applies to all hair types so not just Afro. Take a look at this link which explains it well and gives examples of different curl types. www.allure.com/gallery/curl-hair-type-guide

I'm a curly and find normal salons OK if I'm very specific about what I want.
Blunt cut box layers work best for me (I asked my hairdresser what they were called)
I tell them which bits are curliest and bounce up to avoid the "goat ear" look round my face.
Never ever ever let them dry it or ruffle it.
No razors or thinning scissors.
If its shit I don't go to that stylist again

Same experience here!
And they always assume I want straight hair (suggest keratin treatments, blow outs, etc etc)

@SweatyBetty20 curl types forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=116252

Thanks @plumpuddisnice - had never heard of that - it's really interesting to see how many different curls there are. Looks like I'm a 3a/3b!

I suspect the (admittedly few) people on this thread telling the OP she’s overreacting/not trying hard enough do not have curly hair. I do not know of anyone with curly hair who hasn’t felt humiliated at the hairdresser, or left wishing they had never booked.

My ‘favourite’ experience was at a Rush, many years ago, where the senior stylist wailed “but it won’t do what I want it to!” before telling me I might as well pay up as there was no more she could do.

I told one junior stylist not to dry mine and she insisted. Then she started ruffling it to dry and I asked her not to as I'd look like a poodle. She said she knew what she was doing
Did not pay full price for that cut! Horrific frzz bomb when I left

@rbe78 I have long layers and a surely no thinning. Your hair needs 5o be able to form a coherent clump to curl without frizz and having a mishmash of vastly different lengths of hair within a clump just encourages frizz and straggly ends.

Absolutely! Not a surely.

I hear you op. I agree with posters upthread about looking for a hairdresser who has curly hair her/himself. I found mine by sheer fluke but my god, I am never letting him go.

I'm 2c and my worst was a stylist who insisted she was going to smooth it for me. It ended up almost horizontal (it also looked like she'd cut it with her eyes closed - I ended up trimming it, myself)

You don't need to train to set yourself up as a hairdresser.

Some hairstylist only have a few hairstyles.

Your best bet IMO is to find a stylist who was cutting hair when natural curls were fashionable.

I went to a recommended hairdresser overseas for a trim, and the only bit she was interested in was the blow dry. Telling me, it'll be all smooth and you'll feel so good going out. Readers, I went home and showered to get the curl back. I am not sleek or smooth.

Such an interesting thread. I'm in Greece and still on the hunt for a someone who can cut my curls properly.

From friends and family, I know in london that Curl Talk (Stephanie) is good, nuala moray is in Bristol and tope (mahogany naturals) in Milton Keynes is good. Hanz curls (someone posted a link further up) has gorgeous curls and goes to another salon in london (forgotten name). There are options in the uk but you may have to travel and wait for appointment.

Good luck OP!!

I do not know of anyone with curly hair who hasn’t felt humiliated at the hairdresser, or left wishing they had never booked.

When I was younger I went to a salon and had all the stylists sniggering at eachother, while the girl doing my hair pulled faces and looked disgusted as she fingered it.

I didn't dare step foot in another salon for ages after that. I'm really surprised (but strangely relieved) to hear that White people with curly hair experience similar.

FWIW I've been to Black salons before too and most have no idea how to cut and style curls either.

It's just hair, I don't get it 🤷🏽‍♀️

I could have written this thread OP! So frustrating. At the age of 40 I have now figured out how to be assertive enough to insist that they leave it wet after cutting. Then I just go home and do it myself. The number of hours I have wasted in my life sitting through having it blow dried straight isn’t funny.

My hair is 2c/3a, a bit more than bra strap length, and I haven't had it cut by a hairdresser in about 10 years. I cut it myself or my Mum does it for me if we happen to be visiting, she's a pharmacist but I swear she can cut curly hair better than any hairdresser I've ever been to! I've never had a good professional cut and I refuse to waste the money or have my hair wrecked. I have foils and a base colour done every 8 weeks but I take my own miccrofibre towel and sulfate/silicone free products and leave with wet hair which I let air dry as usual. Every single time I have to ask them not to rub my hair with their normal towel and decline having it combed out. It does baffle me somewhat how little understanding of curly hair that they seem to have, I know that hair like mine isn't super common but it's not exactly unheard of either. I'm originally from NI where you do see a fair few naturally curly people, but having tried a few different hairdressers there when visiting home at various points over the years they are no more clued up than anywhere else I've lived.

*microfibre!

Vicky at Mcrory hair in Manchester (near the uni/hospitals) is fab but has a long waiting list xx

When curly hair looks thick the temptation is to ask for it to be thinned out. Thinning hair will create more frizz, so the hair will appear thicker. You want to ask for it to be club cut in layers or cut all one length, and not thinned out at all.

OK I've read this thread all the way through now and I'm and

I've had the same hairdresser for years and years so I've clearly led a cossetted life. I would like to apologise for all the times I've joined in threads about straightening products and made unhelpful comments like 'Why are you fighting your hair?' I had no idea it was so bad out there.

We need 'specialist hairdressers'? For curly hair? What the fucking fuck?

I've always defended hairdressing as a skilled, undervalued job, but if they're not been trained to deal with anything other then straight hair then I'll have to revise that opinion. Unacceptable.

@Floisme this is my last one
I asked for an angled/inverted bob as usual and was VERY specific about the front layers being below chin length, and the back being shorter
This is what I got

I'm old now and that's the story of my life. Hairdressers who cut it too short without allowing for the curl. No idea how to dry it. The wrong shape. Everything wrong.

I've always been amazed at the idea of going to the hairdresser before a special night out or a wedding. I'd never do that as my hair looks awful when I emerge from the salon.

There is now a specialist within an hour of me but she only did the training a couple of years ago and is overwhelmed with bookings.

My present hairdresser cuts it acceptably, and I style it at home.

You mentioned 3b/3c curls - is that some kind of curl grading? I'm white Irish, so not sure if it's just afro or any curls. Would be nice to categorise mine - curls are so hard to describe.

Will preface this by saying I don’t have curly hair but some of my kids do. Yes, there is curl grading, just Google it and it will have pictures you can match with I guess. More importantly though is the assessment by the hairdresser.

Mine couldn’t just book in and have a cut, and for very good reason. They had to have a separate appointment up front with an assessment, which included grading, but more importantly how their hair needed to be dealt with and how long it would take. This determines appointment times for the day.

One of my kids takes around 90mins in the chair getting it cut, then the wash after, whereas the other takes half the time as while both have curly hair their curls are different. They have dry cuts, curl by curl, so no issue about hair springing up too short when it’s dry. It’s about whether you want it dried as well, all of that needs to be determined before the appointment to be factored in for appointment time. It can’t have a hairdryer blasted on it, but needs some weird space age orbiting thing that reproduces natural drying (not a hairdresser so no idea what it’s called), and if electing to dry that adds a good 90mins again. While the hairdresser can cut someone else’s hair while you are drying you are still taking up a seat, and reducing throughput if there’s more than one hair dresser and all that needs to be factored into the day and the way appointments can be booked.

I don’t understand why people are complaining they pop down to a salon that runs on appointment times based on ‘average’ hair and get a rushed cut/dry that fits into that appointment slot. The reality also is that you need to pay for a hairdressers time surely? You can’t expect to pay the same as someone who can get theirs done in 45mins when you are taking up the chair for hours? What about if you have an appointment and you turn up and they say sorry, they are running 2hrs behind as a curly came in and rather than doing what they could in a 45min slot they are doing it properly and you will now have to wait a few hours for yours? So I’m guessing they do what they can in appointment times and also based on the fact there will always be those that protest their haircut that took hours should cost exactly the same as someone else’s whose was simple and took 45 mins.