Rough hairdressers?

[Mesmerise]

Also adding - I have had a lot of nice hairdressers too. But its your horrible experiences that really stick out in your mind and make you scared for your next appointment if it is someone you are unfamiliar with. My husband is an example... he had his hair trimmed for the majority of his life, but the last time he went he had this woman who was cutting his hair and announced to the whole salon how horrible his psoriasis was. That is something he was very embarrassed about, and for the whole salon to hear about it and then turn around to look at him and his "worst psoriasis they have ever seen".... that was extremely embarrassing. He never went back to a salon. Went out the next day and bought a home-trimming kit, and I have cut his hair for him ever since.

His psoriasis is no longer bad, in fact, it is almost gone. But I still don't think he would ever go back to a salon.

Ugh this is another reason I hate salons. I don't need hairdressers pointing out stuff like having a bit of dandruff, or if I have slightly damaged hair, or if my hair is thin, or whatever. I go in for a haircut... NOT for commentary about my hair!!!!

And yes, I find a lot of hairdressers are really rough!! When I do my own hair I don't manage to hurt myself (at least not often). My hair is generally pretty easy to detangle (in fact, after washing it, if I hit a snag I'm actually shocked it's pretty much just comb and go)... sometimes it gets a bit tangly if I wear it out, but brushing it isn't difficult, and it doesn't need to be at all painful. And yet I'll go to hairdressers and wince in pain at the yanking and pulling my hair goes through!!

Mind you, in the past I trusted hairdressers and figured that they knew what they were doing so even if they did hurt a bit, they weren't actually damaging my hair . How stupid. I lost a lot of faith the day a hairdresser managed to FRY my bleached ends. I had just had probably 6" or more cut off (BSL+ to SL) to remove damaged ends (mind you, my ends were splitting more than often but they generally LOOKED okay and were NOT fried). She cut my hair, then found that my hair dried slower than expected, and I guess put the dryer too close... When I left I discovered frazzled ends... I ended up cutting all the frazzled bits off myself. I should have gone back to complain!!! Instead, I just never went there again... (fortunately at that length my hair is curly/wavy enough that you couldn't see the uneven bits that I'd trimmed off).

[MissTulip]

The last time I let any kind of "professonal" touch my hair was when I was 17 (I'm 35). I had very damaged hair and had to be dragged in to get about 4-5 inches cut off (I was crying, even though I knew it had to be done). She didn't do anything else that day since I had already washed and dried it for her. The haircut was great for my hair (after I got over the shock of it being just mid neck :-O) It grew so quickly for a couple months after that...I was surprised and really happy!

So, my aunt, (the one who convinced me to cut it in the first place) suggested that we go back to this woman to get conditioning treatments. I thought it would be fine since my hair was in such great shape from the chop and this would make it even healthier right?. O M G....she absolutely destroyed my hair that time! I didn't know any better, so I didn't say anything to her as she was raking through my hair, HARD, with brushes and whatever else she was using. I could feel and hear it snapping (((
When she was done, I swear there was more hair on the floor than on my head GRRRRRR!!

NEVER AGAIN!!

[Deliciosa]

Wow and I always thought, I was the one that maybe isnt communicating properly.

So here are my hair dresser horror stories:

After I pleaded to have my hair long, my mom finally let me. I was around ten. I had one of those fancy shmancy mullet cuts you know where you have long hair in the back and short on the top and sides. I hated it with a gusto. So please mothers, dont do that to your kids. So when I was 10, my mom finally let me grow it. You cannot imagine how proud I was, when I achieved bra-strap length which must have been about 18 months or so later. I went to the hairdresser's just around the corner of my house as my ends were getting a bit uneven. Around 2h later I came out with hair cut back to my ears - a lovely bob as the hairdresser called it. Yet I am sure till this day that I told her, I only wanted the ends cut. One has to say that I do have around 3b hair so there is some shrinkage, not much but some. I paid, went home and was in complete and utter shock! My mom didnt understand why I was so shocked and so upset.
Similar things happened over and over again until I realised that hair dressers are NOT my friends.
My mom, an advocate of "the pixie" cut, goes to the hair dresser every 6-8 weeks or so. And her hair dresser once was a lady with GORGEOUS silky blond hair, thick, mid-back. They got talking. My mom told her about me and it turns out that this lady has two daughters with long hair. So I went. I must have been around 16 or so. And lo and behold she treated my hair lovingly. She brushed it from the tips to the roots, not wet and sold me my first BB Brush. Unfortunately, she moved away .

Adding to the psoriasis story: When I moved out of home I had my very last hair dresser attempt. A hair dresser was running her fingers through my hair and said very loudly "Oh my you have thin hair!" - "EXCUSE ME?" I answered and left the salon. I dont have THIN hair, if anything I have fine hair, but with a ponytail circumference of 4.5-5 inches I dont think ANYONE can talk about thin here. But even IF I had thinner hair, you wouldnt say something like this. You wouldnt go up to someone in the gym and say "Oh you are so fat!" or to a lady or gentleman of colour "Oh my you are very black, aren't you!" EVEN if they were a bit chunkier or even if they were very dark. You are just not that inconsiderate.

Since then I never never neeeeever went to a hair dresser ever again.

I recently got married. And a stylist did my hair and makeup. As I married into a Muslim-Indian family my hair was done in an updo that had to support my heavy wedding veils. Yet the stylist was excruciatingly rough with my hair and scalp. I have to say, that I have a lot of hair yet the single strand is rather fine. My stylist was of Pakistani descent. And she did EVERYTHING that you shouldnt do, if you want to keep your luscious locks: Brushing it from the roots down very thoroughly (not so say violently), teasing the isht out of it (seriously I had a hard time even with deep conditioning it to detangle it), using and exuberant amount of bobby pins ridiculously close to my scalp, poking and prodding me and heat styling without ANY protection on the HIGHEST setting. She was so bad that the curling wand slipped out of her hand AND yes landed on my neck and shoulder, which left beautiful burn marks that I had throughout all our wedding festivities. She neither was prepared for my hair structure, nor it's fragileness, nor the length *my hair is now around mid-butt ;P *. This all caused a lot of breakage on my crown and left my reasonable thick braid considerably thinner mid-back onwards because of all the snapped hair.
During all of that I stayed very calm as I dont want to get myself in a franzy before my wedding.
My husband, after I told him about all of that, I didnt want to upset him as my stylist was a present of one of my in laws family friends, was beyond furious. He loves my hair a lot and is my control group (whenever I test a new "remedy" I am allowed to also test it on him [I mean anything], which is a whole lot of fun). Interestingly enough, my sister in law who got her makeup and hair done by the same stylist told me recently the very same and I was very relieved as I dont want to be the hair crazy person, you know.

What I find absolutely worrying is the lack of consideration that all these hair dressers that we all have encountered (not all of them, but certainly those that have mistreated us had/have) had. It takes discipline and tenacity to grow hair of our length. I do not understand why this world is becoming increasingly inconsiderate.

[Deliciosa]

Wow and I always thought, I was the one that maybe isnt communicating properly.

So here are my hair dresser horror stories:

After I pleaded to have my hair long, my mom finally let me. I was around ten. I had one of those fancy shmancy mullet cuts you know where you have long hair in the back and short on the top and sides. I hated it with a gusto. So please mothers, dont do that to your kids. So when I was 10, my mom finally let me grow it. You cannot imagine how proud I was, when I achieved bra-strap length which must have been about 18 months or so later. I went to the hairdresser's just around the corner of my house as my ends were getting a bit uneven. Around 2h later I came out with hair cut back to my ears - a lovely bob as the hairdresser called it. Yet I am sure till this day that I told her, I only wanted the ends cut. One has to say that I do have around 3b hair so there is some shrinkage, not much but some. I paid, went home and was in complete and utter shock! My mom didnt understand why I was so shocked and so upset.
Similar things happened over and over again until I realised that hair dressers are NOT my friends.
My mom, an advocate of "the pixie" cut, goes to the hair dresser every 6-8 weeks or so. And her hair dresser once was a lady with GORGEOUS silky blond hair, thick, mid-back. They got talking. My mom told her about me and it turns out that this lady has two daughters with long hair. So I went. I must have been around 16 or so. And lo and behold she treated my hair lovingly. She brushed it from the tips to the roots, not wet and sold me my first BB Brush. Unfortunately, she moved away .

Adding to the psoriasis story: When I moved out of home I had my very last hair dresser attempt. A hair dresser was running her fingers through my hair and said very loudly "Oh my you have thin hair!" - "EXCUSE ME?" I answered and left the salon. I dont have THIN hair, if anything I have fine hair, but with a ponytail circumference of 4.5-5 inches I dont think ANYONE can talk about thin here. But even IF I had thinner hair, you wouldnt say something like this. You wouldnt go up to someone in the gym and say "Oh you are so fat!" or to a lady or gentleman of colour "Oh my you are very black, aren't you!" EVEN if they were a bit chunkier or even if they were very dark. You are just not that inconsiderate.

Since then I never never neeeeever went to a hair dresser ever again.

I recently got married. And a stylist did my hair and makeup. As I married into a Muslim-Indian family my hair was done in an updo that had to support my heavy wedding veils. Yet the stylist was excruciatingly rough with my hair and scalp. I have to say, that I have a lot of hair yet the single strand is rather fine. My stylist was of Pakistani descent. And she did EVERYTHING that you shouldnt do, if you want to keep your luscious locks: Brushing it from the roots down very thoroughly (not so say violently), teasing the isht out of it (seriously I had a hard time even with deep conditioning it to detangle it), using and exuberant amount of bobby pins ridiculously close to my scalp, poking and prodding me and heat styling without ANY protection on the HIGHEST setting. She was so bad that the curling wand slipped out of her hand AND yes landed on my neck and shoulder, which left beautiful burn marks that I had throughout all our wedding festivities. She neither was prepared for my hair structure, nor it's fragileness, nor the length *my hair is now around mid-butt ;P *. This all caused a lot of breakage on my crown and left my reasonable thick braid considerably thinner mid-back onwards because of all the snapped hair.
During all of that I stayed very calm as I dont want to get myself in a franzy before my wedding.
My husband, after I told him about all of that, I didnt want to upset him as my stylist was a present of one of my in laws family friends, was beyond furious. He loves my hair a lot and is my control group (whenever I test a new "remedy" I am allowed to also test it on him [I mean anything], which is a whole lot of fun). Interestingly enough, my sister in law who got her makeup and hair done by the same stylist told me recently the very same and I was very relieved as I dont want to be the hair crazy person, you know.

What I find absolutely worrying is the lack of consideration that all these hair dressers that we all have encountered (not all of them, but certainly those that have mistreated us had/have) had. It takes discipline and tenacity to grow hair of our length. I do not understand why this world is becoming increasingly inconsiderate.

[Frankenstein]

It seems like most hairdressers are too rough with combing. My last one actually attacked my tangles with a fine tooth comb on a day when my hair was being particularly tangly

[Obsidian]

When ever I run across threads like this, I am absolutely shocked that you gals who have spend so much time and effort to grow your hair out are afraid to speak up. If you went to a doctor for some minor surgical procedure and they started cutting on you with no anesthesia, I guarantee you would say something.

Its no different with hair, you HAVE to speak your mind or else they won't know what they are doing wrong. 99.9% of their clients aren't going to care if their hair is brushed too rough or the heat tools are too hot.

I'm also surprised how many of you let hairdressers wash/blow dry your hair when you didn't want that service. Don't you tell them when you arrive what it is you want? Around here a wash and style cost more so you have to request those services. I always leave the salon with damp hair as I see no reason to pay for a blow dry when it will just poof as soon as water touches it again.

I try to find small salons that only have 1-2 people employed or even retired hairdressers that offer services out of their house. I find them the easiest to work with and the most willing to follow your directions. Chain salons are the worse, usually full of younger "I just want to cut and style" ladies who simply can't understand the meaning of a trim. I think most of them would be happy to make over everyone who sits in their chair.

I love my woman barber. She only cuts hair/beards. No color, no perms and I've never seen her wash anyones hair even though she does have a sink. I've seen guys come in straight from working in the woods, dirty as all get out and all she does is damp mist it then go to town. She is fast, gentle and very talented.

[AutobotsAttack]

Ugh I definitely can relate. My problem is that they are always too rough when combing my hair. And the break off too much hair that would otherwise still be on my head if I detangled it myself.

[Inga-Marjukka]

There's this hairdresser in my hometown who is apparently award-winning and really good but when I went to her years ago when my hair was basically a long bob, it was a horrible experience. She really hurt my head when she brushed my hair to start, and when she washed my hair after bleaching she rubbed my hair into massive knots and SLAMMED the towel on my head and continued to rub all over my forehead like my head was a metal bulb at the end of a pole as a part of some public fence and she was the uninterested teenager in her summer job told to rub it spotless. I thought my ears would fall out. So, couple of tears were shed on my part there.

My sister who had been to her earlier warned me that since my hair is relatively short she's going to want to smother it in hair wax to top it off. The hairdresser told me she's going to put some wax on the back of my hair to give it some volume. Remembering my sister's words I asked her to but just a tiny bit in, which resulted in her sinking her finger into the wax pot and made the back of my head look like a freshly highlighted chicken's bum. After paying I ran out and combed my hair on the street. The bleeding wax was everywhere and when I got home I immediately washed my hair.

Needless to say, I never ever went there again. My sister also had had an extremely painful experience when her shoulder length hair had been highlighted using that funny hat thing with holes in it where they pull the hair to be highlighted out of the holes with a hook. Her friend, on the other hand, had gone there to get some ashy brown colour on her long hair, and at one point she had looked in the mirror and said: "I really don't think I asked for purple-red." to which the hairdresser had answered "Oh. Let's tweak the price a little bit, shall we?"

Unbelievable. Also a good example of how difficult it can be sometimes to speak your mind and be the "difficult" customer, even when one knows that they're actually right, not the hairdresser. Ugh, this is such a horror story and I got really irritated writing this!