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The Maple Leaf
April 23rd, 2020, 10:07 AM
An unfortunately common topic is about bad experiences with hairdressers (a thread about worst hair disasters is running on this forum right now). But more specifically, who here has had an experience where they have retaliated? Have any of you who were not satisfied with the service you got as a minimum formally complained, if not demanded the hairdresser be diciplined or fired, sued the salon or stylist, or even had a direct altercation? What was the end result?

This is a topic where I can only ask and cannot contribute, as I have been cutting my own hair since I first grew my hair out 20 years ago (with a single exception in 2002 and that experience was not, on the whole, negative).

cjk
April 23rd, 2020, 10:10 AM
I'm a barber bouncer. The inconsistency of haircuts, the unknown element, is actually exciting to me.

But like you, I also can cut and restyle my own hair.

I must admit that I find the idea of a salon causing sufficient damage that a lawsuit would be warranted to be quite amazing.

I mean don't get me wrong, anything is possible, but that seems a bit extreme.

(Karen)

SleepyTangles
April 23rd, 2020, 10:19 AM
For legal retaliations you have to have a very serious reason, IMHO.... not just the usual mediocre-to-awful cut.
Fraud, sexual harrassment, or a big BIG accident... Something that could have posed a serious health hazard.

So no, never retaliated: never had anything worse than a uneven cut, painful detangling or a styling session "poofed" out of control.

ETA: probably also because where I live an haircut with shampoo and styling is on average around 35€. I mean, if I'd have to pay 100$ I'd be much more offended by a subpar outcome.

eresh
April 23rd, 2020, 10:47 AM
Slapping on lawsuits (for minor issues)....it's a very American thing I guess?
Well, maybe if the hairdresser cut off an ear or something...

I have been dissatisfied with a hairdresser, cut off too much while I showed her how much she could take off max.
She also botched the dyejob...
I got mad, explained why (politely!), didn't pay and just left.
Nothing happened.

Never went to any hairsalon after that ever.

Bellalla
April 23rd, 2020, 12:19 PM
These days online reviews are everything for client centered businesses.
It takes A LOT for me to write something negative online, but if I were extremely dissatisfied with how a salon handled a screw up, then that's what I would do. Whether that negative review actually damages that person's reputation or not, you can pretty much guarantee that it will get under their skin. I've consulted for a firm that specifically does online reputation management, and bad reviews keep service providers up at night, even if they already have a ton of good ones. That's why they're a last resort for me.

I've had some truly disastrous haircuts, but even then, I don't blame the stylists so much, as I was young and didn't understand my own hair or how to warn them.
The only way I would retaliate now is if I was very very clear about what not to do and they did it anyway, and then gave me attitude when confronted about it, and still tried to charge me. Under those circumstances, absolutely, I would retaliate. Online.

Laurab
April 23rd, 2020, 12:26 PM
I mentioned my former hairdresser on the afforementioned bad haircut forum, this is probably a good place to expand.
This isn't a retaliation story exactly, just a bad hairdresser story and what ended up happening with it. There are too many weird details for me to say everything that happened, but a summary.

My mom and aunt both have curly hair (My mom's more wavy, but it's enough to make a difference in a cut). Nowadays there are more stylists who know how to cut curly hair than there were when they started seeing this women, and overtime she basically convinced them that finding another hairdresser who could do it was nearly impossible. To be fair from the beginning, this women did cut hair very well. If she wanted to work in a salon and just cut and color hair she would've been great. But at some point, she decided she wanted to own her salon.
She was a great stylist on a technical level, TERRIBLE salon owner.
She was always late, constantly complaining about her personal life (At one point explaining that she was interested in an engaged man, but "engaged isn't married" shudder:), and would even stop in the middle of what she was doing to answer the phone or talk to someone working for her.
Somewhere in this timeline I started going to her, and while somedays were good (I brought in a bunch of reference pictures once to get a new cut, and she spent a lot of time talking about what would suit my hair and face, and I ended up with a haircut I really LOVED, she did a really fancy braid once, I asked for something inspired by aa Disney Princess and she actually did it) some days were really bad (mostly previously mentioned stuff, the worst being when it took so long for her to even greet us my mom and I just left. She apologized and gave a free haircut the next time, but still, it was like over half an hour).
Things really fell apart when her long-time assistant left. This woman had some magic ability to keep the owner functioning, but she was from Germany and wanted to move back before her daughter started elementary school. Everything got worse after that, it was even later, less organized, lots of breaks to correct the assistant, it was a mess.

So my mom decided at the very least she could get me out of there. I hadn't set up a new appointment, it'd been a long time since a cut, and I decided I wanted to do something drastically different and get a pixie cut. Found my new stylist, got the cut, loved it!

Eventually the old salon owner asked my mom about me. My mom did her absolute best to make it seem like I was just being a teenager and didn't want to do what my mom did anymore, but she tells me the woman got mad, even saying that if I had asked HER for a pixie cut she "Wouldn't have done it anyway" which is 1. Mean to say 2. A lie, she wasn't about to lose that money.
And of course this upset my mom, but she was afraid to leave because my aunt was going there, and she didn't want my Aunt to get yelled at.
But when my aunt heard this woman was being mean to my mom about this, she couldn't stand it, and they both left.
All of this ended with my aunt getting a long voicemail message from the Salon owner, I don't even remember what it said, but it was the end of things.

My mom ended up switching to MY new hair stylist, and we're both extremely happy with her. She's closer, cheaper, on time, and she does a great job.
I'm not sure what my aunt's doing now, she's gone through a couple of different peopole since then. I think she's wound up in a salon more dedicated to curly girls, which is good for her.

So, our big retaliation was simply leaving, and from her reaction you'd think we stole from the register or something.
I have no idea what she's doing now.
It really does say a lot about what people will put up with for a good haircut/color/perm/whatever. It's not like we were her only clients, and I'm sure we werent' the only ones having problems.

SleepyTangles
April 23rd, 2020, 12:34 PM
These days online reviews are everything for client centered businesses.
It takes A LOT for me to write something negative online, but if I were extremely dissatisfied with how a salon handled a screw up, then that's what I would do. Whether that negative review actually damages that person's reputation or not, you can pretty much guarantee that it will get under their skin. I've consulted for a firm that specifically does online reputation management, and bad reviews keep service providers up at night, even if they already have a ton of good ones. That's why they're a last resort for me.

I've had some truly disastrous haircuts, but even then, I don't blame the stylists so much, as I was young and didn't understand my own hair or how to warn them.
The only way I would retaliate now is if I was very very clear about what not to do and they did it anyway, and then gave me attitude when confronted about it, and still tried to charge me. Under those circumstances, absolutely, I would retaliate. Online.

Yeah, it also would take a LOT for me to write a bad review.
These days negative internet feedback can really ruin a business, and there are people behind the business... with families, children, bills, mortages and so on. I personally leave a bad review only if I feel like there´s genuine dishonesty or something dangerous about the services, and people need to be warned against it.

If I have problems, I prefer to tell the person directly. Feel like an argument is more honest than a vitriolic review.

Ylva
April 23rd, 2020, 12:40 PM
My only retaliation was writing one negative review on Facebook.

It was for a salon that basically charged full price for an Olaplex treatment but I didn't actually get the treatment. The stylist didn't know how exactly to use the products, and she ended up treating no.2 like it was a regular conditioner, leaving it in my hair for just a minute or two which is not even close to enough time for it to do its job. It's supposed to be left in for about 20 minutes. So I kinda paid a lot of money for only half a treatment.

I could've asked for some money back but sadly, it was months later that I, myself, learned how Olaplex is supposed to be used, so it was a bit too late then.

stephy190
April 23rd, 2020, 12:42 PM
Never retaliated as in legally. But refused to pay one time -probably the worst haircut experience ever and it wasn't even that much money for the cut it was just the fact that I didn't get what I asked for at all.. the exact opposite!

Edit: I've never left a bad review for the reasons stated in the above posts! Just as long as they know what went wrong at the time when I'm there

Laurab
April 23rd, 2020, 12:52 PM
I must admit that I find the idea of a salon causing sufficient damage that a lawsuit would be warranted to be quite amazing.

I mean don't get me wrong, anything is possible, but that seems a bit extreme.

(Karen)

I've never had anything bad enough to warrent a lawsuit, but I recently watched a youtube video reading salon horror stories, and the last one involved bleach being left on the scalp so long it resulted in chemical burns. Like she had to go to the emergency room.
That's basically the only extreme I'd consider suing over, but I have no plans to bleach my hair!
Here's the video if anyone's interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZJ61MQhjsk&t=2s

lapushka
April 23rd, 2020, 01:29 PM
OMG no, I think that's going quite far!

Once I told them I was very much dissatisfied and that it wasn't what I asked for at all. I didn't even have to say I wouldn't pay... unless they fixed the cut, which I chose to have happen. That was the "Amélie" haircut (nice in and of itself, but it didn't suit me). Which was even worse probably than the initial bad cut. But... oh well... You live you learn.

Sarahlabyrinth
April 23rd, 2020, 03:18 PM
No, I'm not into retaliation. I would simply not go back there again.

stephy190
April 23rd, 2020, 03:44 PM
These are the two most shocking videos I've seen of bad haircuts/hairdresser experiences.

(redacted) this video shocked me! I think she took some action not too sure if anything came out of it though! And also this one. (redacted)

Bellalla
April 23rd, 2020, 08:36 PM
These are the two most shocking videos I've seen of bad haircuts/hairdresser experiences.


(removed) this video shocked me! I think she took some action not too sure if anything came out of it though! And also this one. (removed)

Oh yeah. I had something very very similar to the second video done to me. Less choppy, but even more mullet-y. I went in with nearly waist length hair, very minimal layers, and came out with layers as short as my lips, basically "the Rachel" at the top, and the only remaining long hair was like a sad little rat tail of a "layer". I lost over 12 inches of length getting it "fixed", which just resulted in "the Rachel".

That was when I learned that a lot of stylists don't learn anything about long hair and are only really experienced in cutting layers into APL length hair, so they automatically cut the top layer around short bob length and then go from there. At least, that's how my stylist friends explained what happened to me that particular day.

Incidentally, it wasn't the worst cut I've gotten. I've had some doozies in my time.

But yeah, long hair can really throw some stylists way off their game.

spidermom
April 23rd, 2020, 08:41 PM
An unfortunately common topic is about bad experiences with hairdressers (a thread about worst hair disasters is running on this forum right now). But more specifically, who here has had an experience where they have retaliated? Have any of you who were not satisfied with the service you got as a minimum formally complained, if not demanded the hairdresser be diciplined or fired, sued the salon or stylist, or even had a direct altercation? What was the end result?

This is a topic where I can only ask and cannot contribute, as I have been cutting my own hair since I first grew my hair out 20 years ago (with a single exception in 2002 and that experience was not, on the whole, negative).

A stylist did such a bad cut on my daughter that we made her stop mid-cut, took daughter to another stylist to evaluate and write her findings, take before pictures, re-cut my daughter's hair, took after pictures, then a day later we took our evidence back to the manager at the first salon and got our money refunded.

Glitch
April 24th, 2020, 12:28 AM
No, it's very hard for me to be confrontational unless I'm very angry. After horrible hair cuts, I've always felt like crying, so those times I would remain courteous, but never return! The last experience was so awful that I learned to cut my own hair instead ;)

jane_marie
April 24th, 2020, 07:44 AM
I used to be a cosmetologist. For years I had my hair cut by a girl I had graduated with.

On time I went in for my haircut around 8am.

She showed up an hour late and when she did show up she was so hungover that she was actually drunk. Apparently she had only had a couple of hours of sleep before coming in. I know that because she was so sloppy enough she couldn't stop talking about it.

Anyway... I sort of froze in the moment instead of walking out. I let her cut my hair which was kept in a meticulously difficult cut and she butchered it. The cut was 60 dollars. In the end, I didn't react to some obvious signs so it's my fault too. However that fact didn't change that I was pissed. I paid for my cut and gave her a normal but not generous tip....

Then, as retaliation, I stopped seeing her. Really, one of the biggest punishments you can give a cosmetologist is to be a regular customer who stops going. This is especially true for people who cut hair themselves. Cosmetologists in my area have a close knit group and they rely on each other for word of mouth. There is also a bit of a saying that getting your hair cut by a different (aka not your regular) stylist is like cheating on your spouse. So never going back... well, it sends a message.

Of course, there have been other bad haircuts... mostly as a child when people gave me that Alice from Dilbert cut. My step grandmother (a professional) also cut my waist length hair to tailbone one year. Those incidents just resulted in tears though.

Suing people over hair seems crazy then again so is making that huge of a mistake with bleach.

:shrug:

Ylva
April 24th, 2020, 08:54 AM
Really, one of the biggest punishments you can give a cosmetologist is to be a regular customer who stops going.

I think my hairdresser might have taken my decision to grow out my virgin hair this way, even though that was definitely not my intention at all. I was always as happy as one could be with her work and maintained my roots with her for over a year. I'd like to think she understands that people actually might want to grow out their natural hair instead of changing their colour, and that I was going to be a uni student and could no longer afford to maintain my roots, but in her words, my colour is the boring "road grey" one that everyone here has, so it might also be that she doesn't actually understand that in my case. I don't know. :shrug:

The Maple Leaf
April 24th, 2020, 11:28 AM
Suing people over hair seems crazy then again so is making that huge of a mistake with bleach.

:shrug:


Slapping on lawsuits (for minor issues)....it's a very American thing I guess?
Well, maybe if the hairdresser cut off an ear or something...
....
ver.

Why? What is so strange about the idea of suing someone for screwing up your hair? It makes perfect sense to me. You're damaging something attached to someone's body and that forms part of their image and physical comfort. Yes, hair grows back, yadda yadda yadda, but so effing what? What about the time until it grows back? Surely that counts for something and surely someone's image and physical beauty has a price?

All right, so I don't think I'd sue someone for cutting 3 inches off mid-back-length hair when I'd asked for 2 off, or if the cut was slightly diagonal instead of straight across, or for someone who got a dye job a shade lighter or darker than I had hoped. But if someone blatantly damaged my hair beyond repair and did not have a reasonable excuse, or if they deliberately ignored my instructions and gave me something that I had not asked for, and which couldn't be reversed, then yes, I would think it appropriate to seek legal retaliation. Examples would be:

-the hairdresser cutting your hair shoulder-length when you asked for a trim to the level of your bra strap

-giving you deliberate layers when you had just asked for a trim of X number of inches on hair with no prior layering

-you asked for a blunt, one-length chin-length bob and the hairdresser gave you a stacked bob a la Victoria Beckham that you can no longer pull back

-You went for a perm and they completely fried your hair (this happened to my mother circa 1976 when she went for a then-popular afro perm. A colleague of hers advised her to sue the hairdresser but she did not act upon it; in fact she went back to him, but not for any more perms).

I personally would think willfully or negligently damaging my hair is worse than, e.g. damaging my car. A car is not part of my body and can be easily repaired by money. Hair can't - it has to grow back. Three winters ago I reared into the car of my neighbor's son-in-law and dented his door. I knocked on the door and admitted what I had done. He wasn't angry, but he didn't let me off the hook either. He asked me to pay the $800 needed to repair it. I did; if I had refused, I'm sure no one here would say he would have been unreasonable to sue me. How much more justified would it be to ask for compensation when someone ruins your physical appearance in a way that, while not completely irreversible, cannot be fixed with a simple repair job like a damaged piece of property.

There's also a punitive element here. If you willfully do something to someone's body, you should be held accountable for the victim's sake. I personally think that someone who deliberately goes against a client's stated instructions and consciously/intentionally gives them a hairstyle that cannot be fixed to what the person asked for (other than by letting the hair grow back) deserves not only a lawsuit, but also assault and battery charges (you realize that just lightly hitting someone against their will is already criminal assault, albeit a minor instance thereof) and a lifetime ban on practicing hairdressing.

If someone intentionally or negligently (I.E. not due to, e.g. a misunderstanding) does something to your hair that damages your look and makes you leave the salon in tears, why would it be seen as crazy to impose consequences on them, including taking them to court for compensation? Also, if someone successfully did this, like the example of leaving a bad online review, it could be seen as a deterrent - as a sign that you can't get away with messing with people's hair.


Oh yeah. I had something very very similar to the second video done to me. Less choppy, but even more mullet-y. I went in with nearly waist length hair, very minimal layers, and came out with layers as short as my lips, basically "the Rachel" at the top, and the only remaining long hair was like a sad little rat tail of a "layer". I lost over 12 inches of length getting it "fixed", which just resulted in "the Rachel".

That was when I learned that a lot of stylists don't learn anything about long hair and are only really experienced in cutting layers into APL length hair, so they automatically cut the top layer around short bob length and then go from there. At least, that's how my stylist friends explained what happened to me that particular day.

Incidentally, it wasn't the worst cut I've gotten. I've had some doozies in my time.

But yeah, long hair can really throw some stylists way off their game.


-That is really weird. Surely people are taught the basics (such as how to give a blunt or one-length trim) in cosmetology school, as well as a variety of techniques, and not just one or two currently trendy styles, or no?

Bellalla
April 24th, 2020, 12:24 PM
Why? What is so strange about the idea of suing someone for screwing up your hair? It makes perfect sense to me. You're damaging something attached to someone's body and that forms part of their image and physical comfort. Yes, hair grows back, yadda yadda yadda, but so effing what? What about the time until it grows back? Surely that counts for something and surely someone's image and physical beauty has a price?

All right, so I don't think I'd sue someone for cutting 3 inches off mid-back-length hair when I'd asked for 2 off, or if the cut was slightly diagonal instead of straight across, or for someone who got a dye job a shade lighter or darker than I had hoped. But if someone blatantly damaged my hair beyond repair and did not have a reasonable excuse, or if they deliberately ignored my instructions and gave me something that I had not asked for, and which couldn't be reversed, then yes, I would think it appropriate to seek legal retaliation. Examples would be:

-the hairdresser cutting your hair shoulder-length when you asked for a trim to the level of your bra strap

-giving you deliberate layers when you had just asked for a trim of X number of inches on hair with no prior layering

-you asked for a blunt, one-length chin-length bob and the hairdresser gave you a stacked bob a la Victoria Beckham that you can no longer pull back

-You went for a perm and they completely fried your hair (this happened to my mother circa 1976 when she went for a then-popular afro perm. A colleague of hers advised her to sue the hairdresser but she did not act upon it; in fact she went back to him, but not for any more perms).

I personally would think willfully or negligently damaging my hair is worse than, e.g. damaging my car. A car is not part of my body and can be easily repaired by money. Hair can't - it has to grow back. Three winters ago I reared into the car of my neighbor's son-in-law and dented his door. I knocked on the door and admitted what I had done. He wasn't angry, but he didn't let me off the hook either. He asked me to pay the $800 needed to repair it. I did; if I had refused, I'm sure no one here would say he would have been unreasonable to sue me. How much more justified would it be to ask for compensation when someone ruins your physical appearance in a way that, while not completely irreversible, cannot be fixed with a simple repair job like a damaged piece of property.

There's also a punitive element here. If you willfully do something to someone's body, you should be held accountable for the victim's sake. I personally think that someone who deliberately goes against a client's stated instructions and consciously/intentionally gives them a hairstyle that cannot be fixed to what the person asked for (other than by letting the hair grow back) deserves not only a lawsuit, but also assault and battery charges (you realize that just lightly hitting someone against their will is already criminal assault, albeit a minor instance thereof) and a lifetime ban on practicing hairdressing.

If someone intentionally or negligently (I.E. not due to, e.g. a misunderstanding) does something to your hair that damages your look and makes you leave the salon in tears, why would it be seen as crazy to impose consequences on them, including taking them to court for compensation? Also, if someone successfully did this, like the example of leaving a bad online review, it could be seen as a deterrent - as a sign that you can't get away with messing with people's hair.




-That is really weird. Surely people are taught the basics (such as how to give a blunt or one-length trim) in cosmetology school, as well as a variety of techniques, and not just one or two currently trendy styles, or no?

In my case, I was not at all specific about what I wanted, I just wanted my hair to look nice, I was headed to a funeral and not really chatty or paying attention. I don't even think I noticed how messed up my hair was until the next day, so it was partially my fault for not even indicating what I wanted.

Anyhoo...I think like with everything else, there's a huge range in quality of training that stylists get, and back then, in what used to be an extremely fashion-conservative city, long hair was NOT a thing, plus is was the 90s, which was an interesting time in hair, lol.

I basically just tolerated various versions of the same bad haircut until the early 2000s.

jane_marie
April 24th, 2020, 12:43 PM
Why? What is so strange about the idea of suing someone for screwing up your hair? It makes perfect sense to me. You're damaging something attached to someone's body and that forms part of their image and physical comfort. Yes, hair grows back, yadda yadda yadda, but so effing what? What about the time until it grows back? Surely that counts for something and surely someone's image and physical beauty has a price?

All right, so I don't think I'd sue someone for cutting 3 inches off mid-back-length hair when I'd asked for 2 off, or if the cut was slightly diagonal instead of straight across, or for someone who got a dye job a shade lighter or darker than I had hoped. But if someone blatantly damaged my hair beyond repair and did not have a reasonable excuse, or if they deliberately ignored my instructions and gave me something that I had not asked for, and which couldn't be reversed, then yes, I would think it appropriate to seek legal retaliation. Examples would be:

-the hairdresser cutting your hair shoulder-length when you asked for a trim to the level of your bra strap

-giving you deliberate layers when you had just asked for a trim of X number of inches on hair with no prior layering

-you asked for a blunt, one-length chin-length bob and the hairdresser gave you a stacked bob a la Victoria Beckham that you can no longer pull back

-You went for a perm and they completely fried your hair (this happened to my mother circa 1976 when she went for a then-popular afro perm. A colleague of hers advised her to sue the hairdresser but she did not act upon it; in fact she went back to him, but not for any more perms).

I personally would think willfully or negligently damaging my hair is worse than, e.g. damaging my car. A car is not part of my body and can be easily repaired by money. Hair can't - it has to grow back. Three winters ago I reared into the car of my neighbor's son-in-law and dented his door. I knocked on the door and admitted what I had done. He wasn't angry, but he didn't let me off the hook either. He asked me to pay the $800 needed to repair it. I did; if I had refused, I'm sure no one here would say he would have been unreasonable to sue me. How much more justified would it be to ask for compensation when someone ruins your physical appearance in a way that, while not completely irreversible, cannot be fixed with a simple repair job like a damaged piece of property.

There's also a punitive element here. If you willfully do something to someone's body, you should be held accountable for the victim's sake. I personally think that someone who deliberately goes against a client's stated instructions and consciously/intentionally gives them a hairstyle that cannot be fixed to what the person asked for (other than by letting the hair grow back) deserves not only a lawsuit, but also assault and battery charges (you realize that just lightly hitting someone against their will is already criminal assault, albeit a minor instance thereof) and a lifetime ban on practicing hairdressing.

If someone intentionally or negligently (I.E. not due to, e.g. a misunderstanding) does something to your hair that damages your look and makes you leave the salon in tears, why would it be seen as crazy to impose consequences on them, including taking them to court for compensation? Also, if someone successfully did this, like the example of leaving a bad online review, it could be seen as a deterrent - as a sign that you can't get away with messing with people's hair.




-That is really weird. Surely people are taught the basics (such as how to give a blunt or one-length trim) in cosmetology school, as well as a variety of techniques, and not just one or two currently trendy styles, or no?

See... the thing is that truthfully most mistakes at the salon are due to simple misunderstandings. I know that on this forum there is a bit of a (how do I put this kindly?) discriminatory attitude about stylists. It seems like a lot of people around here think that if a stylist messes up they likely did it on purpose... but cosmetologists are capable of messing up just like anyone else that works in any other profession.

Most mistakes I have seen at a salon are due to communication issues that could be resolved with some pictures.

I think that if someone is worried about something like this they should get their hair insured... which is ridiculous as well but is a thing that actually exists.

How would you even go about proving that the cosmetologist messed up your hair willingly or intentionally? Could you imagine how much that would tie up the courts?

The Maple Leaf
April 24th, 2020, 01:18 PM
See... the thing is that truthfully most mistakes at the salon are due to simple misunderstandings. I know that on this forum there is a bit of a (how do I put this kindly?) discriminatory attitude about stylists. It seems like a lot of people around here think that if a stylist messes up they likely did it on purpose... but cosmetologists are capable of messing up just like anyone else that works in any other profession.

Most mistakes I have seen at a salon are due to communication issues that could be resolved with some pictures.

I think that if someone is worried about something like this they should get their hair insured... which is ridiculous as well but is a thing that actually exists.

How would you even go about proving that the cosmetologist messed up your hair willingly or intentionally? Could you imagine how much that would tie up the courts?

By starting this thread I did not imply that the majority of cases where a stylist did someone's hair differently than how they wanted it was necessarily the stylist's fault. (A good story I read online was how someone asked her stylist to make her hair "short and cute", and was then upset that she got what she saw as a boy's cut. The instruction given to the hairdresser was clearly given in ambiguous and subjective terms and while the hairdresser could have insisted on more precise instructions, I wouldn't blame her for giving the poster what she thought was "short and cute") I was merely referring to those cases where it was. I am largely going off hearsay, and will not presume to make a claim as to how common a problem negligent or non-compliant hairdressers really are, but some such people surely exist. Again, I can't speak from personal experience, but I've read or heard of quite a lot of stories where, allegedly, a hairdresser went against a client's wishes in a clearly deliberate or negligent way. For what it's worth, when I started posting on this board, I asked the question of whether such hairdressers were really as common as some people claim. I was assured that they were, and the ensuing thread of examples was a long one. Perhaps there really is a bias on this website, or perhaps there is more than a grain of truth to this. I don't know, really, with what frequency unsatisfied customers can honestly blame a hairdresser's willful action, but those cases that do occur should be dealt with, and I wouldn't worry too much about clogging the court system if someone did decide to take legal action. In theory anyone can sue anyone over anything (the courts can dismiss truly frivolous cases and cases for smaller amounts of money are dealt with, perhaps more summarily, in small claims courts).

You idea about insuring hair would do absolutely nothing to remedy the situation I described, because it would only give you money from a third source and not hold the the offending hairdresser to account any way.

As for proving that a stylist messed up your hair willingly or intentionally, you don't necessarily need to prove something in a civil suit beyond a reasonable doubt, merely (I can't speak for all jurisdictions, but typically in those following the English common law tradition) to convince the judge that there is a preponderance of evidence that what you claimed happened. Of course, if someone went as far as to press assault and battery charges (a criminal case, an entirely hypothetical situation that I mentioned above), proof beyond a reasonable doubt would be necessary). It's always possible to have your phone on record mode when you're at the hairdresser's, or to ask people present there when you were there to stand as witnesses.

I believe there was a case in Sweden where someone won a suit for emotional damages against a hairdresser. I have also found online a British law firm which apparently specializes in lawsuits against hair salons.

Again, I didn't mean to pick on the profession. Merely to indicate that those who do deliberately do their clients' hair differently than they were requested should be made to face some consequences.

jane_marie
April 24th, 2020, 01:33 PM
I'm not meaning to offend by stating that I have noticed a bias here. I know stating that here isn't exactly popular.

I've just noticed that intentionally doing bad cuts is pretty rare and I think my experiences working in salons are worth considering.

Personally, I think suing someone over hair is a bit overboard unless the person suing was actually hurt.

Bellalla
April 24th, 2020, 01:37 PM
@themapleleaf, well, going against your client's wishes and doing a terrible job does usually result in career consequences. If someone is consistently sub-par at their job, they don't tend to be very successful in that job.

That said, this thread sent me down a rabbit hole of watching hours of videos of women who had horrible experiences at salons, and one thing that stands out to me is how almost every single person indicated being *incredibly* uncomfortable speaking up or asking for a refund.

Sunny
April 24th, 2020, 03:17 PM
I'm not meaning to offend by stating that I have noticed a bias here. I know stating that here isn't exactly popular.

I've just noticed that intentionally doing bad cuts is pretty rare and I think my experiences working in salons are worth considering.

Personally, I think suing someone over hair is a bit overboard unless the person suing was actually hurt.

I find your experience very interesting and I thank you for sharing it. I had never dreamed of the possibility of suing a stylist solely for revenge. I have never had a bad cut, and I've only ever gone to budget chains.

0xalis
April 24th, 2020, 04:36 PM
The only time I've even complained, I just went back to the Super Cuts.
I didn't even say anything actually... they noticed I was there the day before because they have you check in with a name. So I told them what happened.
They fixed it for free and I felt a lot better.

My mom has had the same experience, sometimes she just goes back the next day and tells them she hates the haircut, they fix it (or try to) for free.
We've never had a situation so bad we've had to file a formal complaint or go the legal route.

Kat
April 24th, 2020, 05:56 PM
Why? What is so strange about the idea of suing someone for screwing up your hair? It makes perfect sense to me. You're damaging something attached to someone's body and that forms part of their image and physical comfort. Yes, hair grows back, yadda yadda yadda, but so effing what? What about the time until it grows back? Surely that counts for something and surely someone's image and physical beauty has a price?

All right, so I don't think I'd sue someone for cutting 3 inches off mid-back-length hair when I'd asked for 2 off, or if the cut was slightly diagonal instead of straight across, or for someone who got a dye job a shade lighter or darker than I had hoped. But if someone blatantly damaged my hair beyond repair and did not have a reasonable excuse, or if they deliberately ignored my instructions and gave me something that I had not asked for, and which couldn't be reversed, then yes, I would think it appropriate to seek legal retaliation. Examples would be:

-the hairdresser cutting your hair shoulder-length when you asked for a trim to the level of your bra strap

-giving you deliberate layers when you had just asked for a trim of X number of inches on hair with no prior layering

-you asked for a blunt, one-length chin-length bob and the hairdresser gave you a stacked bob a la Victoria Beckham that you can no longer pull back

-You went for a perm and they completely fried your hair (this happened to my mother circa 1976 when she went for a then-popular afro perm. A colleague of hers advised her to sue the hairdresser but she did not act upon it; in fact she went back to him, but not for any more perms).

I personally would think willfully or negligently damaging my hair is worse than, e.g. damaging my car. A car is not part of my body and can be easily repaired by money. Hair can't - it has to grow back. Three winters ago I reared into the car of my neighbor's son-in-law and dented his door. I knocked on the door and admitted what I had done. He wasn't angry, but he didn't let me off the hook either. He asked me to pay the $800 needed to repair it. I did; if I had refused, I'm sure no one here would say he would have been unreasonable to sue me. How much more justified would it be to ask for compensation when someone ruins your physical appearance in a way that, while not completely irreversible, cannot be fixed with a simple repair job like a damaged piece of property.

There's also a punitive element here. If you willfully do something to someone's body, you should be held accountable for the victim's sake. I personally think that someone who deliberately goes against a client's stated instructions and consciously/intentionally gives them a hairstyle that cannot be fixed to what the person asked for (other than by letting the hair grow back) deserves not only a lawsuit, but also assault and battery charges (you realize that just lightly hitting someone against their will is already criminal assault, albeit a minor instance thereof) and a lifetime ban on practicing hairdressing.

If someone intentionally or negligently (I.E. not due to, e.g. a misunderstanding) does something to your hair that damages your look and makes you leave the salon in tears, why would it be seen as crazy to impose consequences on them, including taking them to court for compensation? Also, if someone successfully did this, like the example of leaving a bad online review, it could be seen as a deterrent - as a sign that you can't get away with messing with people's hair.




-That is really weird. Surely people are taught the basics (such as how to give a blunt or one-length trim) in cosmetology school, as well as a variety of techniques, and not just one or two currently trendy styles, or no?

Not really, no. Unless I can sue the universe for not making me pretty in the first place... that's permanently messed with my self-image and physical comfort, and will affect me far more and for far longer than having a bad haircut. Perhaps I could sue my parents for my ugly nose; I got the worst aspect of each of their noses.



See... the thing is that truthfully most mistakes at the salon are due to simple misunderstandings. I know that on this forum there is a bit of a (how do I put this kindly?) discriminatory attitude about stylists. It seems like a lot of people around here think that if a stylist messes up they likely did it on purpose... but cosmetologists are capable of messing up just like anyone else that works in any other profession.

Most mistakes I have seen at a salon are due to communication issues that could be resolved with some pictures.

I think that if someone is worried about something like this they should get their hair insured... which is ridiculous as well but is a thing that actually exists.

How would you even go about proving that the cosmetologist messed up your hair willingly or intentionally? Could you imagine how much that would tie up the courts?

Or proving how it negatively affected you? Yes, I could see it if they melted all of your hair off and you were bald, or injured you, or did something you had to spend a lot of money to fix, or for some professional reason (actor or model or something?) you had to have a certain cut and they messed it up. Otherwise, just not having the haircut you want? I could make a huge list of problems I have that are much, much bigger than this... and they're not even that big of problems.

Bellalla
April 24th, 2020, 06:33 PM
Not really, no. Unless I can sue the universe for not making me pretty in the first place... that's permanently messed with my self-image and physical comfort, and will affect me far more and for far longer than having a bad haircut. Perhaps I could sue my parents for my ugly nose; I got the worst aspect of each of their noses.




Or proving how it negatively affected you? Yes, I could see it if they melted all of your hair off and you were bald, or injured you, or did something you had to spend a lot of money to fix, or for some professional reason (actor or model or something?) you had to have a certain cut and they messed it up. Otherwise, just not having the haircut you want? I could make a huge list of problems I have that are much, much bigger than this... and they're not even that big of problems.

Except maple does have a point, you can sue a painter for doing a terrible job, and a bad paint job never hurt anybody.

If someone provides a service and truly fails to adhere to the standards of their licensed profession, thereby causing a predictably bad outcome, and fails to resolve the problem in a satisfactory fashion, then yeah, there is legal grounds to take them to small claims court.

Most people wouldn't bother over the amounts that are involved in haircare, but that doesn't negate the existence of the liability for the professional.

If hair styling were substantially more expensive, absolutely, I would expect to see a lot more cases heard in small claims court, and probably much more stringent standards about informed consent, with written agreements about what techniques and products are to be used.

If someone could prove severe emotional injury due to hair damage though, in the US, this could possibly lead to some punitive judgements, depending on the judge.

Think, maybe a case where the person is agoraphobic and has a longstanding, well documented history of their very long hair being a source of emotional security (a not unreasonable scenario). And if a stylist were to hack their hair to a point that they ended up losing substantial length despite the client making it clear that they only wanted a trim, and now they have regressed in their treatment and are back to being unable to leave the house, and therefore can't work...yeah, I could see that case having some legs.

It's an extreme example to make a point, but it shows that the liability of the mistake doesn't change, just the magnitude of how much they may have to pay out.
Since in most cases offering a refund and/or fixing the hair is a reasonable resolution, this usually covers their liability.

hennalonghair
April 24th, 2020, 08:31 PM
No! I’m not the vindictive, revengeful type even over serious issues but a haircut? Pfft!
Never!

MusicalSpoons
April 24th, 2020, 09:27 PM
In terms of wilfulness, the tonne of threads we have of bad experiences often have a common theme - client asked for specific things, brought in pictures, showed exactly what length they want / exactly how much they want off, specifically asked for no layers or not to use a razor, yet the hairdresser overrode the client's wishes because they thought they knew best. It's not usually malicious, and it's not the case 100% of the time, but it is extremely common in many of the accounts here of bad experiences.

We probably are biased here because so many members find the site due to wanting to grow their hair back quickly from a too-short cut, or wanting to learn how to make their hair feel better after having been ruined by excess bleaching or colouring - and the established members tend to care more about the outcome of haircuts than people who literally chop and change every time. We also know how to properly care for our hair so are more disturbed when it's handled roughly than people who handle their hair in the same rough manner anyway. So amongst the membership there probably is a higher proportion of bad experiences and they probably have more of an impact than out in the general population, but it also means that we highly value finding a good hairdresser!

That said, my personal view is that a lawsuit is a bit overkill unless real harm has been done (I did not know that things like a bad paint job would be grounds for a case!) and if harm *has* been done, I'd likely be more concerned that they never did it to anyone else - of course compensation would be nice, but the main objective of any action would be justice rather than revenge. Though if their actions had resulted somehow in significant financial loss, justice would include reparation.

Bellalla
April 24th, 2020, 10:08 PM
That said, my personal view is that a lawsuit is a bit overkill unless real harm has been done (I did not know that things like a bad paint job would be grounds for a case!) and if harm *has* been done, I'd likely be more concerned that they never did it to anyone else - of course compensation would be nice, but the main objective of any action would be justice rather than revenge. Though if their actions had resulted somehow in significant financial loss, justice would include reparation.

Just to clarify, you can sue over anything, but it doesn't mean you will win. If I build a house and hire a professional paint company and they send a bunch of students with no experience who absolutely ruin my walls and trim with drips and splotches, and painted on dust and hair, and they've already charged me $10,000, and it's now going to cost triple to repair the job. Yes, I will probably win if I sue.

If I hire a professional paint company who does a very good job, but I'm a perfectionist and don't have a very good understanding of the limitations of paint jobs, and the painter has already offered a good will discount, then no, I won't probably win my case, and may end up having to pay their legal costs.

Suing is only overkill in haircare because of the low monetary value of most damage, and the general willingness of salons to make the appropriate reparations.

Personal lawsuits happen primarily when the financial amounts are high enough to be worth the hassle, and the service provider is refusing to make reparations.

If haircuts cost thousands of dollars, tons of people would sue. If a jeweler does thousands of dollars of damage to my ring and refuses to take financial responsibility, I'm absolutely going to sue, and I don't care nearly as much about my jewelry as some people care about their hair.

It's not that hair isn't important enough to sue over, it's that the financial value of the damage is so minor, and so frequently handled appropriately.

hennalonghair
April 25th, 2020, 07:54 AM
I've just noticed that intentionally doing bad cuts is pretty rare


Oh no. I’m sorry. Nothing personal here but I wholeheartedly disagree.
Yes this place most certainly IS bias. It’s a long hair forum and most here are obsessed with their hair. From my 60 years of life experience, most of which I’ve had long hair, most hairdressers are biased against long hair. MANY hairdressers THINK THEY KNOW better about your hair than you do. Most don’t like long hair and instead of considering themselves as hairdressers, consider themselves as hair ARTISTs who know what would look best on you since they’ve been trained and experienced where you aren’t. Many hairdressers look at long hair as a perfect opportunity to practice.... like a blank canvas to an artist AND actually take enjoyment in chopping it all off. Maybe they secretly wish they could grow their hair that long but can’t so whether consciously or not, don’t want you having it either. It’s like the same reason that people come up to you to tell you that your hair is beautiful and that you should consider donating it to others who could use it more. :bigeyes:

You may have been a great considerate hairdresser but there ARE many out there who aren’t.

Years ago when going in to get a hair trim and my regular hair dresser was on maternity leave I had another hair dresser who kept putting her hands through my hair saying how thick it was; like it was a bad thing. She asked if I’d like some ‘light’ layers added and said that it would bring out my texture and I allowed it. These were NOT light layers. She cut big chunky layers up to the very top of my head so I ended up with a shag cut that left the top really thick while the rest was limp thin and this women seemed to completely get off on it. She even looked down at me and said .... and now come the tears. It took me 2 to 3 years to grow all those layers out to one length and I had micro trimmed each layer meticulously to get them healthy. When it was finally at a length, which was about shoulder length I carefully sought after an experienced hairdresser to trim off an inch so my hair was all one length again.

Since my hair doesn’t like silicones and most hairdressers use them I washed and conditioned my hair before going. Well this hairdresser had a salon from home and didn’t like that one bit so she said she needed to wet my hair and I allowed her to. She wet my hair and without my consent slathered on conditioner filled with silicones. Then to trim my hair she pulled it straight up and trimmed it so I couldn’t tell what she was doing. What she did was give me 6 more inches of layers. I was PISSED! Then insisted on drying it with a hair dryer. When I went to pay she charged me for a shampoo, cut and blow dry. In other words she did ALL of this so she could charge me more . How friggin’ lame is that? I would have happily paid her more if she’d just trimmed one inch off .

Another time while in a depression I decided to have my hair temporarily coloured at a fancy downtown salon. I specifically asked for a temporary colour. Another person washed my hair. The hairdresser coloured my hair which took a while. Then a man came in so she left me with this hair dye in my hair for the longest time. It started burning my scalp something awful but she kept flirting with this man she was attending to. I literally got up out if my chair and headed towards the washing stations hoping that I could wash it out myself. It was super painful. Finally the dye got removed. By now I was almost in tears. Then after combing it out she braided the front. I had no idea what she was doing and figured she was just going adding a style to my hair but then she cut the braid off right at cheek level. I couldn’t believe it. I never asked for any of my hair to be cut. My hair was just past BSL and I’m tall. What I think she did was made herself a real hair braid out of my hair. It just happened that the colour she suggested to me was the same colour she had. If that’s not intentionally ruining someone’s hair then I don’t know what is. Plus the dye WASN’T temporary . It was permanent.

Three instances where hairdressers have intentionally ruined my hair.
If I was the law-suite type , there are three cases which could have been made.

My last hairdresser experience was in 2013 and I won’t ever let anyone ever touch my hair again.
NOBODY touches my hair but me now.

Did I feel like taking revenge at the time?
YES! shudder:I had all kinds of hateful thoughts running through my head but that doesn’t mean I act on them.

Note: I was very clear I didn’t want layers. Spent time explaining how I was so happy to finally get rid of the layers. This woman knew I didn’t want layers.

florenonite
April 25th, 2020, 09:28 AM
See... the thing is that truthfully most mistakes at the salon are due to simple misunderstandings. I know that on this forum there is a bit of a (how do I put this kindly?) discriminatory attitude about stylists. It seems like a lot of people around here think that if a stylist messes up they likely did it on purpose... but cosmetologists are capable of messing up just like anyone else that works in any other profession.

Most mistakes I have seen at a salon are due to communication issues that could be resolved with some pictures.

I think that if someone is worried about something like this they should get their hair insured... which is ridiculous as well but is a thing that actually exists.

How would you even go about proving that the cosmetologist messed up your hair willingly or intentionally? Could you imagine how much that would tie up the courts?

The bolded is a really good point. A lot of these things are more likely due to misconceptions and miscommunication. Most stylists want their clients to be happy with their cut because that's how you get a good tip and a repeat client. The people I know who work in cosmetology have also said that one of the reasons they love their job is because they LIKE making people happy; the best part of their work is when someone says, "I love it! It's exactly what I wanted!" It's not in their best interests to sneakily give you layers when you asked for none, but like everyone they're prone to assumptions and extrapolating from their usual experience, so if you want a blunt 2" off and no heat styling, you have to make that very clear because 90% of their clients with similar hair want layers and a blow dry.

Bellalla
April 25th, 2020, 11:06 AM
The bolded is a really good point. A lot of these things are more likely due to misconceptions and miscommunication. Most stylists want their clients to be happy with their cut because that's how you get a good tip and a repeat client. The people I know who work in cosmetology have also said that one of the reasons they love their job is because they LIKE making people happy; the best part of their work is when someone says, "I love it! It's exactly what I wanted!" It's not in their best interests to sneakily give you layers when you asked for none, but like everyone they're prone to assumptions and extrapolating from their usual experience, so if you want a blunt 2" off and no heat styling, you have to make that very clear because 90% of their clients with similar hair want layers and a blow dry.

Both videos posted earlier in the thread are very very clear examples of negligent and damaging work. It's certainly not at all common, but it can happen, especially when a stylist has no real life experience with a certain type of hair.

Iyashikei
April 25th, 2020, 10:35 PM
The only retaliation I ever do is not letting that person cut my hair again. Anything else I find to be childish unless they actually do something dangerous or they scam you.

SleepyTangles
April 26th, 2020, 06:44 AM
I think that everyone brought up good points.
I've seen genuinely passionate hairstylist that give their best every day, and love their job and their clients... but I think there are also many that have simply chosen this profession as a mean to bring home a salary, and they are happy to just go with the bare minimum, without particularly attention nor sensitivity.
Like in most professions I guess :)

jane_marie
April 26th, 2020, 07:06 AM
I saw this this morning and was reminded of this thread. I think it's important that people see the other side of the coin an know that a lot of hair stylists deal with this sort of thing constantly.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUJ5uGcf60k


Being a cosmetologist isn't all sunshine and daisies. The pay here in the US is mostly pretty crappy; according to indeed just $8.90-$21.65 hourly. For the record, I would not have dealt with this girl when I cut hair. I would have flat out refused but a lot of people have kids to feed.

I'm not saying that people on LHC are like this... but I do think a large number of people complaining about getting "The worst haircut ever" are these types of people.

eresh
April 26th, 2020, 07:38 AM
See... the thing is that truthfully most mistakes at the salon are due to simple misunderstandings. I know that on this forum there is a bit of a (how do I put this kindly?) discriminatory attitude about stylists. It seems like a lot of people around here think that if a stylist messes up they likely did it on purpose... but cosmetologists are capable of messing up just like anyone else that works in any other profession.

Most mistakes I have seen at a salon are due to communication issues that could be resolved with some pictures.

I think that if someone is worried about something like this they should get their hair insured... which is ridiculous as well but is a thing that actually exists.

How would you even go about proving that the cosmetologist messed up your hair willingly or intentionally? Could you imagine how much that would tie up the courts?


I agree with you.

I think not paying them is enough. It costs them time and materials, they will be careful not to do that again.
A whole lawsuit, well at least in my culture, this is not done for such a thing.
My botched haircut/dye was done by a trainee. But the hairdresser did not oversee her while she was working.
Not paying was my reaction. And that was enough for me.

For a professional (hair)model, insurance might not be a bad idea. Just like pianists often insure their hands.
But for regular people, not worth the money I think.

I dunno, I still think it is a very American habit to slap on lawsuits on eveything that goes a bit wrong.
No offence meant to Americans, but it's just an observation I make (about the many lawsuits).

Maybe a good reason for a lawsuit involving hair will be in case of a "lustbarber" who goes around cutting off peoples braids/ponytails.
THAT is harrassment/personal attack and purely intentional.
I refuse to believe professional hairdressers will intentionally mess up their clients hairdo.

eresh
April 26th, 2020, 07:48 AM
Just out of curiosity, how much does it cost there to start a lawsuit against someone?

Bellalla
April 26th, 2020, 08:09 AM
I dated a salon owner for a few years, so I know the other side well.

However, as someone who posted quite a bit in that thread, I can firmly say that the cuts I got were objectively horrible, to the point that more than once, I had the stylist who fixed it assume that I had done the hack job to myself.

That said, I used to have the habit of never sticking with one stylist. I would walk into a salon and ask for whoever was available the soonest. That meant I was usually being seen by the person with the least experience.

Now, we're talking about a dozen truly awful haircuts among hundreds, and probably about a hundred different stylists, AND I have a very challenging hair type.

Overall, I would say that's a pretty good rate of success.

Bellalla
April 26th, 2020, 08:12 AM
Just out of curiosity, how much does it cost there to start a lawsuit against someone?

I don't live in the US, but it really depends.
Here, we have small claims court, which costs as little as $30 to file a claim.

eresh
April 26th, 2020, 08:42 AM
That's really affordable, here it is much more expensive.
(for people on a regular income, there are arrangements for people on low income and there are "help with legal matters" insurances available).

Low incomes usually pay 83 euro Court Fees in any court.


Civil Claims below 25.000 euro go to Subdistric Court. A lawyer is not mandatory.

Subdistrict Court Fees are:
Cases with indefinite value: 83 euro Court Fees
Up untill a 500 euro claim: 83 euro Court Fees
Claims between 500 and 12.500 euro: 236 euro Court Fees
Claims over 12.500 euro: 499 euro Court Fees

But a regular civil suit (for claims higher than 25.000 euro) for regular income, you pay Court Fees (AND a lawyer is mandatory, you pay that on top)

Cases with indefinite value: 304 euro Court Fees
Up untill a 100.000 euro claim: 937 euro Court Fees
100.000 and up claims: 1639 euro Court Fees

jane_marie
April 26th, 2020, 08:56 AM
eresh here in the US we do not have one set fee for small claims court. Instead each state assigns its own fees.

Here are three examples (east coast, midwest, then west coast):

New York - $15 for claims under $1K and $20 for a claim between $1k and 10k

Nebraska - $23 dollars to file a claim regardless of the claim amount plus $5.73 to serve the defendant a petition through the mail

California - $30 if claim is $1.5 or less, $50 for claims between $1.5K & $5K and 75$ for a claim more than 5K

Jools69
July 13th, 2020, 04:07 AM
The only retaliation I’ve done after a bad cut or service is to vote with my feet (not returned) and to tell my friends, family and colleagues of the experience. I would only consider suing if I had been significantly injured (both physically or mentality), which required medical treatment.

I agree with some/most which has been said on this thread. I think some hairdressers think they know better than you, even to the point where they blamed the client for their mistake. I had one such experience with a long hair perm from an apprentice, who should have been guided during the procedure, but wasn’t. I ended up with a section of hair still straight around the nape of the neck, which was quite noticeable. I waited for the obligatory 48 hours before washing, but it was still there. I returned back to the salon to be told it was my fault, because I washed it too soon and should have waited 2 weeks and they wanted to cut it to rectify it! :steam I did have that section of hair repermed by the same apprentice, with the hairdresser coming over at times saying she should be practicing on shorter hair whilst looking at me (I think it was SL/APL at the time), making me feel again it was my fault for having long hair and making them do it. I never returned to that salon.

Belgrade Beauty
July 13th, 2020, 05:00 AM
I had a bad experience, never went back, but I was so close to beating the woman! I specifically said no bleach and she puts bleach on my entire length. I know it may sound ridiculous but it's traumatizing, to grow hair for years and pamper it, especially to people whos hair grows as slow as mine did at the time. It takes years to get to a certain length and then some idiot comes along and does a number on it. I'm sorry but no! I asked for some lighter brown on my *ends* and bleach is not light brown and my ends don't start where my eyes are! I would sue now in a heart beat. For psychological pain and damage.

meepster
July 13th, 2020, 12:10 PM
I’ve had so many bad haircuts that I’d never get out of court if I had to sue for every single one. One of the major reasons I’m happy to be growing out my hair now. No more bad haircuts.

I didn’t even sue when a hairdresser intentionally gave me a mullet, with straightened bangs (and the rest of my hair left wurly). I looked stupid beyond belief and looking in the mirror made me want to cry. If anyone needed to be sued out of business, it was that character.

That said, if a bad hair salon experience resulted in actual medical costs (a bad hair dye that causes scalp damage), why shouldn’t one sue for that? Someone has to pay the medical fees, and why should it be the client?

Also, as a lawyer, I’m wondering if “hair law” for long hair could be similar to “tree law”. If a neighbor accidentally or intentionally cuts down someone else’s tree, the tree owner can get quite a lot of money if they sue, just because it takes so long to grow a tree. Why wouldn’t one be able to sue in the same way for destroying one’s long hair?

vampyyri
July 13th, 2020, 01:54 PM
I could never imagine suing someone for messing up my hair, and stylists have royally fudged it up before too.

Like the last time I went into a salon when I was a senior in high school and asked for them to "take off everything that's damaged", expecting a trim of like 2-4" (my hair was bleached to a lighter blonde at the time). They cut my waist length hair up to a chin length bob. :neutral:

Was I upset? Yes. Would I have sued them for it? No, it just gave me the initiative to grow my hair out and not trust anyone with my hair ever again :shrug:

KokoroDragon
July 13th, 2020, 04:06 PM
I'm not confrontational, so I just wouldn't return to that stylist. Unless there was actual harm done to my body, but since I don't plan to bleach or dye my hair I don't think that will ever be a problem for me. If it was intentionally botched, I'd write a bad review - but I can't imagine confronting someone about a haircut. Too scary.

My mom cut my hair for most of my life, except for the incidents as a small child when I would get something sticky stuck in my hair or give myself a haircut. I remember the first time I went to the salon as a teenager with my mom because she thought it was time I got a "real haircut". The stylist asked me what I wanted, and I told her I didn't know. She suggested layers, to which I told her no. Eventually, I decided on just a trim, since I liked my current style.
So what does she do? Give me layers. It looked awful. She was so happy with it and asked me what I thought. Being the shy teenager I was, I told her it was fine - I wouldn't do that now. Anyway, as soon as we got home my mom cut all the layers out. She didn't ask me to go to a salon after that.
I definitely could have done better as a client - I didn't know what I wanted, and wasn't very communicative. But she did the one thing I told her I didn't want, so I don't think I'm the only one at fault.

With most of the bad haircut stories I've heard, there are warning signs (the salon I went to was dimly lit and smelled like cigarette smoke). But I feel like people tend to either ignore the red flags or don't notice them. And it seems quite common to feel uncomfortable about confronting a stylist about a bad haircut.

I had to go to a stylist last year, and luckily I found a good one. She was super nice, and seemed even more invested in keeping my length than I was at the time. Good stylists are out there, you just have to pay attention to red flags and listen to your gut. :p

Natalia_A00
July 13th, 2020, 05:13 PM
Nope! I'm a very shy person, so when I don't like the result or they cut too much I hardly ever say anything :(((

Nineteenbirds
July 14th, 2020, 12:52 PM
When I read the title of this thread I just had to smile. No, I've never retaliated because of a bad haircut, but there were plenty of times I wanted to! It's a real relief to not have to trust anyone else with my hair now that it's long again.

LadyLongLocks
July 14th, 2020, 06:45 PM
I did on my Mothers behalf. I left a very bad review when they fried her hair doing a perm. The salon owner was having family drama and on the phone forgetting about her clients.

Jane99
July 15th, 2020, 06:29 AM
The last time I went to a salon in October was terrible... I was getting highlights/lowlights for the first time since I was a teenager. She left the foils on and left to drop her son off somewhere and was gone for at peast 45 minutes. She had also made my hair WAY lighter than I wanted... I specifically said, “darker for the winter with a few highlights” but she bleached most of my head. When I told her At the end I wanted darker, she and the owner essentially put blue zebra stripes on my head. Awful. And talked the whole time about how a former employee was retaliating against her and posting negative reviews. I should have seen the red flags and changed my mind but didn’t.
I didn’t post anything negative, but I think I’m cutting my own hair from now on. I’ve never had such a bad experience elsewhere, but it’s never been great either.

Sparkles122
July 16th, 2020, 12:55 PM
I dont go to hair dressers anymore, at all. However ive certainly had my fair share of horrible hair cuts and bad colors in the past. Usually they had another stylist fix it or I got my money back. I wouldnt have gone through the hassle of a lawsuit. The last time I went to the salon was a slightly different story and to this day I still dont know what to make of it (nor do I try). That was in November of 2018. I had been getting my hair done by a friend for a long while. I had been going to her with my virgin med brown waist length hair and got a few medium brown demi permanents (maybe 5 or so) put on it and a couple of trims. I grew it down to hip length and she kept pushing me to get highlights. Eventually I was like alright why not. I asked her 100+ times are you sure my hair can handle the bleach? I didnt want to do it and have damaged hair and I made that very clear to her multiple times. No no she said everything will be fine. She did a full heavy highlight. The foils got extremely hot, I said I dont remember this happening the last time I got foils (which was probably 10+ years ago, so honestly I didnt know if that should happen or not). She said no no its fine. I recall she left the bleach on for almost 2 hours. Clearly trying to push the level of lightening way too far. I didnt say anything at the time because honestly I trusted her. She rinses it out and is making strange comments such as “now you’ll have to use conditioner”. Prior to this situation I didnt need to use conditioner on my hair thats how healthy I had it. I knew after the highlights I was going to need to, but it was strange the way she said it. She put a ton of conditioner, a ton of products, and then blowdryed curled etc. I had no idea the extent of the damage until a few days later on the first wash. It was damaged from roots to ends. So bad to the point where I wasnt able to get my hands through my hair to even wash the roots. My hair was knotted and completely fried. The toner started to wash out on the first wash and the color was awful. I paid over $300 for that. I didnt care about the price, I didnt care about the color. I just wanted it to look nice and be healthy. Neither of which happened. I then asked her for help, it was so bad I didnt know what to do. She became defensive, very defensive. That is where the friendship ended. We havent spoken since. I did think about suing her just for my money back. If we hadnt been good friends I probably would have. Instead I took it as a lesson, and decided that I’m not going to hair dressers anymore. This coming Novemver will be 2 years since the incident and im still babying the damage. Anything I want done to my hair, I’ll do it myself so that I can only be mad at myself if something goes wrong.

Trichypixie
July 16th, 2020, 11:52 PM
I don't think I would sue a hairdresser unless they caused actual bodily harm, such as bleach burns bad enough to need medical attention. I tend to cut my own hair, but my daughter has gorgeous BSL virgin hair, and wanted a balyage (sorry, not sure of spelling!) colour on her lower hair. They ruined her hair! The bleach was left on too long, and although they tried to cover it with a conditioning treatment it was awful after the first wash. I put a warm box dye over it for her to help cover the raw hair and blend it better, and it took two patient years of trims to get rid of it. She now wont trust anyone but me to cut her hair. We chose not to leave a review at all of the salon, but needless to say have not been back and warned my daughters friends not to go there either! From the stories on this thread it seems like this is a common issue. You would think working with chemicals would encourage people to be vigilant with timings! My daughters hair wasnt just a little fried, bits were breaking off when she touched it!