To be annoyed and offended at what this hairdresser did, and what she said about my hair? And should I complain to the owner, or just not go back?

[ILoveAGingerCat]

So I have been to this particular hairdressing salon, 4 times before, (I go every 3 months for a dry cut, and 'Julie' usually cuts my hair.) My old hairdresser retired so I started going to this new one about a year and a quarter ago...

This time I had Lisa. (Julie had rang in sick.) For context, my hair is about 6" below my shoulders, and wavy/curly. It's thick and blonde and I love my hair.

I got into the hairdresser chair to sit down for my cut, and Lisa got the hair straighteners out, then spent about 15 minutes straightening my hair within an inch of its life! Several times I kept smelling burning hair, when she kept them on for too long!!! I kept saying 'my hair is burning, you need to stop.' She carried on, and didn't remove the straighteners for another 10 seconds, and kept chatting shit to her colleague who was a few feet away from her. She barely made eye contact with me, despite me trying to chat - several times!

Then - when it was all straight - she said 'that's much better now it's straight.' I said 'what? Why is it better?' She said 'it looks much better on you than the curly hair.' I said 'but that's my natural hair, it's curly and wavy.' She said 'yeah but it looks better straight.' It was 100% flat and straight because she's fucking fried it with the hair straighteners!

She then started chatting shit to her mate again, and proceeded to cut about half an inch off my hair, and a quarter inch off my fringe. No layering or feathering or any attempt to style it. She spent 5 minutes cutting it... And as I say, she cut it very little! Then she said 'all done' and walked to the till... (I could have done that at home, cut that tiny bit off! In about 2 minutes!)

And I don't believe she straightened my hair to make it easier to cut because it's wavy/curly, as every single hairdresser I have ever had, just sprays it with some water, and combs it through, to make it a easier to cut it properly. The silly mare didn't even cut it properly! And she charged me £45 for it. A shitty, non-cut, and half my hair fried!!!

AIBU to never go there again, and should I make a complaint? About the poor cut, her frying my hair, and her basically telling me that my wavy/curly hair is shit?! 2 pics included are 1) what my hair is like, and 2) how she MADE it look!

Why on earth did you let her and then pay for the privilege?!

Can't seem to see the photos but from you have written you should definitely complain to the salon manager.

As soon as she pulled the straighteners out you should have stopped her!!!

Sorry, the pics haven't been approved yet!

Why didn’t you say stop straightening my hair if you didn’t want it straightened?
Why didn’t you discuss how you wanted the hair cut and say anything when she did something else?
Why did you pay when it was wrong?

Did you want it straightened?

But why on earth did you let her straighten it?! 😳

i never let a hairdresser use straighteners on me .. like I can do that at home. They have to blow dry it plus they absolutely wreck your hair and she clearly didn’t use heat protectant if your hair was dry

If she didn't cut enough off why didn't you say something?

Absolutely not. I didn't know why she was doing it, and should have stopped her I know. I think I was just taken aback, and she was burning my hair, then she said it looks better straight which I was offended by, then she barely cut it and charged me £45 for the privilege! I am fuming that I allowed it to happen.

If it's not normally straightened to cut, why didn't you say anything or get out of the chair when your hair was burning?

I know we sometimes are a bit stunned in the moment, and try to trust the professional, but you say "every single hairdresser I have ever had, just sprays it with some water, and combs it through, to make it a easier to cut it properly." So you knew it wasn't right but allowed her to proceed.

I'm surprised you paid. I think the time to complain was there and then. Of course I've not seen the pictures yet, so if it was cut wonky too, you should now complain.

I don't know.

As soon as she picked up the straighteners you should have said "Excuse me but I'm not here for straightening. I here for a cut"
Very odd you didn't.

When you complain to the salon, you should make a point of asking if she is actually a qualified hairdresser, because the idea of putting heat damage onto hair in order to do something you can do much easier by wetting the hair is ringing massive alarm bells to me.... did she even spray any heat protectant?

This is it, I was stunned in the moment I think, and didn't know how to react. I was just wondering whether I should just not go back, or complain, and still not go back, or complain and go back?

And I don't know WHY my 2 pics are not showing after 18 minutes!

!

Don’t waste your time complaining. There’s plenty of other hair dressers and ones that will do a better job.

From my experience of terrible hairdressers it’s probably a blessing that she didn’t cut much. I’ve spent years of my life growing out awful haircuts

As you sat and let her do it, didn't say anything and then paid without saying you wanted more cut....I can't see what you could complain about.
Sorry 🙁

This was dreadful customer services thinking she knows better and not asking you the paying customers what your preference is - heat damaged hair to boot

i understand how sometimes you can sit there in sort of disbelief and not speak up - some of us do struggle to speak up.

id absolutely complain

I have almost but not quite straight hair and new hairdressers always want to straighten it until it has no life. I just say no, I don't want straighteners thanks. She sounds rubbish, but why would you let her do that?

I really don’t think you can complain now if you didn’t stop the hairdresser from straightening your hair and then paid the bill without complaining. It must have taken several minutes to have straightened a full head of hair and while you may have been a bit taken aback by what she was doing at first L, surely you weren’t dumbstruck for several minutes?

Some hairdressers are just really crap and don’t listen.

A good hairdresser would ask you what you wanted first, agree how you wanted it styled, it is also their job to help guide you on a style and advise you if something won’t work but this should be discussed.

Like if she thought she couldn’t do a dry cut on wavy hair she should have discussed it with you.

You can complain if you want or just don’t go back there.

Complain and leave a shitty review - then they will, or should, offer a revisit.

Thank you. It's easy for people to say 'why did you not speak up at the time?' But... I kind of did, I kept saying 'you're burning my hair!' and she kept ignoring me, and chatting to her mate... And as I say, she didn't even cut that much off. I wish I had spoken up more, and the more I think about it the more angry I am getting.

Of course you can complain after the fact! She did a terrible job! Let the owner know and give her a chance to fix it. If it were my business I'd want to know