What was your worst haircut experience?

[stephy190]

Just curious what has happened to everyone during their bad haircut experiences!

Mine was a junior stylist (which I didn't realise I just booked anyone thinking it's just a trim of a standard cut) hair was just past shoulders with straight hemline. Then I explain straight across trim half inch off. Just as long as keep it straight at the back so when pull it forward it's bit longer in the front. Next thing I know hair is significantly shorter and when all of it was forward it was all the same length. I immediately knew it wouldn't be straight in the back and that lots of hair had been cut off. The stylist argued that they had 'evened it out' for me. I was livid when shown the back it was a deep V shape and the sides were short. Such a disaster and worst thing was I had to go to someone else to get it straightened up again which meant shorter still and the new hairdresser commented how was really long in the middle! Lol that was a couple years ago and I've learnt to ask for someone with a lot of experience now.

[lapushka]

I've told this story many times on this board, but a student/stylist once cut my hair, I went before graduation (from High School).

I had asked for layers and she cut it into a bang, rocker style 80s look. Not what I meant at all. I wanted soft layers that barely differed from the rest of my length. But I guess that other style was all the student knew how to do.

The manager then came and gave me a short ear length bob to get rid of those awful layers (they were badly done on top of that).

Meanwhile a girl with classic length hair came in for a short "dusting" and that is exactly what she got, but the manager from the get-go took care of her hair (thank goodness perhaps). She had beautiful dark brown / black hair and was classically dressed as well, knee-length pleated skirt and pretty blouse.

God I was so angry! Not jealous, no, angry!

Anyway, my mom came and picked me up and she was shocked. She almost did not recognize me, it was that awful.

I had an ear length bob with terribly short bangs for graduation. I don't have pictures from graduation... at all! I looked like Amélie (the movie), but the style did not suit my face at all!

[stephy190]

Wow that's bad! Yeah I have the fear of layers now too lol due to some too short layers and too much hair used in making them! I now keep my hair one length apart from some front face framing longish fringe that I've had for a while. Haha it's crazy how such a simple visit could go so wrong isn't it

[Ylva]

I don't have any bad hairCUT experiences per se, but I can share my worst salon experience one more time.

I went in to get highlights. My hair was between hip and BCL (surprise :lol:), and I ended up at hip length-wise, which was fine. I think the hairdresser was very inexperienced with long hair... When she was rinsing out the bleach, my hair got terribly tangled in the sink - obviously, it was all mushed up in the small sink. Back in front of the mirror, she would rather violently RIP a hairbrush through my newly bleached, wet hair. She would start from the roots and the brush would repeatedly get stuck at around ear-length. My scalp was beginning to get sore, and I tried to hint at her to brush more gently by commenting on how much hair was gathering on the brush, but she just laughed it off.

shudder:

[stephy190]

Gahh yeah I had super tangled hair at hairdressers last time I was there and she realised and was super gentle. As my hair gets longer when its wet it's so easily tangled!

[Laurab]

Mine was around fifth grade.
Actually I can pinpoint an exact time, because it was right before my childhood best friend's birthday party. So it would've been around July 26 2006. Which, saying that makes it sound like it was really traumatic and the date's burned into my head, it wasn't :laugh: I'll just always remember that girl's birthday.
So I was about 10.
At that age I'd just get cheap haircuts from the local great clips. Typically I'd ask for chin length, this guy seemed to think chin length and jaw length were the same thing. It wound up just past my ear. As a shy ten year old I wasn't gonna say anything when he was making it shorter than it normally was. I can't remember if I was asking for layers at that time or not, I probably was, and I had bangs.
Anyway this cut that was super short with bangs looked ridiculous on me. I remember going to that birthday party and having a friend say "You look like my mom." Like
I've had hair that short with bangs in adulthood, and it's really cute! But it actually has to be cut well, and it's not exactly an appropriate cut for a little girl. It was like little girl bangs with a middle aged woman's cut below.

Anyway, luckily I've never been someone who care's that much about my appearence, and at that age I barely even brushed my hair, so I wasn't heartbroken. I was able to go to my friends party and make jokes about it and enjoy myself, no tears or anything.

For the most part I've stuck with the same stylist. Through most of high school I went to my mom's stylist (Who was very unprofessional, but she cut hair well) and then switched to my current one when my mom's became too much to deal with (We ended up leaving one day because she was more than 30 minutes late to the appointment without even greeting us, and even when she was on time she would stop what she was doing midway through to talk to people or answer calls, and she would rant about her personal life a lot).

My current stylist is great. She's very professional and always listens to what I want. She cut my pixie, helped me grow it out, has done a lot of different bobs to keep me from being bored, and now that I'm growing it out again she's happy to let me go a long time without seeing her. Last time I was in there she said she thought I could go longer without a trim. I haven't had a bad cut in a long time, thankfully.

[cjk]

While in high school I decided to change my hairstyle. Left my lifelong Barber and went to the newly-introduced unisex salon, in today's terms think Supercuts.

They cut off my hair which laid naturally as a pompadour, shortened the top, and then tried to slick it back with DEP hair gel. By the way, this was the 80s.

My hair basically has a mind of its own, it will not be styled. No matter how much gel you throw at it, it will eventually reassert itself.

My hair wasn't really long enough to have a visible texture but what little texture I had it made me look like Bert Convey. And it took so much gel to hold my hair down that I looked like an escapee from The Godfather.

Not a day goes by that I don't miss my childhood Barber. Navy veteran, the man had a singular talent. I've never found anyone like him since.

Though I did discover my love of barber bouncing. And by fixing the occasional bad haircut, I developed quite a talent for self styling.

[Miss Thyme]

I have a grand total of three bad haircut experiences, but they don't hold up to the stories here so far.
Chronologically:

My grandma (a stylist) decided to take some thinning scissors to my hair without asking. I love the thickness of my hair, and was devastated to have it thinned out.

The second or third time having my hair cut by a stylist beside my grandma, they cut my bangs uneven and my mom had to fix them. It wasn't unsalvageable, but...

Possibly empowered by her previous success, my mom (not a stylist) decided to cut my bangs herself when they were getting into my eyes. I insisted that I wanted them to be long enough cover part of my eyebrows, but instead they ended up a few millimetres above my eyebrows :( This was year one of high school and the weekend before picture day. I had to use a hairband to push down and counteract the bounce in my hair to make it sort of reach my eyebrows and not look terrible. My mom claimed it looked fine, but my best friend laughed when she saw me without the hairband :lol:

[Bri-Chan]

Well. When I was about 14-15 I was an emo girl :p and I have two bad experiences. I cut a straight bang (from the hairdresser) but I didn't like how it looked on me. So I waited for 2-3 centimeters to grow to go again to the salon to put some layers in that bang. Well...I ended up with a tiny and super layered bang. It was horrible but fortunately I under reachted lol. About 3 months lather, I had a looong bang again. My hair were between BSL an WL but my layers were too long. I went to the same hairdresser asking for fixing the bang, cut my hair to collarbone and to trim the layers. Ehm. He cut it totally straight at shoulder, no layers, nothing, and for my bang he just cut a micro section, without changing anything. I was very unhappy and sad for the terrible haircut I had! I couldn't wait to style my short emo hair, what was I supposed to do with all the hair at the same length?
Oh, if you're asking, yes I changed hairdresser after that.

[Lucy McLucyFace]

I stupidly tried to go to a hair salon for an emo haircut when I was a teenager and I walked out with a shag 70's cut. I'll be honest I liked it back then but looking back it was kinda silly and outdated.
Overall not a *bad* experience, more like a huge pain to grow the layers out which took something like 3 years

[Lucy McLucyFace]

Well. When I was about 14-15 I was an emo girl :p and I have two bad experiences. I cut a straight bang (from the hairdresser) but I didn't like how it looked on me. So I waited for 2-3 centimeters to grow to go again to the salon to put some layers in that bang. Well...I ended up with a tiny and super layered bang. It was horrible but fortunately I under reachted lol. About 3 months lather, I had a looong bang again. My hair were between BSL an WL but my layers were too long. I went to the same hairdresser asking for fixing the bang, cut my hair to collarbone and to trim the layers. Ehm. He cut it totally straight at shoulder, no layers, nothing, and for my bang he just cut a micro section, without changing anything. I was very unhappy and sad for the terrible haircut I had! I couldn't wait to style my short emo hair, what was I supposed to do with all the hair at the same length?
Oh, if you're asking, yes I changed hairdresser after that.

Oh no we asked for the same but I got too much layering and you got no layering :P

[lapushka]

Wow that's bad! Yeah I have the fear of layers now too lol due to some too short layers and too much hair used in making them! I now keep my hair one length apart from some front face framing longish fringe that I've had for a while. Haha it's crazy how such a simple visit could go so wrong isn't it

Oh I have no fear of layers, after all my hair is layered waist/hip to classic (see signature, that's why it's so tapered). I just have to do something otherwise it gets so heavy for me and tough to deal with (washing and such).

But those layers back then were a little short.

ETA/ and let's not mention the 2 times when my hair was thinned out, one time it was pixie length and she actually took the thinning shears straight up to the root (and that actually hurt).

[AmaryllisRed]

Getting one.
:henny:
Seriously, though, about three years ago I got a layered haircut that, somehow, was all wrong. I've had layers before so I don't know what it was specifically, but it just looked sad. That was the last haircut I had.

[0xalis]

(Pic from May 2014)
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/668563929282117725/699048798973984848/2014-5-23_17_horrible_haircut_lol.png

I did not ask for the "may I talk to your manager!?" haircut, but that's what I got lmao. I had to fix it at home, and ended up shaving my head later the next month anyway.

[ynne]

stephy190, if I were you and were bold enough, I would have asked for a full refund – how is it acceptable to do what you didn't ask for, and go against your request? This wouldn't do in other types of services. :( "Oh, you wanted me to design you a logo with a horse? Sorry, I prefer dogs, so here's a dog!" Sorry to hear about your lost length, too!
Reading about everyone's experiences give me the shivers.

*

I generally avoid hairdressers. But two years ago, I wanted a specific hairstyle, so I decided to give it one more try. Why, past me, why?

I made an appointment so I hoped they'd assign me to someone who knows how to treat and cut curly hair, as it was a fairly large and successful salon. Well.

I brought many picture references of people with my hair type; it was a nice layered hairstyle that ended below the chin (which means it had to be longer than that when stretched). And uh... yeah. I should have ran when the lady informed me that curly hair has to be perfectly blunt, as curls cannot handle layers. (Uhmmm??) I'm too meek and I didn't have my glasses (couldn't see what she's doing) so I didn't really have many opportunities to speak up, but she heat-straightened my hair (I never use heat on my hair) and gave me a short, assymetrical bob.

And when she was done, she offered to give me fake curls to make it look like the pictures I brought. (It would be an extra paid service, of course.) I said no, because I was afraid she'd use more heat, and I just wanted out of there. I didn't even want to walk home like that because embracing my curly hair has been a really big deal and a long journey for me, and even though it was temporary and it's just hair, it didn't feel great. This was from my walk of shame:

https://i.postimg.cc/rwkNCRg9/180807.jpg

As soon as I got home, I immediately washed it and cut it myself (with some help of my partner for the back parts). It ended up much shorter than I was going for, which makes a big difference with my curl pattern, but at least it looked decent again. :)

[AmaryllisRed]

^^ yes!
I brought pictures, too! The "experts" always say bring pictures! Were my pictures not what I wanted? Or did the stylist not know how to do what was in the pictures I brought? Maybe it's actually really hard to replicate a haircut from a picture.
Also, the stylist used heat on me, too. I have a lot of wave and when my hair is shorter, I *like* my waves. And the stylist just blow-dried them right out.

[Laurab]

^^ yes!
I brought pictures, too! The "experts" always say bring pictures! Were my pictures not what I wanted? Or did the stylist not know how to do what was in the pictures I brought? Maybe it's actually really hard to replicate a haircut from a picture.
Also, the stylist used heat on me, too. I have a lot of wave and when my hair is shorter, I *like* my waves. And the stylist just blow-dried them right out.

I think bringing pictures is always a great idea! Stylists think of hair differently than an average person, and it's easier to show the stylist visually what you want.

But I've heard a few tips past this that make a lot of sense to me.
The first is simple, if the person in the picture has different hair than you it's gonna look different. Which, sounds obvious, but I'm sure we've all wanted haircuts that our hair simply wouldn't cooporate with before.
Second is to point out specifically what it is you like about the picture. The length? The layers? the color? The style?
A youtuber recommends covering the girl's face when looking at the hair, because it might just be that she's really pretty and you want to look like that :laugh:
The last thing is just that you can be the most clear person in the world about what you want, if they're a bad stylist they're not going to do a good job. In general I don't trust places that rely on walk-ins, as they aren't really trying to keep customers, they're just speeding through the haircuts.

I found my good stylist by looking up the best reviewed salons in my area and talking to the receptionist about what I wanted. I know other people have gone to facebook to ask for stylist recommendations, or searched through local stylist's instagrams to see if they like their work.

[BethiBerries]

there was this one time where my mum said I couldn't cut my hair (at the time it was around waist length) and I got angry and cut it five minutes before I left for school. It turned out horrible. Needless to say, went and got it fixed later that week.

[Road2longerhair]

When I was 10 years old and I got in trouble.

My mom took me to the salon and told the stylist to cut my hair from my hip to my shoulders and wow I was so sad and angry.
Not a good memory as a kid lol

[Road2longerhair]

Or at-least where my butt starts

[stephy190]

stephy190, if I were you and were bold enough, I would have asked for a full refund – how is it acceptable to do what you didn't ask for, and go against your request? This wouldn't do in other types of services. :( "Oh, you wanted me to design you a logo with a horse? Sorry, I prefer dogs, so here's a dog!" Sorry to hear about your lost length, too!
Reading about everyone's experiences give me the shivers.

*

I generally avoid hairdressers. But two years ago, I wanted a specific hairstyle, so I decided to give it one more try. Why, past me, why?

I made an appointment so I hoped they'd assign me to someone who knows how to treat and cut curly hair, as it was a fairly large and successful salon. Well.

I brought many picture references of people with my hair type; it was a nice layered hairstyle that ended below the chin (which means it had to be longer than that when stretched). And uh... yeah. I should have ran when the lady informed me that curly hair has to be perfectly blunt, as curls cannot handle layers. (Uhmmm??) I'm too meek and I didn't have my glasses (couldn't see what she's doing) so I didn't really have many opportunities to speak up, but she heat-straightened my hair (I never use heat on my hair) and gave me a short, assymetrical bob.

And when she was done, she offered to give me fake curls to make it look like the pictures I brought. (It would be an extra paid service, of course.) I said no, because I was afraid she'd use more heat, and I just wanted out of there. I didn't even want to walk home like that because embracing my curly hair has been a really big deal and a long journey for me, and even though it was temporary and it's just hair, it didn't feel great. This was from my walk of shame:

https://i.postimg.cc/rwkNCRg9/180807.jpg

As soon as I got home, I immediately washed it and cut it myself (with some help of my partner for the back parts). It ended up much shorter than I was going for, which makes a big difference with my curl pattern, but at least it looked decent again. :)

Haha I sat there and refused to pay and I didn't pay ! It was my one and only drama moment at the hairdressers. I explained how it wasn't straight it was now a V shape and a lot shorter.. And she got the manager and I explained how it was not what I asked for and she said it's fine it can be free of charge and offered to try fix it and I just left lol! Ps I also brought pictures even though it was such a simple trim haha your experience also sounds bad! Thankfully that was a couple years ago

[MissDelaney27]

I wanted to change things up so I decided to go from BSL to shoulder length. I asked the hairdresser for shoulder length and the tiniest amount of layers. She got the length right, but the layers were way too much and asymmetrical! I hated how it looked and wore my hair up for months on end, where I usually like to wear my hair down.

[Jools69]

The worse experience I’ve had was getting a perm 5 years ago. Previously, my hair has taken perms quite well and I like the spiralling curls it produces on long hair, which suits me. So when I found out my salon still did spiral perms, I booked myself for one. I took pictures in to show the effect I wanted and had the curl ‘test’, which proved that my hair took the curl well.

Well, it was rushed, I had 2-3 different stylists working on my hair at different times. The first stylist cut my armpit length hair to shoulder length (it only had a trim a month previously!) and she applied the first solution. Another 2 stylists then after the required time, washed it out before applying the neutraliser(?) by sponging it on from a bowl to each roller, instead of straight from the bottle. Then the first stylist cut my hair again, making it even more shorter and putting in too many short layers, creating a ‘puffball’ effect.

After waiting the required 2 days, I washed it and found lots of straight strands of hair. I didn’t notice it in the salon, because the stylist had blowdried my hair. The salon did try to rectify it, but the damaged had been done. For a while afterwards, my hair shedded thick inches at a time. Luckily, I have lots of hair anyway, so wasn’t that noticeable. People said it looked ok, but it looked much better as it grew out and got longer.

It took me about 3 years to grow it out. I have a natural wavy, but takes a lot of work to enhance it. Occasionally, I think about getting another, as when they’re done properly, it looks good on me. However, my hair is at a good length and in good condition now, and I don’t want to risk it again! So I’m trying to work with my hair and only occasionally curl it with the Dyson airwrap for special occasions.

[Bri-Chan]

I think bringing pictures is always a great idea! Stylists think of hair differently than an average person, and it's easier to show the stylist visually what you want.

But I've heard a few tips past this that make a lot of sense to me.
The first is simple, if the person in the picture has different hair than you it's gonna look different. Which, sounds obvious, but I'm sure we've all wanted haircuts that our hair simply wouldn't cooporate with before.
Second is to point out specifically what it is you like about the picture. The length? The layers? the color? The style?
A youtuber recommends covering the girl's face when looking at the hair, because it might just be that she's really pretty and you want to look like that :laugh:
The last thing is just that you can be the most clear person in the world about what you want, if they're a bad stylist they're not going to do a good job. In general I don't trust places that rely on walk-ins, as they aren't really trying to keep customers, they're just speeding through the haircuts.

I always brought a pic! In my second bad experience, the hairstylist said "it doesn't look like the pic because your hai is thinner". I brought a pic of the scene queen Dakota Rose (google her if you don't know her). My hair is thicker.

After that, I found an hairdresser who always made fabulous cut on my hair, especially the most layered I asked for. But, his assistant always said that my hair was too damaged, also when my hair was super healthy (no heat, no dyes, henna once a month and a lot of pre-poo treatments) and she always complained about my hair. When I started bringing regular haircuts, I quite that hairdresser too because of the assistant. Now in theory, my hairdresser is my family's historic hairdresser. He's fine, but he likes to cut a lot. So I ended up cutting my hair by myself.
Also, I will never understand why hairdressers cannot detangle my hair. They always find it very difficult. My hair always does a lot of tangles but I am able to brush them out without troubles. But it's very hair to find here fine hair as mine. Maybe it's something the hairdressers here usually don't deal with.

[SleepyTangles]

My previous hairdresser was (and still is) a lovely, joyful woman but I don´t think I ever walked out of the salon perfectly satisfied. Most of the things she did, I could do better myself because I take more care and time. I walked out of her salon countless times with uneven sides or crooked bangs.
But she´s a family friend, so I´ve never considered changing until a particularly funny - yet visually horrible - outcome. I already grew my hair to waist, doing the Babushka self-trimming method and in general staying away from professionals; but my graduation was a week away and I wanted side bangs - which I never trimmed or cut in myself.
So I went.

Now, mitigation factors: my hair was at the longest, healthiest the hairstylists had ever seen. It was few years they didn´t had the pleasure of my visit. I came in with a luxurious, sleek, shiny cascade of glassy braid-waves that seemed like the easiest hair to handle in the whole world, just maybe a tad flat around the roots because it needed to be washed. No one but me knew that the angry poodle laying underneath had very strict rules about how he liked to be handled.
They also didn´t even argue almost all all when I told them I had no intention of cutting the length, I just wanted to switch to side bangs.

Washing was pleasant, and the cutting of the side bangs was uneventful but disappointing. They did it with a razor, took no particular skill or care to do it: just a lazy slash across.
I expected something different, like they would have sectioned and layered it by hand, and I was curious to see the technique to copy it later... but nope.
I remember I thought "Damn, if I knew it would have been so simple, I would have bought a razor myself and did it without spending 35€ for this little flick of the wrist."

The real problem started during the drying. I asked hair to be dried without styling, as usual(I couldn´t say it out loud, but the first thing I would have done the following morning was a clarifying shampoo followed by a deep conditioning treatment to remove all the silicones and stuff that is usually in professional product, so I didn´t care at all about styling).
The hairdresser insisted for styling my hair. I refused straightening and curling alike, but she just didn´t want to give up. She then offered me to scrunch a bit of mousse in my hair and dry it with a diffuser. I´m still 100% sure it was all about the fee, she was afraid I would refuse to pay for the styling if I didn´t receive any (which was ridiculous, because in 20 years as a client in that salon I´ve never bargained for price).

At a certain point, something clicked in my mind, and I took a decision: they wanted to style it so bad? Fine, they deserved what it came next.
So I smiled, agreed for the mousse and diffuser, and the hairstylist rojoiced. Then she met the poodle, and smiled no more.
It was like seeing a cake batter rise in the oven. My hair started to grow, grow and grow. Gone was the shine, it was a ball of frizz, shineless and matted. No matter how frenetically she tried to scrunch the curls together, they refused to form, producing more frizz instead.
I could see the panic in her eyes and the stares of the clients and other hairstylists around. And from beneath my poodle, grinning with a I-knew-it smile, was my evil triumphant face.
The scene was fun enough to be worth the extra money of the styling, no doubt. And it also gave me something far more precious: the chance to test the good conscience of my hairdresser. It was a test and I already decided that if she didn´t pass it that would have been my last visit.

Believe me when I said: it was hideous. I don´t have the photos, but believe me. It was like I stuck my finger into an electric socket. Like my hair had been brushed out from a single, giant, fuzzy dreadlock, in a misty sea-storm, after washing in salt water and baking soda. If I could extract the electricity from my hair, I´d have a whole lightning in my hands and be admitted into the Lodge of Sorceresses.

But I acted like it was nothing, smiled sweetly and in the complete silence of the crowded salon I walked to the cashier table and asked gleefully "How much for this?"
That was the test. Not the cutting or styling. My hair has a very specific no-fuss routine and I didn´t warn the stylist that beneath the luscious locks lied and angry, blood-thirsty poodle that hated to be ruffled. The test was seeing if she would have the guts to make me pay the full fee for that nest of opaque, angry, electrocuted hair.
Because no hairdresser in her/his right mind and whatever kind of work ethic would have let me go out of his shop with that kind of hair - let alone ask for money in exchange for that. It would have been a joke, and it would have made apparent that the person had no real passion for beauty, and no kind of respect for the client. Hell, not even any kind of self respect.

She didn´t pass. She mustered the fakest and most pitiful smile I´ve ever been graced with in a salon, and uttered the price. The full price, of course. She also dared to murmur a compliment, but she couldn´t even look at me in the eyes while saying it.
I laughed, paid, put my hair up with my stick and walked home using a different route where I would be hidden from passersby´s looks- because I´m too vain to be seen in public like that. I´ve never been there since.
And believe me, when I had to return on the main road to get back to my house, all the people in the sidewalked gave me weird looks. Even with the hairstick, I looked like a scarecrow, or Medusa.

Another bad note: the side bangs turned into velcro in less than a week, because my hair is too fine to be cut by razor. I dare to say I´ve never had uglier bangs in my life than in my graduation picture, but luckily the tradition in Italy is to be crowned with a laurel wreath after graduation, so in most pictures it´s covered anyway.

So, when time was I wanted a pixie, I found myself another hairdresser. And she´s amazing: very skilled, very careful in listening what I ask for and understanding what I may not be aware of. She never forced me to style my hair just for the money, and respects my choices even if she consider them eccentric. If she feels that something is less than optimal, or that I´m not 100% ok with the results, she doesn´t let me leave until I am. She charges less than my old hairdresser and I´ve seen her doing hair basically for free for people or family who were struggling financially, unemployed or similar. I also know she does hair at home for old people who can no longer move or disabled people.
If she feels that something is less than optimal, or that I´m not 100% ok with the results, she doesn´t let me leave until I am. I still have to see how good we´ll do with long hair, hopefully she´ll be as good with them as she had been with short. Fingers crossed, because I´d hate to stop supporting her business.

[SleepyTangles]

While in high school I decided to change my hairstyle. Left my lifelong Barber and went to the newly-introduced unisex salon, in today's terms think Supercuts.
They cut off my hair which laid naturally as a pompadour, shortened the top, and then tried to slick it back with DEP hair gel. By the way, this was the 80s.
My hair basically has a mind of its own, it will not be styled. No matter how much gel you throw at it, it will eventually reassert itself.
My hair wasn't really long enough to have a visible texture but what little texture I had it made me look like Bert Convey. And it took so much gel to hold my hair down that I looked like an escapee from The Godfather.
Not a day goes by that I don't miss my childhood Barber. Navy veteran, the man had a singular talent. I've never found anyone like him since.
Though I did discover my love of barber bouncing. And by fixing the occasional bad haircut, I developed quite a talent for self styling.

Bolded because this sounds awfully familiar ;).

I have a friend: he got thick, black curly hair. For the longest time he tried to slick them back with gel, to no avail because the curls always made their way trough the gel, so he got something that looked like an accident. Like he got his head licked by a tiger.

[GoddesJourney]

I went in a salon to have my hair cut to an angled bob, just to try it out once. I guess at the time there was a similar haircut going around that looks much like that only it poofs up really high in the back. It's a type of haircut that, in nice words, does not suit my taste. Needless to say, it's what she gave me. I looked in the mirror and fought back tears. She was so confused. She said to just let her put a little product in there so it could sit right. I stupidly agreed. She seriously poofed it up even higher in the back. I felt I'll and almost cried right there in her chair. She thought it looked "so cute". I left quickly. The next day I went somewhere else for a short pixie (think Angelina Jolie in Hackers). Nope. Wrong again. So I fixed it myself and slowly started growing it back out.

Even worse was that I can't trim short hair on my own, so I had to pay someone. They always charged me the $25+ upcharge that I was told was for long hair (when I was long). I was surprised with a large bill because my hair was around two inches at the longest part. They said it was an upcharge for "women's hair". I did as few trims as possible just to reshape it as it grew, being very clear not to touch the top because I was growing it out. That was a 50/50 compliance rate at best.

So the whole experience of cutting it short and growing it back out was awful.

[Iyashikei]

Because my usual hairdresser was on maternity leave and I desperately needed a trim I went to the only barber in town. I asked for only a trim because I was growing my hair out. He cut the sides way too short, making four months of growth vanish in thin air. And he didn't even do a good job at it either because he forgot to trim some parts on top. I never went to that guy again. Luckily my own hairdresser fixed it as soon as she was working again. She had to cut some parts shorter than I hoped but that was the only way to make me look at least a bit presentable. Her fixing my hair is almost four months ago.

[hannabiss]

I'll start by saying I don't actually hate layers. But in Highschool when I'd go to a salon and tell them I was growing out my bangs the stylist would INSIST on "blending them" well after 2 years I still had layers and was irritated. So I was just done with going to a salon because they would never listen and do as I asked. Maybe I would have looked weird...but it was my choice.

So it wasn't a particular moment. But I've since not gone to a salon in over 12 years.

[Bellalla]

I have a deep love of bangs, but a double cowlick at the front and curly hair that makes them a very bad idea. It's extremely difficult to get them to point down as opposed to straight forward.

So you can imagine that when a new stylist took thinning shears to my bangs...it did NOT end well.

OMG, it took many months before I wouldn't well up with tears on a humid day. It was the most frustrating hair cut I've ever had as a quarter of my bang hairs were barely an inch long and looked like something exploding from my face.

The haircut was done and she just whipped through with them at the last second, I couldn't believe it.

[Jane99]

I feel like I can relate to all of these bad experiences! I have never left a salon happy. I tell them I am aiming for volume, and they flat iron. Or that I like to flip out at the end and they flip in. So I had a friend cut my hair because she had been cutting hair for over a decade by then and her hair always looks nice so I trusted her to give me some layers in an inverted bob or something like that. Well some of the laters she cut were like 2 inches long and it looked like a mullet. This was probably 8 years ago and it felt like it took 5 years to grow out those stupid layers.
Last haircut was in October and I decided to dye my hair for the first time. I brought pictures. I wanted to go darker for the winter with some highlights and lowlights and easy to upkeep that wouldnt look terrible when the roots grew out. I also gave specific pictures that I did not want with tiger stripe highlights. Darker for the winter. So she bleached my whole head. So I said, “um, I was going for darker and it looks lighter to me” the owner got involved and tried to convince me it looked nice... but I really didnt want all that bleach and I also wanted darker so I asked them to fix it. So they put in these ugly blue brown stripes that looked horrible. Never again. Maybe for the better because it led to research and I discovered henna and this community and my hair has never felt healthier.

[Jane99]

Also, I don’t think I have ever had my hair cut and styled (they always style) and not gone to the car to shake out the “whatever they just did” and go home and rinse it all out. I’m glad there are others who have equally unsatisfying experiences with hairdressers. Other people I talk to love having their hair done and I just don’t

[Bellalla]

My previous hairdresser was (and still is) a lovely, joyful woman but I don´t think I ever walked out of the salon perfectly satisfied. Most of the things she did, I could do better myself because I take more care and time. I walked out of her salon countless times with uneven sides or crooked bangs.
But she´s a family friend, so I´ve never considered changing until a particularly funny - yet visually horrible - outcome. I already grew my hair to waist, doing the Babushka self-trimming method and in general staying away from professionals; but my graduation was a week away and I wanted side bangs - which I never trimmed or cut in myself.
So I went.

Now, mitigation factors: my hair was at the longest, healthiest the hairstylists had ever seen. It was few years they didn´t had the pleasure of my visit. I came in with a luxurious, sleek, shiny cascade of glassy braid-waves that seemed like the easiest hair to handle in the whole world, just maybe a tad flat around the roots because it needed to be washed. No one but me knew that the angry poodle laying underneath had very strict rules about how he liked to be handled.
They also didn´t even argue almost all all when I told them I had no intention of cutting the length, I just wanted to switch to side bangs.

Washing was pleasant, and the cutting of the side bangs was uneventful but disappointing. They did it with a razor, took no particular skill or care to do it: just a lazy slash across.
I expected something different, like they would have sectioned and layered it by hand, and I was curious to see the technique to copy it later... but nope.
I remember I thought "Damn, if I knew it would have been so simple, I would have bought a razor myself and did it without spending 35€ for this little flick of the wrist."

The real problem started during the drying. I asked hair to be dried without styling, as usual(I couldn´t say it out loud, but the first thing I would have done the following morning was a clarifying shampoo followed by a deep conditioning treatment to remove all the silicones and stuff that is usually in professional product, so I didn´t care at all about styling).
The hairdresser insisted for styling my hair. I refused straightening and curling alike, but she just didn´t want to give up. She then offered me to scrunch a bit of mousse in my hair and dry it with a diffuser. I´m still 100% sure it was all about the fee, she was afraid I would refuse to pay for the styling if I didn´t receive any (which was ridiculous, because in 20 years as a client in that salon I´ve never bargained for price).

At a certain point, something clicked in my mind, and I took a decision: they wanted to style it so bad? Fine, they deserved what it came next.
So I smiled, agreed for the mousse and diffuser, and the hairstylist rojoiced. Then she met the poodle, and smiled no more.
It was like seeing a cake batter rise in the oven. My hair started to grow, grow and grow. Gone was the shine, it was a ball of frizz, shineless and matted. No matter how frenetically she tried to scrunch the curls together, they refused to form, producing more frizz instead.
I could see the panic in her eyes and the stares of the clients and other hairstylists around. And from beneath my poodle, grinning with a I-knew-it smile, was my evil triumphant face.
The scene was fun enough to be worth the extra money of the styling, no doubt. And it also gave me something far more precious: the chance to test the good conscience of my hairdresser. It was a test and I already decided that if she didn´t pass it that would have been my last visit.

Believe me when I said: it was hideous. I don´t have the photos, but believe me. It was like I stuck my finger into an electric socket. Like my hair had been brushed out from a single, giant, fuzzy dreadlock, in a misty sea-storm, after washing in salt water and baking soda. If I could extract the electricity from my hair, I´d have a whole lightning in my hands and be admitted into the Lodge of Sorceresses.

But I acted like it was nothing, smiled sweetly and in the complete silence of the crowded salon I walked to the cashier table and asked gleefully "How much for this?"
That was the test. Not the cutting or styling. My hair has a very specific no-fuss routine and I didn´t warn the stylist that beneath the luscious locks lied and angry, blood-thirsty poodle that hated to be ruffled. The test was seeing if she would have the guts to make me pay the full fee for that nest of opaque, angry, electrocuted hair.
Because no hairdresser in her/his right mind and whatever kind of work ethic would have let me go out of his shop with that kind of hair - let alone ask for money in exchange for that. It would have been a joke, and it would have made apparent that the person had no real passion for beauty, and no kind of respect for the client. Hell, not even any kind of self respect.

She didn´t pass. She mustered the fakest and most pitiful smile I´ve ever been graced with in a salon, and uttered the price. The full price, of course. She also dared to murmur a compliment, but she couldn´t even look at me in the eyes while saying it.
I laughed, paid, put my hair up with my stick and walked home using a different route where I would be hidden from passersby´s looks- because I´m too vain to be seen in public like that. I´ve never been there since.
And believe me, when I had to return on the main road to get back to my house, all the people in the sidewalked gave me weird looks. Even with the hairstick, I looked like a scarecrow, or Medusa.

Another bad note: the side bangs turned into velcro in less than a week, because my hair is too fine to be cut by razor. I dare to say I´ve never had uglier bangs in my life than in my graduation picture, but luckily the tradition in Italy is to be crowned with a laurel wreath after graduation, so in most pictures it´s covered anyway.

So, when time was I wanted a pixie, I found myself another hairdresser. And she´s amazing: very skilled, very careful in listening what I ask for and understanding what I may not be aware of. She never forced me to style my hair just for the money, and respects my choices even if she consider them eccentric. If she feels that something is less than optimal, or that I´m not 100% ok with the results, she doesn´t let me leave until I am. She charges less than my old hairdresser and I´ve seen her doing hair basically for free for people or family who were struggling financially, unemployed or similar. I also know she does hair at home for old people who can no longer move or disabled people.
If she feels that something is less than optimal, or that I´m not 100% ok with the results, she doesn´t let me leave until I am. I still have to see how good we´ll do with long hair, hopefully she´ll be as good with them as she had been with short. Fingers crossed, because I´d hate to stop supporting her business.

Oh my...

I related to this on like, a deeply internal level.
Angry poodle, that is precisely what my hair is when handled improperly, and many a stylist have gotten angry with my hair as they realized that it would absolutely not cooperate with them.

My stylist actually cuts my hair dry, then wet, then let's it air dry and finishes the cut. Unfortunately, she moved away, but she saved my sanity through growing my hair out from pixie to shoulder.

[ynne]

It took me about 3 years to grow it out. I have a natural wavy, but takes a lot of work to enhance it. Occasionally, I think about getting another, as when they’re done properly, it looks good on me. However, my hair is at a good length and in good condition now, and I don’t want to risk it again! So I’m trying to work with my hair and only occasionally curl it with the Dyson airwrap for special occasions.
3 years to grow it out, that sounds rough! I can understand your hesitation to try again, temporary curls sound like a good compromise. :) Did you even request a length change or did they just decide to do a haircut on top of it?


I laughed, paid, put my hair up with my stick and walked home using a different route where I would be hidden from passersby´s looks- because I´m too vain to be seen in public like that. I´ve never been there since.
This made me realize I should have just brought a hat, but I did not expect a bad result, or something so bad I'd want to hide it.
Thank you for the entertaining read! And it's great you found a better hairdresser after that. :)


Even worse was that I can't trim short hair on my own, so I had to pay someone. They always charged me the $25+ upcharge that I was told was for long hair (when I was long). I was surprised with a large bill because my hair was around two inches at the longest part. They said it was an upcharge for "women's hair".
The extra fee is ridiculous!

All of this thread is just confirming for me that I probably won't be going to a salon ever again. :D

[silkystrandz]

#1: Asked for layers......got a mullet
#2: Asked for perm...….. hair melted on the rods...all of it!
#3: Asked for a stacked Aline bob...…….walked out looking like Moe from the three stoodges!
Microphone Drop!!!!!!!!!!

[Bellalla]

The extra fee is ridiculous!

All of this thread is just confirming for me that I probably won't be going to a salon ever again. :D

It really is, DH and I used to go to the same salon at the same time, had the same hair length, but his hair is so incredibly thick and curly that his cuts always took a solid 20% longer than mine.

Still, my cost after tax and tip: $110, his: $55

[GoddesJourney]

Also, I don’t think I have ever had my hair cut and styled (they always style) and not gone to the car to shake out the “whatever they just did” and go home and rinse it all out. I’m glad there are others who have equally unsatisfying experiences with hairdressers. Other people I talk to love having their hair done and I just don’t

Yeah, my friend loves getting her hair done. She likes to change it regularly and they seem to pretty much always get what she wants. She has good salon luck!

Maybe I make them nervous because I clearly don't belong there. I walk in with plain clothes and untrendy, natural hair with pictures and no idea what I'm supposed to do. I'm not super talkative. I look like I got lost and walked in to ask for directions. Haha.


It really is, DH and I used to go to the same salon at the same time, had the same hair length, but his hair is so incredibly thick and curly that his cuts always took a solid 20% longer than mine.

Still, my cost after tax and tip: $110, his: $55

I'm not even sure how a gender based fee is legal. I was not pleased. After discovering this fee I was sure to ask everywhere, but I don't remember finding anywhere that didn't charge extra. Some places just had a smaller upcharge.

[Bellalla]

Yeah, my friend loves getting her hair done. She likes to change it regularly and they seem to pretty much always get what she wants. She has good salon luck!

Maybe I make them nervous because I clearly don't belong there. I walk in with plain clothes and untrendy, natural hair with pictures and no idea what I'm supposed to do. I'm not super talkative. I look like I got lost and walked in to ask for directions. Haha.



I'm not even sure how a gender based fee is legal. I was not pleased. After discovering this fee I was sure to ask everywhere, but I don't remember finding anywhere that didn't charge extra. Some places just had a smaller upcharge.

I'm baffled that it's legal, and I wonder if it technically is...

[Laurab]

I'm not even sure how a gender based fee is legal. I was not pleased. After discovering this fee I was sure to ask everywhere, but I don't remember finding anywhere that didn't charge extra. Some places just had a smaller upcharge.

An old manager of mine use to be a receptionist at a salon, and her explanation of why it cost more was a very blunt "Because men aren't willing to pay for it. Women are still going to come back even if it costs a lot."
She wasn't saying this as if it was fair, but I do think it's true. Women are expected to care more about their appearence, so we get the higher pricetag. This doesn't apply to all men or all women of course, but nothing does.

I've also had to explain this stuff to my father before, he doesn't get the big deal about bad haircuts because they grow out. I have to tell him that with his short hair a bad haircut will grow out in six weeks, but if a woman with long hair gets three inches cut that's six months of growth she's lost.
So women's haircuts are more expensive AND often a bigger risk.

[LadyMikaelson]

Once I wanted a variation on a bob. Now this was a chin length bob if I remember correctly. My hair was long enough for the cut. I came out with a cheekbone length short bob which was borderline a bowl cut. I mean the style was cute, but not what I wanted. & I love short hair, but that was just too short.

[FrayedFire]

It really is, DH and I used to go to the same salon at the same time, had the same hair length, but his hair is so incredibly thick and curly that his cuts always took a solid 20% longer than mine.

Still, my cost after tax and tip: $110, his: $55

That's just offensive, did you ever say something? I would have raised SUCH a fuss if I'd gone in with someone who had similar hair and been charged twice the price.

[Bellalla]

That's just offensive, did you ever say something? I would have raised SUCH a fuss if I'd gone in with someone who had similar hair and been charged twice the price.

N'ah, the haircuts there are worth $100, so we just joked that DH was getting an unfair discount for the work that goes into managing his unruly mop.

I think the point above about how men just aren't willing to pay is really spot on. The only stylist at the salon that does men's hair is the owner, and only because he absolutely loves doing really cool men's cuts (he owns multiple barber shops as well).

His cuts are absolutely worth what his other stylists charge for women's cuts. So in this case, I don't so much see it as the women getting overcharged so much as the men getting ridiculously undercharged.

What's insane is when crappy mediocre stylists are charging huge prices for their limited skill and getting away with it just because their clients are women.

Even a mediocre cut here will cost at least $65, meanwhile a mediocre men's cut at a barber is something ridiculous like $20.

At the low end of quality, women are getting horribly ripped off, and at the high end of quality, men are getting absurd discounts for no reason.

[GoddesJourney]

My husband has to get a military cut every few weeks. They get it wrong all the time, and comically so. The price he pays makes up for the fact that he has to go in so frequently.

He got so frustrated that the people at the places he was going to (who do only men) couldn't do it right even though they do it all the time. Sometimes it looks like they lined it up with their eyes closed as a personal challenge (which they failed).

He started collecting business cards from every person who cut his hair, and then drew an X over the names of people who did a terrible job so he knew who not to go to in the future. There were so many of them. He finally found another chain nearby that is even cheaper and they tend to get it right. They do men and women. Go figure.

[stephy190]

#1: Asked for layers......got a mullet
#2: Asked for perm...….. hair melted on the rods...all of it!
#3: Asked for a stacked Aline bob...…….walked out looking like Moe from the three stoodges!
Microphone Drop!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like a nightmare.. Yeah I always have the fear now when getting even a trim due to things going horribly wrong in the past! I have also had the mullet layers

Loved reading all these feel like can relate to a lot of them! Lol

[FelishNavidad]

I live next door to a hair salon and since it's so close decided to give them a shot with my roommate. It was....not great. She didn't speak much English so my roommate had to translate what I wanted. She also talked to my roommate almost the whole time. Even when she was washing my hair. Which meant she splashed water ALL OVER me. My trim ended up being fine since I was just getting my mullet cut off but my roommate's hair one side was visibly longer than the other side by about half an inch. I don't think I'll ever try again. She was very nice and fixed my roommates hair for free but just the whole experience combined makes me not want to try again despite it being super convenient.

[tuulie]

It was really monumentally disastrous.
Got a haircut at a place that has five starts on Yelp. Should have realized everyone reviewing it was a dude. Landed in a shabby salon of super old lady. She totally and utterly ruined my hair. It was totally random lengths and asymmetrical, I could have done a better job myself. I had BSL hair and the shortest parts were just past my ears. She charged me fifteen bucks, after I left I thought about it a bit, went back in and asked for my money back. She gave it to me without a fight. On the way home a homeless dude said to me "Don't worry, you're beautiful no matter what!"

I haven't had a haircut since.

[Laurab]

His cuts are absolutely worth what his other stylists charge for women's cuts. So in this case, I don't so much see it as the women getting overcharged so much as the men getting ridiculously undercharged.

That's a good point!
I DO think a good haircut is worth a high pricetag.
Thinking about how my stylist had to go through cosmetology school, keeps her liscence updated, keeps everything up to code for cleanliness, rents her chair in the studio, AND gives me something I like, I totally understand the price. It is an art form afterall.
But I know for a fact that price doesn't always correlate with quality. Sometimes you can luck out at a cheap place, and sometimes people will charge an arm and a leg and still not really listen to what you want. If a person get's an ego they'll think they can do no wrong and stop caring about customer service.

[Linden]

I burned a couple inches off on a wood stove, does that count? :P

I've never been to a salon for a haircut. While I am curious about the experience, I'm afraid of what might happen and this thread just confirms my fears.

[cjk]

I've never been to a salon for a haircut. While I am curious about the experience, I'm afraid of what might happen and this thread just confirms my fears.

Do bear in mind, this thread is specifically about visits that are defined as our individual worsts.

Please don't judge all stylists by the experiences we detailed here.

[shutterpillar]

Oh gosh, it was 2010 and I went into one of those chain type of places that charge about $15 for a cut. It's what we could afford to do at the time. I brought with me a photo of Julia Volkova from t.A.T.u. I left with something more closely resembling a VERY thinned out short shag with bangs. :( My hair was SO thin and scraggly and took so long to shape back into some sort of normalcy.

[stephy190]

It was really monumentally disastrous.
Got a haircut at a place that has five starts on Yelp. Should have realized everyone reviewing it was a dude. Landed in a shabby salon of super old lady. She totally and utterly ruined my hair. It was totally random lengths and asymmetrical, I could have done a better job myself. I had BSL hair and the shortest parts were just past my ears. She charged me fifteen bucks, after I left I thought about it a bit, went back in and asked for my money back. She gave it to me without a fight. On the way home a homeless dude said to me "Don't worry, you're beautiful no matter what!"

I haven't had a haircut since.

WOW. That is bad... It's good you got your money back though! I feel like that makes you feel a bit better when hard done by with a bad haircut! I knew I'd go home annoyed if I had paid for mine that time! The comment on the way home omg lol

[stephy190]

That's a good point!
I DO think a good haircut is worth a high pricetag.
Thinking about how my stylist had to go through cosmetology school, keeps her liscence updated, keeps everything up to code for cleanliness, rents her chair in the studio, AND gives me something I like, I totally understand the price. It is an art form afterall.
But I know for a fact that price doesn't always correlate with quality. Sometimes you can luck out at a cheap place, and sometimes people will charge an arm and a leg and still not really listen to what you want. If a person get's an ego they'll think they can do no wrong and stop caring about customer service.

When I had to leave a place and move somewhere else after finding the most amazing hairdresser they gave Me some advice about finding a good hairdresser again, said to go somewhere middle of the line price. Not too cheap and not too pricey and big either. To go somewhere in the middle price range. If go to some huge fancy place with higher prices he said sometimes people who aren't so good at their job will slip through somehow into a job there. And also advised to go for a blow dry with someone first - if they mess up a simple blow dry it'll clearly not go well with a cut !

[Glitch]

I had a lovely haircut as a kid, but when I got home my mom said some slightly shorter bangs would be nice. So, I went back and I guess through some unfortunate deep miscommunication, the barber cut off so much hair that I ended up with a classic boy's short haircut! I cried like crazy, and when my friend (harmlessly) pointed out how I looked so different, I wanted to die! Yikes.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Not a haircut, but a time when I went to the hairdresser for a trim, my hair was a bit above waist at the time. The girl washing it obviously had not the faintest idea how to wash long hair, she was scrubbing away at it in the sink like a maid doing the laundry....with my fine hair it was a total disaster.

Attempting to detangle it afterwards she did the usual trying to comb through it from the roots and got about two inches before encountering a tangled mess. Well, she pulled and tugged and was ripping it apart with her hands for a good 20 minutes, then excused herself and went to speak to the manager, who came to inspect my hair. The manager then told me that my hair had tangles they couldn't get out and that they would have to cut my hair to shoulder length to be able to detangle it. I was furious by this stage and told them that there was no way they were going to cut it and that I was going to sit there until they had detangled it. Well, it took them almost two hours and by the time they had finished they had pulled out or broken at least a third of my hair.....and me with tears of pain and rage streaming down my face....

Let me just say that it put me off hairdressers.

[SleepyTangles]

Oh my...

I related to this on like, a deeply internal level.
Angry poodle, that is precisely what my hair is when handled improperly, and many a stylist have gotten angry with my hair as they realized that it would absolutely not cooperate with them.

My stylist actually cuts my hair dry, then wet, then let's it air dry and finishes the cut. Unfortunately, she moved away, but she saved my sanity through growing my hair out from pixie to shoulder.

We owners of angry poodleheads should stick together! ;) :grouphug:



This made me realize I should have just brought a hat, but I did not expect a bad result, or something so bad I'd want to hide it.
Thank you for the entertaining read! And it's great you found a better hairdresser after that.


It was hilarious, every time I re-think about it I start giggling on my own, like I've lost my mind! ;)
I think it was a good lesson! Thankfully, knowing a better hairdresser was very relieving: now I know that, should I need help, I have someone I can trust.

[stephy190]

Not a haircut, but a time when I went to the hairdresser for a trim, my hair was a bit above waist at the time. The girl washing it obviously had not the faintest idea how to wash long hair, she was scrubbing away at it in the sink like a maid doing the laundry....with my fine hair it was a total disaster.

Attempting to detangle it afterwards she did the usual trying to comb through it from the roots and got about two inches before encountering a tangled mess. Well, she pulled and tugged and was ripping it apart with her hands for a good 20 minutes, then excused herself and went to speak to the manager, who came to inspect my hair. The manager then told me that my hair had tangles they couldn't get out and that they would have to cut my hair to shoulder length to be able to detangle it. I was furious by this stage and told them that there was no way they were going to cut it and that I was going to sit there until they had detangled it. Well, it took them almost two hours and by the time they had finished they had pulled out or broken at least a third of my hair.....and me with tears of pain and rage streaming down my face....

Let me just say that it put me off hairdressers.

Omg. Cut it to shoulder length?! Maybe getting a dry cut would be less stressful next time you go ask for one of those!

[SleepyTangles]

Oh my...

I related to this on like, a deeply internal level.
Angry poodle, that is precisely what my hair is when handled improperly, and many a stylist have gotten angry with my hair as they realized that it would absolutely not cooperate with them.

My stylist actually cuts my hair dry, then wet, then let's it air dry and finishes the cut. Unfortunately, she moved away, but she saved my sanity through growing my hair out from pixie to shoulder.


Not a haircut, but a time when I went to the hairdresser for a trim, my hair was a bit above waist at the time. The girl washing it obviously had not the faintest idea how to wash long hair, she was scrubbing away at it in the sink like a maid doing the laundry....with my fine hair it was a total disaster.

Attempting to detangle it afterwards she did the usual trying to comb through it from the roots and got about two inches before encountering a tangled mess. Well, she pulled and tugged and was ripping it apart with her hands for a good 20 minutes, then excused herself and went to speak to the manager, who came to inspect my hair. The manager then told me that my hair had tangles they couldn't get out and that they would have to cut my hair to shoulder length to be able to detangle it. I was furious by this stage and told them that there was no way they were going to cut it and that I was going to sit there until they had detangled it. Well, it took them almost two hours and by the time they had finished they had pulled out or broken at least a third of my hair.....and me with tears of pain and rage streaming down my face....

Let me just say that it put me off hairdressers.

Way to go Sarah!! :applause
Cutting my hair to shoulder length all because you can't even wash them?? :steam
I would have left the salon and detangled It at home with a load of conditioner... As far as detangling goes, I trust myself better than a stylist.

[Bellalla]

Actual exchange with a stylist after she cut layers into my shoulder length hair when I told her not to. My top half of my hair is very light and prone to crazy curls. My bottom half is much heavier and straighter. If the top gets short layers, it curls up into a ball around my head and the bottom layer stays straight with a little flip at the end.

The affect is similar to this, but imagine the upper part bigger, curlier, and frizzy.
https://66.media.tumblr.com/6ebdbef7a207d02e0062c56cbd91d634/tumblr_mve7nzchON1siyyi6o1_1280.png
https://images.app.goo.gl/c36xD2nuQ3tw5s1f6

The conversation was as follows:
Me: my head looks like a mushroom
Stylist: but your layers are connected
Me: Okay, but I still look like a mushroom
Stylist: You don't like it?
Me: I look like a mushroom
Stylist: But your layers are connected, there's nothing wrong with the cut
Me: Except, that I look like a mushroom
Stylist: Well...your layers are connected
Me: Do you seriously think this looks good?
Stylist: *awkward silence*
Me: Would you want me to walk around telling people that you did this cut?
Stylist: I did the cut properly, I kept your layers connected.
Me: OMG if you say my layers are connected one more time!!!
Stylist: *crickets*
Me: *death stare*
Stylist: well...I don't know what to say...I mean, your layers are connected.
Me: *brain explodes*

I ended up going back to get the owner to fix it and ended up with a chin length bob, like I always do when my hair gets messed up. Lol.

Sadly, this has happened several times, and it taught me to speak up early and not wait for bad results before I say I'm not happy. I have since walked out of hair salons with my hair half cut and still wet if I've had to.

[Ylva]

What does it mean that layers are connected? :hmm: :lol:

[Bellalla]

What does it mean that layers are connected? :hmm: :lol:

I still have no idea

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Omg. Cut it to shoulder length?! Maybe getting a dry cut would be less stressful next time you go ask for one of those!

Next time I go? There isn't going to be a next time! :)


Way to go Sarah!! :applause
Cutting my hair to shoulder length all because you can't even wash them?? :steam
I would have left the salon and detangled It at home with a load of conditioner... As far as detangling goes, I trust myself better than a stylist.

If I did go again I would wash and detangle it before I arrived, they could just dampen it down and trim it. Mind you they would probably cut off more than I wanted, so...not going back!

[Xlena]

I just wanted layers, I asked for layers, but it was late 2000s and somehow my hair end up looking like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo1PLgsSrF4 :doh:
I hated it and shortly after I cut it short xd

[Bellalla]

I just wanted layers, I asked for layers, but it was late 2000s and somehow my hair end up looking like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo1PLgsSrF4 :doh:
I hated it and shortly after I cut it short xd

Oh yeah, that's basically the cut I tried to describe before that have me mushroom head.

Sexy sexy mushroom head.

[SleepyTangles]

"Connected" layers means that they blend seamlessly, so the cut "flows" uninterruptedly from every angle. When layers are disconnected there is a sudden "jump" between each layer, so the hair looks like separate "choppy" bits instead of a whole, smooth cut... like when you apply long extensions under distinctly shorter hair, without shaping them.

Sorry for the horrible explanation but it´s difficult to describe with words! If you go to TheSalonGuy YouTube channel (or any other hairstyling channel, of course) you can see what it is :confused:
Anyhow it was a poor excuse: you can totally have perfectly connected yet totally unflattering layers. Sounds like a inexperienced stylist.

[Laurab]

"Connected" layers means that they blend seamlessly, so the cut "flows" uninterruptedly from every angle. When layers are disconnected there is a sudden "jump" between each layer, so the hair looks like separate "choppy" bits instead of a whole, smooth cut... like when you apply long extensions under distinctly shorter hair, without shaping them.

Sorry for the horrible explanation but it´s difficult to describe with words! If you go to TheSalonGuy YouTube channel (or any other hairstyling channel, of course) you can see what it is :confused:
Anyhow it was a poor excuse: you can totally have perfectly connected yet totally unflattering layers. Sounds like a inexperienced stylist.

I found the explanation helpful! Thanks!

It's still a weird defense though :laugh:
Unless you specifically asked for connected layers that's nothing to brag about.
I agree that they were probably inexperienced. Like maybe he'd had clients complaining that it was too choppy before and he finally got the connected part right.

[Ylva]

Thank you for the explanation, it was good!

[ynne]

To me, the layering issue just sounds like another stylist misunderstanding how wavy/curly hair works. Layers are good, yes, but the result is not going to behave like straight hair, and aiming for a hairstyle for straight hair doesn't really make much sense.

Sarah, wow, I'm sorry, that experience sounds highly unpleasant! But it's good you stood your ground. They could have at least admitted their mistake. :/

[Bellalla]

To me, the layering issue just sounds like another stylist misunderstanding how wavy/curly hair works. Layers are good, yes, but the result is not going to behave like straight hair, and aiming for a hairstyle for straight hair doesn't really make much sense.

Sarah, wow, I'm sorry, that experience sounds highly unpleasant! But it's good you stood your ground. They could have at least admitted their mistake. :/

Oh absolutely, what the stylist was trying to say was that they cut my hair with the technique they were trained to do, so it's irrelevant how my hair reacted to the cut.

Definitely a case of not understanding how curly hair can react, especially my hair, which is only curly sometimes. I was quite young back then, I've since learned to ask about experience with curly hair, and if they know how to cut dry hair.

[eresh]

Not a haircut, but a time when I went to the hairdresser for a trim, my hair was a bit above waist at the time. The girl washing it obviously had not the faintest idea how to wash long hair, she was scrubbing away at it in the sink like a maid doing the laundry....with my fine hair it was a total disaster.

Attempting to detangle it afterwards she did the usual trying to comb through it from the roots and got about two inches before encountering a tangled mess. Well, she pulled and tugged and was ripping it apart with her hands for a good 20 minutes, then excused herself and went to speak to the manager, who came to inspect my hair. The manager then told me that my hair had tangles they couldn't get out and that they would have to cut my hair to shoulder length to be able to detangle it. I was furious by this stage and told them that there was no way they were going to cut it and that I was going to sit there until they had detangled it. Well, it took them almost two hours and by the time they had finished they had pulled out or broken at least a third of my hair.....and me with tears of pain and rage streaming down my face....

Let me just say that it put me off hairdressers.

Jeez!!!
I sure hope you didn't pay them!!