Stylist appointment

[frogette]

Next Saturday I'm having the last two inches of my hair cut because my ends have become really too wispy for my liking following a massive hair loss due to going low carb (long story short: I thought it would be a good idea. It wasn't. Don't do it).

Anyway, if you have any tips on how to communicate with a stylist, they will be welcome. Last time I only said "I just want a trimming". I ended up with my hair 7 inches shorter and epic layers (I don't like having layers). This time I plan bringing a picture of my own hair with a line where I want it cut, and being as specific as I can about wanting no layers etc.

Or you can just wish me good luck :).

[TXbarbie]

Hmm I've never had a problem like that with my stylist - but then again I tell her that I want "JUST a little bit off" like multiple times beforehand. but good luck!

[-j-]

Maybe you could show with your fingers, how much you want cut off?
Or take a ruler with you and show with it.

I wish you good luck!

[Liss]

Taking a picture of your hair with a line sounds good. I've never thought of that - and I'm fast gathering a whole collection of them!

[countryhopper]

I second the idea about the ruler!

Good plan about taking in the picture....

Be sure to tell the stylist in advance what your future plans are for your hair (i.e. no layers, length goal, no dye etc) so (s)he knows that you're not just looking for a new, shorter style that everyone else has.

There's even an article written on how to talk to a stylist, written BY a stylist, so maybe it'd be good to check out on the top of the page

[WaitingSoLong]

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=32573

This is from the Newbie thread on LHC. In this link is a topic about how to communicate with your hairdresser under the "General" heading.

[sherigayle]

Many good ideas so far. I would also ask for it to be cut dry. Or at the very least just misted a little. IMO it's easier to gauge length that way.

[myotislucifugus]

Some stylists in the past have intermittently told me I had layers, and that I didn't. I recently figured out that some thought that my natural deep V (which I actually don't like) were layers. If you came out last time with epic layers, you might want to explain that you don't have layers in your hair, and don't want them.

Unless your hair was blunt when you went for a trim. In which case your stylist was a butt nugget

[StephanieB]

Next Saturday I'm having the last two inches of my hair cut because my ends have become really too wispy for my liking following a massive hair loss due to going low carb (long story short: I thought it would be a good idea. It wasn't. Don't do it).

Anyway, if you have any tips on how to communicate with a stylist, they will be welcome. Last time I only said "I just want a trimming". I ended up with my hair 7 inches shorter and epic layers (I don't like having layers). This time I plan bringing a picture of my own hair with a line where I want it cut, and being as specific as I can about wanting no layers etc.

Or you can just wish me good luck :).

Read What to say and do so you get the cut you want (from a hairdresser) (http://archive.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=66699) by LHC's own Teacherbear first!

I personally show my neighbor (who is my hairstylist), Mary, exactly how much I want off - either with a ruler that I bring or on my body itself. (ie - here, this line between the bottom of my armpits)
If she disagrees with me, she'll tell me so - and why - but in the end, Mary will do (or not do) whatever I want... even though she has said, once or twice, "Just don't tell anyone that I did your hair!" lol Mary is not especially fond of really long hair, but she won't do anything that she knows I seriously don't want her to do. If I had the money, I'd go to Iris at Madora Salon... but I don't, these days (with hubby hving been unemployed for 13 months now) ..... and Mary kindly does not charge me anything; she will not take my money.

In the past, I have shown Mary pictures of what I'd like (always realistic, considering I've got very thin hair that is baby fine)... and mary has either told me why I can't have that style - and offered/suggested what I can have that's as close as my hair will get, OR cut my hair into the style I showed her pics of.

I don't know that this is going to work for everyone in every salon... but I also have had good success in talking about styles for my specific hair with other women (clients) in Mary's salon at the time I'm there; most of them are quite realistic about this and have made some really great suggestions on hair care and styling to me. That is, some women (her clients) have said, "Why not try _____?", or "How about _____?", and usually the suggestions put forth are do-able for my type of hair, according to Mary. The seemingly odd thing about this is that Mary is a black woman, and her clients are black women, and I am white, so most of them do not have my type hair - but they are either unusually educated bout hair OR know other women with my type of hair. Or maybe, in the end, hair type isn't as ethnic as I've always been led to believe... Most of these ladies have been stunned when they've felt my [clean] hair to see just how super fine it really is. Anyhow, I've had good success discussing it, but of course, if you try this - use your own knowledge and common sense to weed out good ideas from bad (for your hair type).

It may also be that, because Mary's salon is in the basement of her large house, and because her back yard and mine touch (have a common border), and because I'm often out in my yard and her clients are often out in hers and we therefore socialize a lot, that we have just come to know each other better - are more actually friends, more so than one normally finds in one's salon?? From March/Arpil until October/November, I see these women weekly, often have coffee or rum punch with them, and we all chat a lot..... If I'm not out back hanging clothes on the clotheslines, or surfing the 'Net on my back porch, or eating breakfast or brunch or lunch out back, then I'm cleaning up dog poop or the doggie run or cleaning out one of my cars or my truck, or gardening, or doing something in my garage or yard... and it's more common for these women to sit outside - in good weather - until their stylists are ready for them, than to sit indoors in the salon.

Nevertheless, if you show your stylist a specific length and a fool-proof method to measure your hair against while cutting (a striped shirt, a ruler, whatever), and - if applicable - pix of what kind of style you want... you should get what you wanted from her/him. Watch her/him like a hawk when s/he is cutting. I know how hard that can be, if you wear glasses; I am legally blind without mine - but I have always asked to leave my glasses on until the stylist must have me remove them for cutting that area of my hair. And I always put them right back on as soon as possible again. Once or twice I have had to ask a stylist who has gone back to cut more from the same side more than twice WHY, and it was usually because they weren't paying close attention to what they were doing. :-/

[frogette]

Thanks for all the input, it really helps.

I'm getting a bit nervous and considering canceling... I'll tell you how it went if I finally decide to go.

[julliams]

I told my last stylist that I take monthly pictures of my hair wearing a striped shirt so I'll know exactly how much she does take off.

It's a service you are paying for so your stylist should do as you ask. If you say "take off whatever you need to" you are leaving the door wide open.

I would ask them what their opinion is on how much needs to come off, if you agree great, and if not, perhaps it's best to insist or else leave at that point (although I have never done that).

[frogette]

So, I owe you an update. I finally didn't cancel.

First, and foremost, I like the result. The stylist said that with my uneven hemline she'd have to cut more than two inches for a straight hemline to look right, I asked how much, she showed me a length of about four inches and I okayed it. The result was shorter than what I had in mind, but I really prefer the way my hair looks now, and I intended to grow these layers out anyway. I went from longest-layers-at-waist to midback-with-a straighter-hemline, which is fine with me (I still have layers, though, since chopping them all off would have left me with apl hair).
I appreciated that she didn't try to convince me to get bangs (I had bangs before and hated it, but for some reason, hairdressers always try to convince me there's no salvation out of them) and that she didn't try to convince me that layers were the only suitable option for my hair type, or that my hair was so horribly damaged that I had to chop it all off.

However, I am a lot less pleased with the way my hair was treated First she piled my hair in the sink and shampooed vigorously the whole length (even though my hair was freshly washed; in fact I hoped they'd skip the shampoo but they never do), without even bothering to detangle it first. Then she asked me if I wanted detangling cream (as a paying option); as she had not used conditioner, you bet I said yes. Then, she just started raking through my hair with a plastic brush, mumbling there were knots (how surprising indeed). As I was wincing each time I could hear hair snapping (couldn't help it) she asked if I had a sensitive scalp; I jumped on the occasion and said yes, but she just went on holding hair strands with one hand while she was ripping through knots with the other. Afterwards she sat me and began combing my hair... beginning at the top of my head and progressing knots all along until my ends. It was really hard for me not to take the comb from her hands and say "let me do this".

Mind you, I had chosen this stylist because she has past-bsl hair, which is unusually long for a stylist, so I thought she'd know how to handle longer hair. For heaven's sake, she brushes or combs her own hair every day, how could she think for one second that this was the way to go? The mind boggles. All along this process, I didn't dare to say anything, partly because I'm shy and hate to be "the ugly customer", partly because my hair wasn't in the best possible shape so I would have felt silly trying to tell a stylist how to take care of it.

So, while I'm happy with the end result, overall it was a nerve-wracking and rather traumatic experience. I'm not looking forward to my next cut.

[anrems]

I'm glad you're happy with your new cut although it's too bad the stylist was rough with your hair. And I'm surprised they didn't use conditioner! How bizarre! Whenever I go to my salon I comb out my own hair and no one ever seems to care... maybe next time bring your own comb and just do it yourself? Even though they should treat your hair nicer, since that probably isn't going to happen at least you won't get all those broken strands!

[frogette]

Update to the update: I realized that she cut the left third of my hair shorter than the right two thirds. Here's what it looks like on heavily oiled hair:
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/8752/p10105061.jpg
(it's not just the picture, I can see it clearly too when I bring my hair to the front, the left side is shorter than the right side).

I didn't notice at first, don't know why since it's quite visible when my hair is down.

I guess wiseness is to just keep my hair up and forget about it for a while. I'm feeling quite angry right now, though, and not far from crying. This salon was an expensive one.

Here is a "before" pic, for comparison:
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/685/beforet.jpg

Edit: I went back to the salon and (politely) told the stylist I wasn't happy with her haircut. She totally admitted that it was asymmetrical, though she tried to minimize it saying it wasn't much, "just a few centimeters" (!). She offered to rectify it but I declined, because even if I trusted her to cut my hair, getting it that tangled again was more than I could handle. However, it made me feel somewhat better to get it off my chest and that she admitted to screwing up. Even if concretely, well, I still have an asymmetrical haircut.

[spidermom]

It looks like you hold your left shoulder higher than your right; perhaps that is what creates the difference in length (maybe she was sighting off the shoulders?). I told my stylist that my hair is a huge hassle to comb out, and I'd prefer to do the first comb-out myself. I think she's been happy to leave that for me. She's a smoker, so while I comb out my hair, she goes for a cig break.

A lot of salons will adjust a hair cut for free if you go back within a week or two and point out the problem.