Ruined? Road to Recovery.

[Ansaphone]

This thread is for all of you out there whose hair has been ruined by a hairdresser and who are now on the road to recovery. I am planning to post an update about my hair every month, and in the meantime this is just the right place to vent ( next to the growing out layers thread, maybe). I hope this thread will not be deleted!

So, let's start. It's been almost three weeks and 3 hairdressers later after my hair has been ruined. Since the last trip it looks a lot better, as she cut off the bottom layers, making my hair look fuller. My length is very short now, at least for me.. I was midback and now I am a little above chest length. Luckily, that does not matter to me that much, as long as the layers grow out. They don't look as frizzy as they used to now that the last hairdresser touched them up with a scissor instead of a razor. I am now still wearing it pinned up, hopefully I can wear it down in a month or 3 without it looking weird. Today I found a few hairs that were even shorter than my layer, which scared me. I hope my hair is not starting to break.. I straighten it every day for it to look at least decent now, but I am using a good heat protector.

I hope you guys like reading this and you are all free to post your stories and advice.

[Ansaphone]

Mmkay nobody;s interested:(

[loralie]

Hi Ansaphone,

I stopped going to hairdressers when I was about 13 or 14. I've cut my hair since then. I do remember being younger and asking for a small trim and having a hideous ear length mushroom cut.

I learned to cut and dye my hair myself and haven't looked back. And frankly, I wouldn't allow a hairdresser to do anything other than what I instructed them to do- even if it meant getting up in the middle of a cut and walking away. You don't have to pay them if they don't do what you ask them to... or they start to take "creative license". So no, I don't believe hairdressers "ruin" your hair, as you're in the chair, letting them do it.

It's totally different when you don't know better and they talk you into something you realize later was really damaging to your hair- that sucks and is horrible.

My only advice is if you don't want to trim your hair yourself, find a hairdresser who understands your journey to healthy and long hair. Someone who will only cut off exactly as much as you ask, and that doesn't try to push you into a whole new style.

Best of luck on growing it out! It'll be back in no time. :)

[Amraann]

Mmkay nobody;s interested:(


I do not think it is that nobody is interested. You only posted this this morning.
Keeping in mind people from all over the world post here so not everyone is in the same time zone.

I do not have ruined hair because I do not let anyone touch it. However, in times past when I was younger, I did my fair share of damage so I can offer sympathy.
Just stick with it and before you know it it will be all grown out!

[UltraBella]

:) That's so sad :(
As a salon owner it's really discouraging to hear how so many people have had terrible experiences. I have had them myself in the past. I had waist length hair that had to be cut to chin length to fix a terrible layering job. And I love love love layers on me, I have layers now, but she did an absolutely horrible job. I cried, sitting right there in her chair.
Currently I have a salon full of beautiful, intelligent, caring stylists. These ladies are wonderful ! I always know I have several people to count on if I need a cut, color, etc. But it took me a long time to trust again. Good luck to you !

[Jessica Trapp]

Hugs, Ansaphone.

:grouphug:

Sorry that happened to you.

jes

[GlennaGirl]

I'm sorry that happened to you! I haven't had a bad salon experience in decades...they generally do what I ask. So I for one didn't really have a story, which is why I didn't answer...Anyway, welcome to the forum!

[RebeccaByDesign]

Hi Ansaphone, I have a bad hairdresser story that I hope cheers you up (I can laugh about it now, sorta). A little over 5 yrs ago I went to this oh so ooo-la-la salon in Scottsdale, AZ. I wanted a wave and I stopped coloring my hair at that time for about a year. My hair was only shoulder length then and I was trying to grow it out. All I wanted was a wave for some volume for my wedding. I still remember how I felt when I heard Steven say "uh-oh". I had chills, but I thought, these people are charging me an arm and a leg, they can fix it. OMG, they fixed it alright. The wave mixture had turned my brown hair an ashey-gray. So, Steven called the salon owner and they proceeded to try and remember what color my hair was when I came in.. and that's when it got worse. The color reacted against the wave mixture and my head was burning, but they kept telling me everything was fine. When it was all done, it looked like ****, and I was told that it would come together after the first washing, but not to wash my hair or even get it wet for 48hrs. I went home an cried. And then I lost it when my hair started breaking off in chunks! My husband suggested we go see another stylist, she could not believe what they had done to what was left of my hair! She tried to save as much length as she could. Julie went out of her way to get my hair ready for the wedding. I ended up wearing what was left of it up with a fresh flower on the side to cover the damage. Like I said, I can laugh about it now, sorta. Today's damage is self-inflicted. I wanted to change my hair color from Henna Red, to a dark blond/light brown. I now have very bright lemon yellow circle on the very top of my head, soft brown around that and cascading thru the ends is a very Ronald-esque fiery orange. Oh well, I guess I can wait another month and attempt a re-color. My poor hair needs the recovery time. On the up-side my hair was in excellent condition prior to coloring and I just look forward to having my hair long enough to sit on it (it's waist length now). Hang in there Ansaphone, it gets better and it will grow back. I swear by hair oils. Jasmine is my favorite and I use it regularly.:cheese::cheese::cheese::cheese::cheese: :cheese::cheese::cheese::cheese:

[luckyduck]

The one and only time I went to the hairdresser while we were overseas, I went in for a trim on my waist length hair. The hairdresser did a fairly good job on the length, and then before I could peep, she grabbed the hair on the top of my head, pulled it up and chopped it off to about 7 inches! I was horrified! She said it was to balance it out. I never went back to her, and I rarely go at all, though I did love the massaging shampoo! LOL!

[Ansaphone]

Oh I WISH I could cut it myself but I have bad sight so it just won;t do:(

That circle story sounds funny indeed, since I all see now are girls with great looking hair! But i found a good hairdresser who knows what my goal is and will help me achieve it and will always discuss stuff with me! So yay for that!:cheese:

And I am sorry i was so impatient.:o

[IndigoAsh]

I've had a lot of bad hair cuts. I wouldn't know where to start, but it happens. I have sworn off hairstylists completely. I partially don't have a choice in going to one anyway since non of them speak English, and I doubt half of them have real licenses.
I'm recovered for the most part. I have about 2 1/2 inches of damage left on the bottom that will come off probably by the end of the year so I can resume growing.

[natorade]

It has been 9 months since the stylist turned my hair oompa lumpa orange, but that was only after she had turned a muddy grey color and completely fried it, forcing me to chop it off too about 2-3 inches all over. I still have about 1.5 to 2 inches of old orange fried ends left that I am thinking of cutting off tomorrow. I cried and had anxiety attacks for 2-3 after what happened to my hair. I swear when my hair got damaged and cut off I completely lost my mojo. I am slowly getting it back lol.

[christine1989]

The same guy has cut my hair since I was 4 and the one time I tried someone new I ended up with layers from bsl all the way up after I had said "just a few layers at the bottom"! It took years to grow it out but now i'm 100% layer free and back to my trusty stylist :)

[talecon]

i've had so many bad experiences I think hairdressers finally got me traumatized. once i went in with almost waist length hair just for a trim, instead of a blunt cut i wanted a U cut. I thought it would be more flattering for my curly hair. big mistake. after explaining what i wanted over and over to the woman her first cut was right at chin length. I was livid. my mothers face was like :shocked: The woman was like "what? did I do something wrong?" I told her she might as well finish what she was doing now that she already f***ed it up. I walked out with shoulder length hair and layers higher than shoulder length. it looked like crap growing out, I had no idea what to do with the shorter layers. I had a jerry curl :nono:

another time I asked for a bob and the woman said a bob wouldnt look good on me, it would be better to get shorter layers. I hated it. no idea what to do with hair that short and curly. another time I paid $120 for black and red highlights. The highlights were too skinny and stripey when I told them I wanted them chunky, about 1 inch thick, and the dye washed out to pink and brown a week later.

I just can't believe I paid those people to jack up my hair. Its like whatever you say you want to the hairdressers go in one ear and out the other :?

never again I say

[IcarusBride]

I'm surprised by all the horror stories I've read on here about know-it-all stylists who take free reign with the scissors. I've never ever had such an experience. And if I did I would not go home and cry about it (actually I would, after), I'd punch the stylist out! Cutting someone's hair in half when they asked for 1 inch off sounds like some form of bodily assault to me! It's self defense, I tell you!

[tarn]

I guess if you had to take something good out of the experience - at least the last hairdresser seemed to understand more about what you wanted.
Maybe you could go back to them next time instead (there's nothing like building up a rapport with just one hairdresser to assure you both know what you want).
Your hair will grow, and we'll be here to help with your progress.:grouphug:

[hanne jensen]

Last February I went to a salon and asked for a dusting. I explained that I was trying to grow my hair long and then explained exactly what a dusting is. I told her no more than 1/2 centimeter. She then took 3 centimeters off my layers and 5 centimeters off my hemline. She then told me that normal hair growth is 2 cm. per month! I cried when I got home and so did DH.

I haven't been to a salon since. I bought a pair of hair scissors and DH dusts me whenever I ask him too. He can take only 1/8 centimeter off and make it look good.

My advice is to ask someone whom you can trust and ask them to dust. Before you know it your hair will be evened out and your length will be back. Avoid salons at all costs!

[kristymarie87]

I do have some stories!!

When i was a bit younger - about 17ish i didnt really care about my hair at all and it seemed to grow super fast! (probably beacause i wasnt paying attention it seemed to gro faster).

Then after getting alot of highlights over 3 months to go from almost black to white blond, my hair was very damaged.

My ex said he knew a good place that was only £9.50 for a cut (Back then [2005] i would pay £25 for a cut) because i was skint. So i went......

She didnt wash my hair, just sprayed it with a bottle of water. Then she trimmed it all up and put some okish layers in. BUT THEN she decided the side my fringe sweeps over to was "boring" and cut so much hair away my sweeping side fringe was now all the way to my ear!!

I left and had to part it on the other side for a while where i have a huge cowlick!

My most recent haircut, i asked for a tiny tiny barley even worth it trim on the ends and a bit more off my layers and ended up an inch shorter! :(

Its been 8 weeks since then and im going for a trim sunday with a hairdresser that always does it right but is rarely avaliable!

[kristymarie87]

My advice is to ask someone whom you can trust and ask them to dust. !

Whats dusting? I can find the thread [if there is one].

Also is there a thread for self cutting? I can never seem to find them with the search facility as all the threads [most of them] contain the words cut lol

[alwayssmiling]

Its not necessarily a bad cut that I have issues with. Its the really bad haircare advice I've been given by a stylist thats led me to having it cut shorter and shorter and shorter still. Its my own fault for not twigging sooner, and to be fair a lot of good haircare is just common sense.

My hairdresser told me because of my thickness and waves I would struggle to find a nice style unless I use hair straighteners and that I need to use them on the hottest setting and it will seal in moisture making it more healthy. She then persuaded me that my hair needed highlights to make it "look" healthy. She then told me I really ought to be blonde as it will make me look younger. I would go for trims every 6 weeks only to come away with a good 1-2" taken off to compensate for my uneven broken hair.

It took me ages to realise I don't need to go to the hairdressers every 6 weeks, and I have the internet to do my own research on proper haircare. My plan of action is to only have a trim once a year. My last trim was just before christmas, I will S&D inbetween. Its now starting to grow, and is looking pretty healthy :)

[anrems]

I have this great salon that I really trust... there are two girls there who always do a great job for me. But one time... about 6 months ago I think, I went to get my hair highlighted (this was before I stopped doing coloring to my hair) and was offered a haircut on top of it. Since the girl offering usually does a great job I said ok. But it was terrible! Her boyfriend of 3 years had just left her, so I don't know if that was to blame or what, but she put these terrible short and awkward layers into my hair! I had this a shorter bang layer and an SL layer, but in between she added another one and it just looked a mess. Thankfully it was free of charge, because I used to work there, but I was so upset! Lately I've stopped seeing her and just see the other girl I like there because of that mess she made! It took forever to grow it out.

[RebeccaByDesign]

Ouch..it's never good when someone takes their emotions out on a client. On the up-side, your hair looks great in that pic.:gabigrin:

[Ansaphone]

Ouch..it's never good when someone takes their emotions out on a client. On the up-side, your hair looks great in that pic.:gabigrin:Today has been a hard day for me... it's been a month since the horro cut. I think I am dealing with it better now, but I still have my moments. I think it has grown about 1,5 cm now. It is showing a little bit. Still, I have about 10 -12 cm to go for it to look normal, when chopped at one length and about 16 to grow out completely. I still might chop a few cm off as I am closer to my goal, but I will decide about that in the winter... It's gonna be a loong summer for me! At least my hair looks healthy now. I met this friend of mine whom I haven't seen in a year and her hair had the worst damage I had seen: frizz, burned bits and terrible colouring. Thatgave me a little bit of condifence.

[ladylovecraft]

Hi Ansaphone, I have a bad hairdresser story that I hope cheers you up (I can laugh about it now, sorta). A little over 5 yrs ago I went to this oh so ooo-la-la salon in Scottsdale, AZ. I wanted a wave and I stopped coloring my hair at that time for about a year. My hair was only shoulder length then and I was trying to grow it out. All I wanted was a wave for some volume for my wedding. I still remember how I felt when I heard Steven say "uh-oh". I had chills, but I thought, these people are charging me an arm and a leg, they can fix it. OMG, they fixed it alright. The wave mixture had turned my brown hair an ashey-gray. So, Steven called the salon owner and they proceeded to try and remember what color my hair was when I came in.. and that's when it got worse. The color reacted against the wave mixture and my head was burning, but they kept telling me everything was fine. When it was all done, it looked like ****, and I was told that it would come together after the first washing, but not to wash my hair or even get it wet for 48hrs. I went home an cried. And then I lost it when my hair started breaking off in chunks! My husband suggested we go see another stylist, she could not believe what they had done to what was left of my hair! She tried to save as much length as she could. Julie went out of her way to get my hair ready for the wedding.

The same exact thing happened to me! I went in for a simple body wave about fiveish years back and they ended up damaging my hair so bad it practically melted off...

Then a year ago, I had damage (self-inflicted) and asked a hairdresser to take an inch or an inch and a half off. She blatantly lopped off 5 inches. I cried for days. I've not been to a hairdresser since, and will never return. I've drastically changed the way I treat my hair since then, but I can take care of my own split ends with a nice pair of hair scissors, thanks.

[Themyst]

I went into a salon back in the early '90's to get a haircut. I wanted it spiky on top and long on the back/sides. Stop laughing please. I had actually had this cut before and it looked pretty good. ;) I'll have to dig out some of my old photos.

Anyway, the stylist apparently couldn't wrap her head around what I wanted (but didn't say so) and gave me something completely different. Instead of 'spikes' on top, she gave me long layers, which she then proceeded to curl! I looked like a horrible poodle gone wrong when I walked out of there - with a big puff on top of my head! I couldn't believe anyone would let me walk out of a salon like that. I was in shock - literally - and didn't even want to deal with it - I'd fix it later at home. How could someone confuse 'spikes' with 'poofy curls' ?!! It did grow out (in kind of a shag form, thank God no mullet). I do believe that was the last time I ever walked into a salon and had my hair 'professionally' cut. The thought of it still depresses me, even if it did eventually grow out. :neutral:

[SHELIAANN1969]

Today has been a hard day for me... it's been a month since the horro cut. I think I am dealing with it better now, but I still have my moments. I think it has grown about 1,5 cm now. It is showing a little bit. Still, I have about 10 -12 cm to go for it to look normal, when chopped at one length and about 16 to grow out completely. I still might chop a few cm off as I am closer to my goal, but I will decide about that in the winter... It's gonna be a loong summer for me! At least my hair looks healthy now. I met this friend of mine whom I haven't seen in a year and her hair had the worst damage I had seen: frizz, burned bits and terrible colouring. Thatgave me a little bit of condifence.


I am quite confused at this part bolded in red.

Are you saying that seeing your friends hair in terrible condition made you feel better and more confident?

[Ansaphone]

I am quite confused at this part bolded in red.

Are you saying that seeing your friends hair in terrible condition made you feel better and more confident?
Well I feel bad for her but at least i am not the only one with bad hair.. my hair is only in a bad cut but her hair is damaged and breaking...

not to be mean tho. I feel terrible about my hair every day since 5 weeks... and I won;t stop feeling terrible until it's long again:(

[Pandora.]

I must admit, I am absolutely terrified to go to the hairdressers for a cut. I don't trim often, but when I do I just get my mum to trim the ends a little. Seriously, I would rather have long and damaged hair than "healthy" hair that's too short for my liking. I don't think I could face having hair shorter than it is - I just don't think it would suit me, and I wouldn't feel like myself anymore.

[angelperception]

It's very rare a I get anything I ask for in a salon so I've decided just to stop going. lol!

As my hair is growing out now, I've been dusting my own ends and keeping the back of my hair trimmed myself to prevent the mullet look as the pixie style grows out.

[squiggyflop]

i once went to the hair salon and asked to have my hair evened out.. she cut it 4 inches all over.. it looked like a mullet... it took forever to grow out..

now i trim my own hair..

[shawneez]

I'm in. My hair dresser destroyed my 3 ft. hair with dye mistaken for toner. I am regrowing my hair and have just over 1" of virgin hair now. I've been wearing my hair up while at home to help growth. I've also been using growth oils. It's going to take a long long time to regrow 3 feet of hair.

[pinkprincess]

I haven't been on here in a while. I got to 34" then cut a couple of inches off due to damage. On Friday the hairdresser cut 3" off when I asked for 0.5", so it's maybe not ruined exactly but it feels it to me because I'm basically going towards where I started from.

I decided only to cut the splits out myself and that's it. I hadn't been to the hairdresser for 2.5 years before it either!

[yogachic]

My co-worker just had a hairdresser ruin her hair, but hers is quite short to begin with, but i know how it feels when you can't stand what they've done to your hair.

[dropinthebucket]

I actually used to have a great stylist, and he took great care of my hair for like 20 years. But when I moved, I went to someone new (and "award-winning," as in, big awards! CAN'T IMAGINE how she got them!) - she put dye/bleach, dunno which, in my hair for some highlights and then got on the phone and FORGOT me!!!!! my timer had gone off like a half hour already when she finally came back. I kept trying to get her attention but you know, you're almost strapped down in those darn chairs with your little capes on and towels and what not. My hair broke off in chunks. :( Haven't been back to a stylist since, just cut my own now.