PDA

View Full Version : Tales from the hairdresser's classroom...



lilin
March 25th, 2016, 12:11 AM
As some of you know, I shaved my head from BSL a bit over a year ago, with the intent to start fresh and grow to waist. As the shave turned into a pixie, however... I was surprised by how much I loved it. I'd never had it that short and I really like the way it makes my face look. So does everyone else. I get so many compliments on it!

As it got longer, slowly turning into the shaggy "I'm growing out my hair for the band" teenage boy sort of look, I still hadn't decided what I wanted to do. A big part of me wanted to hang out in Pixie Land for a while longer before endeavouring to go back to being a longhair. I could do all these crazy things with it!

The gods of London decided for me, when I was approached to be a model for hairdressing classes at a fairly upscale salon. Totally free, and cut by the senior stylists, not the students. They do all kinds of interesting things. I couldn't say no.

So I went in with no real demands of what I'd like them to do, except "Something interesting."

...But what I got was a very revealing education into the way some salons apparently teach their students.

The stylist who met me right before the class said he was going to be doing something to emphasize my curls. Big hair. So, I was assuming keeping a fair bit of the length I currently had. And I said that sounded fine. Like I said, I really didn't care what they did as long as it was interesting.

A short while later, I'm in the class, and apparently his game plan has totally changed. He immediately goes for a fairly short parallel cut with the goal of conforming my hair closely to my head shape. My hair is just under 2 inches on top. Again, I didn't care -- I just wanted a change. But the total departure from what he'd just run by me was noted. And some models DO care. I wonder if they get the same treatment...

I wondered if this was just a foible of being a model rather than a client, until he started saying something rather... interesting.

"My goal is to make the client look to best they can look. If they start complaining that it's too short or too long, your job is to talk them into it so they'll look better."

One of the students, a former barber, sort of challenged this notion -- giving a client what they want gets her repeat customers.

He immediately rejected that. "If they don't come back, they don't come back. My job is to do what I think will look best. If they get freaked out, then I didn't prepare them enough in the consult." As he was saying that, my mind immediately went back to our consult, where he'd told me something totally different than what he wound up doing. Even during the cut, he made a number of immediate decisions that made my hair even shorter without saying a word until he was already doing it.

Completely unlike the big curly hair we'd talked about in the consult, what I wound up with was a very mod-looking, short cut with longer hair by my ears and neckline. It's definitely "high fashion," not something many people have, and it's interesting -- which is what I wanted.

But if I'd gone in with an idea of what I wanted, paid for it, gotten the consult I did, and then the totally different cut that I did, I'd be very, very angry.

To some extent, it's just being a model -- you have to be flexible of course. But that he was openly promoting basically ignoring a client's wishes was certainly unexpected. I felt a bit like a spy, listening in on it all.

They like me (probably for my extreme flexibility) and want me back when my hair grows back out. They also want me back in a few weeks to do some crazy colors. I'll probably keep going until I decide to grow it out. I'm still enjoying the variety. And it's free.

But when I do decide to grow it out and I need to get that "final cut" to make my hair all the same length, I am going to a barber, not a high end stylist. And after that, I'm going straight back to doing it myself.

MermaidKatie
March 25th, 2016, 12:22 AM
Wow, that is certainly eye opening! I would be very angry and upset if I was a client and that happened to me.. I wouldn't return to a salon like that. I have to say, I'd love to see some photos of your pixie do's!
Thankfully the hairdresser I've seen for the last few years is quite opposite - she always talks me out of radical big changes and has never given me anything we didn't discuss. She is also great and doing tiny trims for those who are growing hair. She calls them "fairy trims" and it really is barely a nibble.

lilin
March 25th, 2016, 12:39 AM
Wow, that is certainly eye opening! I would be very angry and upset if I was a client and that happened to me.. I wouldn't return to a salon like that. I have to say, I'd love to see some photos of your pixie do's!
Thankfully the hairdresser I've seen for the last few years is quite opposite - she always talks me out of radical big changes and has never given me anything we didn't discuss. She is also great and doing tiny trims for those who are growing hair. She calls them "fairy trims" and it really is barely a nibble.

Very! There are certainly plenty of stylists who aren't like this -- perhaps it's the high fashion nature of this place that gives it that sort of mentality. "Fairy trims" -- I like that!

I'll see if I can get some decent pics at some point.

chen bao jun
March 25th, 2016, 07:05 AM
Yeah, I have that kind of hair. The kind they like to experiment on--maybe because there's a lot of it and its unstyled?

Forewarned is forearmed. It's nice that you have a fun experience being a model, but as you said, it sucks to go in and find you were used as one because some arrogant person who wants to use you to advertise themselves thought a certain look on you would be best. You're a human being, not a block marble of marble for a sculptor to take a chisel to, or a blank canvas with no feelings to splash paint on.

And in your case, you weren't PAYING.

lapushka
March 25th, 2016, 07:38 AM
I don't think I could have kept my mouth shut, TBH. :lol:

catasa
March 25th, 2016, 08:20 AM
I probably couldn“t have kept quiet, either :o That attitude is just so incredibly, unbelievably rude. I am not here to decorate anyone else“s world, and I am certainly not here as a canvas for someone else to apply THEIR sense of what is good-looking on! But then again, maybe that is the whole idea with those high end places? I wouldn“t know, I have never gone near one... and I certainly won“t do it after this tale!

Sterlyn
March 25th, 2016, 09:34 AM
I pretty sure I've sat in the chair of a few hairdressers that hold this view. The worst was one that ran her fingers through my blunt cut mid neck bob and said it, "it just looks meh". (Note this the que to get up and leave, sadly it went right over my head) I asked for just a little layering on the ends to help it lay better. I walked out of there with a pixie. It was a very nice pixie and a fabulous cut, but not even remotely what I asked for.

For a long time I wondered how I failed to communicate so badly that this went so wrong. A long time afterwards, another hairdresser clued me in that some in her profession would really just do what they wanted to your hair once they got you in their chair. I was kinda horrified when I thought about it and then really pissed about it. That attitude is just all kinds of not ok, in so many ways. I know there are many, many stylists that wouldn't never deliberately do such a thing, but for a while it seemed like those were the only ones I ended up going to.

Thank you for sharing that, it's an interesting insight.

humble_knight
March 25th, 2016, 09:50 AM
In every service industry there will be a mixture of people who are genuinely interested in offering a service to a client. The people-pleaser type do well at this (like me) in my opinion.

Arctic
March 25th, 2016, 09:50 AM
I think it all culminates into many hair stylists considering themselves as artists.

Moonfall
March 25th, 2016, 10:55 AM
Oh that sounds like a horror story to me!

Robot Ninja
March 25th, 2016, 11:04 AM
I think it all culminates into many hair stylists considering themselves as artists.

If you want to be an artist don't go into a customer service profession. It's one thing to express your artistry on a hair model who has agreed to be your canvas. It's a different thing entirely to do it on a customer who is paying you to give them what they want, not what you think would be best.

Arctic
March 25th, 2016, 11:10 AM
If you want to be an artist don't go into a customer service profession. It's one thing to express your artistry on a hair model who has agreed to be your canvas. It's a different thing entirely to do it on a customer who is paying you to give them what they want, not what you think would be best.

Yes indeed.

Although there are also customers who do appreciate the creativity, but they are the ones who are perhaps giving them free hands in the first place.

Llama
March 25th, 2016, 11:46 AM
Deleted (deleted)

Robot Ninja
March 25th, 2016, 11:54 AM
Although there are also customers who do appreciate the creativity, but they are the ones who are perhaps giving them free hands in the first place.

This is true. However, judging by lilin's anecdote, the guy was teaching his students to treat all customers that way. Which just sounds like a good way to have a lot of customers refusing to pay, complaining to your manager, and crying about their terrible haircut on the internet. That attitude is the reason hairdressers have such a bad rep around here.

ETA: And what "looks best" is often slanted toward conventional beauty standards that the customer may not subscribe to, and toward current trends that the customer might not like.

Kat
March 25th, 2016, 12:21 PM
I'd also love to see pics of some of the cuts and such they do on you! I always thought it would be interesting to become a stylist if I could come up with creative stuff to do for photo shoots and such (not so much mundane perms and bobs). And I think it'd be fun to be a guinea pig like that if I wanted to have my hair short (unfortunately, short hair would not suit me at all).

spidermom
March 25th, 2016, 12:25 PM
I've often wondered if something like that was going on from all the stories around here of people going to a salon wanting a blunt 1-inch trim and walking out with 8 inches gone plus lots of layers. It's almost unbelievable really, especially considering that I've walked impulsively into various salons and always gotten pretty much what I asked for. One of my husband's coworkers once told him "your wife scares me", so maybe I have a vibe preventing stylists from risking my displeasure. Whatever it is, I'm grateful.

lapushka
March 25th, 2016, 01:23 PM
I'd also love to see pics of some of the cuts and such they do on you! I always thought it would be interesting to become a stylist if I could come up with creative stuff to do for photo shoots and such (not so much mundane perms and bobs). And I think it'd be fun to be a guinea pig like that if I wanted to have my hair short (unfortunately, short hair would not suit me at all).

Sadly if you do want to become a hairdresser, look forward to "mundane" perms and bobs being a staple in your future. ;)

Wusel
March 25th, 2016, 01:31 PM
I'll see if I can get some decent pics at some point.

Yes, PICS PLEASE!!! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

chen bao jun
March 25th, 2016, 03:26 PM
The other thing is the maintenance.

I have been given a bajillion haircuts (that I didn't want) and hairstyles (that I didn't want) in my life that not only cost money but require you to be back at the hairdresser next week (and the week after that and the week after that ad infinitum) if you want them to look at all like the way you looked when you stepped out of the chair).

In my opinion, if I DID ever want to get a really expensive haircut that was stylish, I'd want it to also keep looking nice for a couple of months afterwards and be possible to style at home (even if it required heat or something). Those haircuts that you can't comb and style yourself and that look like trash after your hair grows 1/4 inch longer are the devil. I can see why they are great from a hairdressers point of view, of course.

And by the way, its not just expensive stylists that are prone to do this kind of thing. It's spread all through the industry (though there are exceptions).

I think those awful 'makeover' shows on tv have exacerbated the problem, too.

endlessly
March 25th, 2016, 07:53 PM
That sounds like a nightmare situation to me! Sadly, though, I know of more than a few stylists who share this idea, which is probably why I stopped going to salons after having it done to me.

Unicorn
March 25th, 2016, 08:37 PM
I recall your pixie lilin, yes it looked great, it really suited you. :)

I worked in the beauty industry years ago, though not as a hairdresser. There were a lot of people in the industry who had the same attitude as your tutor.

Of hair dressers generally, what I recall is the excitement when they had a client who wanted a change and left it up to the stylist to decide what that would be (as you did). The sylist would be telling everyone and really put everything into it.

A friend of mine once got about £200 worth of free colour by saying they could do whatever colourwise. This was over 15 years ago, so a lot of money for hair colour. I have to say it looked amazing and suited her to the ground, they used about 5 colours in all. slightly different shades of red that blended amazingly well.

All that said, they need to temper that creative flair with consideration for cllient preferences. It's never ok to impose ones taste on a paying client, even a none paying client should have the right of veto, given they have to walk around with the result.

I'm glad your experience turned out well.

Unicorn

rosey4exclaim
March 25th, 2016, 09:03 PM
Wowww. This is why I don't trust other people with my appearance. People wonder why I do everything myself ... (but seriously, who has someone else do their eyebrows?!)

missrandie
March 25th, 2016, 09:13 PM
Wowww. This is why I don't trust other people with my appearance. People wonder why I do everything myself ... (but seriously, who has someone else do their eyebrows?!)

Erm... I sometimes do.:couch:The Indian lady I go to is really good with shaping my brows but leaving most of them there. It's my one beauty thing I indulge in on occasion.

I wouldn't trust my head hair to most people, but I've only had good luck thus far from eyebrow threaders.

gwenalyn
March 25th, 2016, 09:28 PM
Erm... I sometimes do.:couch:The Indian lady I go to is really good with shaping my brows but leaving most of them there. It's my one beauty thing I indulge in on occasion.

I wouldn't trust my head hair to most people, but I've only had good luck thus far from eyebrow threaders.

Hah, me too! I don't trust my own ability to "see" my own face the way others do. I find a waxer I like and stick with 'em.

Robi-Bird
March 25th, 2016, 10:28 PM
I am not prone to losing my temper on people in retail or services but if someone ever cuts or styles my hair differently than I have instructed, it will not be pretty. I am the one that has to live with my hair so I get to make the decisions.

The question, I suppose I have to ask is does this suggest one should avoid higher end salons for fear they would have more "artists" than the run of the mill ones?

lilin
March 26th, 2016, 03:25 AM
Yeah, that's exactly it. I was ok with him going to town on me, but the fact that he put that forward as how they should treat every client really bothered me. And the fact that he didn't do what he said he'd do during the consult -- just the principle of the thing, if nothing else.


The other thing is the maintenance.

I have been given a bajillion haircuts (that I didn't want) and hairstyles (that I didn't want) in my life that not only cost money but require you to be back at the hairdresser next week (and the week after that and the week after that ad infinitum) if you want them to look at all like the way you looked when you stepped out of the chair).

In my opinion, if I DID ever want to get a really expensive haircut that was stylish, I'd want it to also keep looking nice for a couple of months afterwards and be possible to style at home (even if it required heat or something). Those haircuts that you can't comb and style yourself and that look like trash after your hair grows 1/4 inch longer are the devil. I can see why they are great from a hairdressers point of view, of course.

And by the way, its not just expensive stylists that are prone to do this kind of thing. It's spread all through the industry (though there are exceptions).

I think those awful 'makeover' shows on tv have exacerbated the problem, too.

This is definitely true. My last cut, which just cleaned it up and pretty much left the length on top alone (I still hadn't decided if I was growing yet or not!) was a cut that lasted a few months before it started looking shaggy.

But what I got the other day? Honestly, I know I'll be taking scissors to the back of it within the next few weeks, because it will just start looking weird. Like a lot of "high fashion" cuts, it only looks right at the moment it's cut. I can tell already that even half an inch of growth is going to start throwing everything off.

Yet another reason I'd be mad if I'd paid for it, and been told initially that I'd be getting a cut that would be low maintenance and grow out more gracefully. This is definitely a high-maintenance cut that, if it were to be maintained, would need to be re-cut every month or so.

lilin
March 26th, 2016, 03:34 AM
I recall your pixie lilin, yes it looked great, it really suited you. :)

I worked in the beauty industry years ago, though not as a hairdresser. There were a lot of people in the industry who had the same attitude as your tutor.

Of hair dressers generally, what I recall is the excitement when they had a client who wanted a change and left it up to the stylist to decide what that would be (as you did). The sylist would be telling everyone and really put everything into it.

A friend of mine once got about £200 worth of free colour by saying they could do whatever colourwise. This was over 15 years ago, so a lot of money for hair colour. I have to say it looked amazing and suited her to the ground, they used about 5 colours in all. slightly different shades of red that blended amazingly well.

All that said, they need to temper that creative flair with consideration for cllient preferences. It's never ok to impose ones taste on a paying client, even a none paying client should have the right of veto, given they have to walk around with the result.

I'm glad your experience turned out well.

Unicorn

Thank you. :D

Definitely. If the gods of London hadn't bestowed me with indefinite free haircuts at exactly that moment, I would have gone to a salon within the same week, told them to let their creativity take them, AND paid for it! I'd been just about to cut the shag anyway.

I totally get how that's awesome. Like how excited I got when I got to write a column about whatever I wanted.

But often I didn't, and I learned to enjoy that too -- just doing something as well as humanly possible. It's part of any craft. I wish the guy who cut my hair had more appreciation for that.

meteor
March 26th, 2016, 12:23 PM
These are helpful experiences. Thank you so much for sharing! :flowers:
I sensed something like this might be going on in salons, because I noticed that I only got what I wanted when I was excruciatingly, annoyingly detailed and specific and kept repeating that I only want half an inch and please, don't be creative with me and no, no layers, no thinning shears (I'm OK with wild thickness, thank you)... Sure, I probably annoyed the stylists by repeating this and telling them what I *don't* want (as well as what I do want), but that's the only way I got what I requested, because otherwise they seemed to treat my hair like a canvas for *their* own aesthetic preferences.

Of course, if you already have a good hairdresser who knows your wishes and your hair, you are probably safe, but with new stylists - it never hurts to be extra specific and watch every step like a hawk, just in case. ;)


The question, I suppose I have to ask is does this suggest one should avoid higher end salons for fear they would have more "artists" than the run of the mill ones?

Maybe... :hmm: I don't want to generalize, but that was very consistent with my personal experience. My best cuts were done very quickly and cheaply and painlessly by barbers, and my absolute worst (getting extra 10'' off, ~half the thickness razored off, years to grow out the layering I didn't ask for, very rough handling during blow-drying and detangling with fine combs/styling brushes...) were actually my most expensive cuts at high-end salons. Of course, that was a big reason why I stopped going to salons altogether. I wish I'd known all along that going to salons isn't necessary. It's wonderfully liberating! :cloud9:

chen bao jun
March 26th, 2016, 02:12 PM
Knowing that going to salons isn't necessary is an incredibly freeing thing.

Thank God for the internet, that's all I can say. Youtube--and LHC.

The blessing of living in a free market system is, if enough of us vote with our feet, as people are doing now that they see a choice, the hairdressers that remain in the business will eventually have to come round to the realization that the hairdressers who retain clients are the ones who do what the client wants. Which is exactly how it should be.

Robi-Bird
March 26th, 2016, 02:21 PM
Maybe... :hmm: I don't want to generalize, but that was very consistent with my personal experience. My best cuts were done very quickly and cheaply and painlessly by barbers, and my absolute worst (getting extra 10'' off, ~half the thickness razored off, years to grow out the layering I didn't ask for, very rough handling during blow-drying and detangling with fine combs/styling brushes...) were actually my most expensive cuts at high-end salons. Of course, that was a big reason why I stopped going to salons altogether. I wish I'd known all along that going to salons isn't necessary. It's wonderfully liberating! :cloud9:

The barbers in my town are not female friendly, so far as I have experienced and I wore my hair like a "boy" for around ten years. It might be one of those things that I need to go into Vancouver for. I know I want to grow out/trim away six inches of layers over the next year and I don't want to inflict myself with a stylist that decides I need more layers. I know I would turn into a Sea Hag.

HappyHair87
March 26th, 2016, 06:22 PM
This is exactly why I abhor salons. I hate salons! They always wanna do what THEY want and not what you asked for!

Frankenstein
March 26th, 2016, 08:57 PM
I think it would generally be okay for a stylist to make suggestions about what would look good and what wouldn't, but there's a huge difference between that and disregarding what you want to just do their own thing.

pailin
March 26th, 2016, 11:28 PM
Yeah, that's exactly it. I was ok with him going to town on me, but the fact that he put that forward as how they should treat every client really bothered me. And the fact that he didn't do what he said he'd do during the consult -- just the principle of the thing, if nothing else.



This is definitely true. My last cut, which just cleaned it up and pretty much left the length on top alone (I still hadn't decided if I was growing yet or not!) was a cut that lasted a few months before it started looking shaggy.

But what I got the other day? Honestly, I know I'll be taking scissors to the back of it within the next few weeks, because it will just start looking weird. Like a lot of "high fashion" cuts, it only looks right at the moment it's cut. I can tell already that even half an inch of growth is going to start throwing everything off.

Yet another reason I'd be mad if I'd paid for it, and been told initially that I'd be getting a cut that would be low maintenance and grow out more gracefully. This is definitely a high-maintenance cut that, if it were to be maintained, would need to be re-cut every month or so.

One of my issues with short hair is that almost every short cut I've ever had needed another cut within a month to 6 weeks to stay looking good. And in practice, I'm the sort of person who tells myself I really need to get a haircut - for at least 2 months before getting around to it. Which means I was always fighting with hair that was too far grown out to look good. With long hair I can be lazy :) without looking like it.

YvetteVarie
March 27th, 2016, 02:56 AM
I was considering going to a salon. And this just made me reconsider. I will keep my hair, thanks

Sweets
March 27th, 2016, 03:52 AM
That experience is appalling!

That being said, when I was keeping my hair short, I would usually bring a picture in and say, "I want something like this, I like these elements, please make it work for me and my hair, because you are the artist!"

I think most were relieved that I didn't want something that they do all the time. Asymetrical faux-hawk pixie? Sounds great, let's go for it! I don't have much waveto my hair, it's fine and smooth, ad it's easily styled. I tipped well, but I've never been to the same hairdresser twice - and it's not a personal thing, I just moved around a lot.

Now that I'm growing long again? I'll be my own stylist, thank you.

Horrorpops
March 27th, 2016, 08:54 AM
Wow this is really interesting!!! My mum is a hairdresser so I've never had anyone else touch my hair. It's crazy to think he is teaching his students to completely disregard his clients wishes and do what they think looks best! What happened to the customer is always right? I can't imagine he gets many repeat clients...

Eye opening!! But also sounds like a fabulous deal for you - enjoy the fun, varied pixies! :o