Barbers - is this normal?

[Poppielle]

My son has really long hair and went to a barbers with good reviews. He wanted it cut, about 3 inches off. They cut the length off using the electric clippers and then that was it. No use of scissors or anything. They said is that a good length? And my son said yes and then that was it, robe came off and £12 later. He didn't even wet his hair.

Sounds within the realms of normal. Some barbers are maestros with the clippers. Dry cuts are pretty standard. That or spray down. Did they get a nice clean line? Does it look okay?

Did your son want more than reduced length like layers?

My sons go to the barber and they only use clippers on their short hair. Their hair is squirted with water.

Yep standard barber. If you didn't request a style change I don't know what else was expected?

This is why you should just buy some clippers!

Standard for a trim. Does it look tidier, and is what he asked for?

Thanks everyone. Im going to take him to a ladies hairdressers I think for a proper scissor cut and some layers.

There was a really good barber we use to use and she would always use scissors.

Well layers were mentioned but he looked very blank at us so we just went for trim as already in chair. There are loads of barbers online doing really good longer mens hairstyles using scissors, putting layers in etc.

No it's not great. We will have to book in with someone else.

Generally for a style change a conversation would be had, and in our barbers there would be a couple of stylists you would book as opposed a dry trim.

I am sorry maybe I am missing something but I get the impression there wasn't great communication by both parties?

Was hair 3 inches long?
£12 good value for money

I take my ds to my hairdresser as he has longer hair. She uses a razor and scissors to cut and layer his hair. She charges £12 too.

The barber always wanted to just chop it all off and had no clue about styling it. Your barber sounds very poor and not worth £12

£12 is very cheap, even for a barber. You'll pay a lot more at your ladies' hairdresser

My ds is 20 and has waist length hair. He generally goes to the hairdressers as they do a better cut. My 7 yo ds has shoulder length (when pulled straight) curly hair. I took him the barbers to try and even out the back and he just chopped into it and put in layers that I didn't ask for.
I find actual hairdressers much better for longer hair.

Barbers are trained to cut & shape short hair with clippers, do skin fades, shave faces etc. Many of them are not trained to city & style longer hair with scissors or colour hair, or perm it etc etc. If your son has long hair & wants it layered & styled, he needs to go to a salon not a barber’s. Horses for courses.

If the barber couldn't deal with the longer hair then they should have said so rather than giving a crap cut and charging for it

I go to a barber. If I want a scissors cut rather than a buzzcut (if I want it longer than the number 8 on the clippers) I specify that I want it with scissors.

How long was his hair?

If it wasn't a good length or there was something he could identify as off about it, it would have been better for him to raise it at the time. More cutting or styling can be done.

Lol wondering if this is the same person I took my son to? He has longer hair, but a hairdresser absolutely mucked his hair up. We went to Barbers for first time. She spoke so highly about herself, her training and abilities. But everytime we went she never asked what we wanted, she just said "just a tidy up then..." That really annoyed me as then every appointment started like a disagreement. And she wanted to razor even though I said scissors only, so that caused another disagreement. On our second visit she totally missed one side of his head and wasn't cut, didn't notice until we got home and the sides were a mess. So we go back to hairdresser now but salon owner as seems only one we can find who can cut his hair properly!

Update. Ended up re-booking him in a proper hair salon and he got a really good cut ✂️