Hair cut phobia?

[Long_hair_bear]

I wondered if anyone else, like me, has a bad phobia to getting their hair cut/trimmed? Mine started when I was in 4th grade. My mom cut my hair so short that I looked like a little boy and everyone made fun of me for it. I have been terrified of scissors on hair ever since. My heart starts racing and I always bug my hair dresser of 7 years to make sure she's not trimming more than needed. Anyone else have this issue? :confused:

[Kyla]

I wouldn't call it a phobia, but I do have problems and paranoia associated with cutting my hair. I just don't trust anyone not to cut off more than they say they will.

[Shebelina]

I don't know if you could call it a phobia, but I've only ever had one drastic cut in my life. I went from waist to shoulder and cried my eyes out for days. Now I don't trust people with my hair and a stylist gets the whole twenty questions before thay can come anywhere near my hair.

[Amber_Maiden]

Not a phobia, but I do freak out at the thought of having my hair shorter than mid-back...

[ouseljay]

I wouldn't call it a phobia, but I do have problems and paranoia associated with cutting my hair. I just don't trust anyone not to cut off more than they say they will.

Same here. I've not had a haircut I've come away happy from since I was about 10, the stylists I've been to just don't get it. Self-trims for me.

[long&blonde]

Yep:sure enough phobia here. Ran out of an exclusive salon, wet head, after shampoo, out of the stylists chair, when he disgustedly showed me the close to a foot of my hair he was insisting on cutting. I didn't argue: I ran. Same; last exclusive salon I got a trim at,probably 3 years ago. I trusted my stylist:who had WL hair when I spotted him in salon window,working. I was happily waiting on him for a trim,when his receptionist came over, to small talk me as I waited. She insisted on hanging up my coat I was insisting on keeping w/me. Then she told me "I used to have hair your length. I've never been happier since I got my chin length bob. You'll see!" Next thing I knew,I and her were racing thru salon to my coat;her chasing me. Exclusive salon. It wasn't pretty. I am Far from my best, when it comes to going in for trims. Best part:I end up waiting Years in between trims. Staff changes or hopefully Forgets. The neatly trimmed hemline,foot or so of missing hair;just panics me. I have way too much attachment to length.

[Gothchiq]

Heck, I don't blame you. I would have run too! Crazy people, going to ignore your requests and then charge you money, I don't think so!

[Monkey962]

Not sure if I'd call it a phobia, but definitely get very nervous/upset on the subject of hair cutting. If you catch me on a bad day and bring up the idea of cutting my own hair, I will chew you out for it. I consider it extremely rude and I'll make sure you know it. Also for awhile I was sure that my parents were so against the idea of me having long hair that I locked my bedroom at night. I've since stopped doing this because I've actually slept through one or two fire alarms when they went off mistakenly. I also get very nervous when trimming my own hair, even if its just a dusting. And those hair cutting videos one youtube? I can never bring myself to watch them. Sometimes they'll post two videos, one of the person getting their hair combed or whatever, and the other of the cut. I like to watch the first one and pretend the second doesn't exist, lol.

[PixxieStix]

Can't say I do have a phobia, just intense irritation when more gets chopped off than I want. Thankfully, I found a wonderful stylist who has the patience, understanding and talent to do microtrims, even on all my layers. :) I can totally see why some people would have one though. Guess I'm just not that attached to my length yet, probably because it isn't very long.

[akuamoonmaui]

I'd say I have a phobia. My mother is known to have butchered my hair as a kid, and as other people have shared, I've had my salon-hell experiences too. If I'm in the right company (and I'm sure this qualifies), I'll explain I'd rather go to the dentist or gyno than get my hair cut by a "professional".

Just the other day Mom asked, "Do you want me to trim your hair?" (I was going someplace "special").

"No."

[Gothchiq]

I hear that!!! My mom would spend hours, against my will, making me look like someone ran over my head with a lawnmower.

Professionals? *laughs* No. Me and my boyfriend and my high quality salon shears are all that touches my hair. "professionals" have proven themselves incapable and/or unwilling to follow the most simple instructions, even when those come from a hairstyling magazine and have step by step photos and directions! And THEN they want money for having done so. I think not lol.

[Modarunner]

After hearing stories from other people about stylists butchering their hair, I am extremely cautious when I go to get my hair trimmed. Normally I break into a speech about what I'm doing to grow my hair and emphasis the fact that I don't use commercial products and give the girl a very stern look as I emphasis how much I want trimmed. Also, I keep my eyes on the stylist at all times to make sure she's not cutting off too much. So I don't have phobia I would say, but am I paranoid? Absolutely!

[duchesswannabe]

I went through a period during my teens and twenties where I wouldn't let a beautician near my hair; I did some fairly horrible haircuts to myself, and when my hair got long enough, I had my mother trim it. It didn't come out perfectly even then, but I always curled my hair in large foam rollers, and when it grew to a certain length looked quite good. I finally bit the bullet when I was 25 (about 8 years without going to a salon), and got a nice, simple haircut that was between shoulders and breasts, no bangs.

[SouthernBelleUS]

Definite phobia here.... The only hairdresser (owner of Siggers Hairdressers in ATL) I've been to in years thinks I'm just plain nuts! I'm so frightened that I am horrified the whole time I'm there. I also keep looking at the exit door just in case my "fight or flight" mode goes into full run flight! (It has in the past at another salon.). My hair is like a woobie (security blanket) that I'm afraid someone is going to hack away (happened in past--total butcher job).

[Long_hair_bear]

Definite phobia here.... The only hairdresser (owner of Siggers Hairdressers in ATL) I've been to in years thinks I'm just plain nuts! I'm so frightened that I am horrified the whole time I'm there. I also keep looking at the exit door just in case my "fight or flight" mode goes into full run flight! (It has in the past at another salon.). My hair is like a woobie (security blanket) that I'm afraid someone is going to hack away (happened in past--total butcher job).

I feel the same way about my hair, which is pry why I don't like wearing it up. I'm sure it's purely psychological, but it is also my woobie. I like feeling my hair on my neck and playing with it absentmindedly, but I finally bit the bullet and am wearing it up to reduce breakage. Don't want to go through another trim. :cheese:

[aggie_deirde]

I know the feeling.Everyone I know says I'm too attached to my hair.Maybe I am but it's none of their business.Every time I have to cut my hair I'm extremely sad and I look at the hairdresser all the time with the look"If you cut more than I want I will have to kill you"I'm so kind!Even if everything turns out OK the first two days I grief my lost hair.:crazyq:

[jacqueline101]

I panic in recent years over trims I went to one salon and she gave me a whole new hair cut another trimmed off all my growth. When I found the place I'm at I was nervous over a trim. I ended up having a good experience so my fears were swept away.

[Aliora]

I had a bad experience as a kid (they were supposed to trim it and chopped off half my hair, typical) and to this day I completely freak out about going to a salon. I don't even like people touching my head.

[Long_hair_bear]

I know the feeling.Everyone I know says I'm too attached to my hair.Maybe I am but it's none of their business.Every time I have to cut my hair I'm extremely sad and I look at the hairdresser all the time with the look"If you cut more than I want I will have to kill you"I'm so kind!Even if everything turns out OK the first two days I grief my lost hair.:crazyq:

I do that too. When I see my trimmed ends on the floor, I grieve the loss of even that little bit. :(

[chen bao jun]

You can call it what you want but yeah, I'd rather go to the dentist than to the hairdresser. Way rather.
This is the result of years of horrible experiences.
I don't have a haircut phobia, though--its a hairdresser phobia. I will go the barber when I want a trim because he will do what I want.
I actually found a friend who is a hairdresser recently who will do my hair and not cut it, really a blessing.

apparently they are calling this a real disease. Give something a greek name and it sounds so much more as if it might be a real problem. I don't think the world will be worse off if I never cut my hair again.
http://www.fearof.net/fear-of-getting-a-haircut-phobia-tonsurephobia/

[Mullsha]

Yea I can get pretty bad if I have someone else cut my hair. I only cut my hair now because last time I had someone cut my hair I had a panic attack and cried. When I was at the hair cutting place she fairytailed my ends and trimmed a bit off. When I got home it hit me sort of how much lighter my scalp felt and I started shaking and my breathing was thrown off. I had to take a minute and sit down with my eyes closed to calm down. This might seem a bit over the top but every inch counts because a Journey to Term takes sooo much time.

[cathair]

Tonsurephobia eh? Not sure if it's a phobia, I just don't want to and haven't for 6 years :p


it is also important to help the child overcome it as early as possible, otherwise the phobia could continue well into adulthood impacting one’s confidence, self esteem as well as appearance.

Oh please. Cutting one's hair has nothing to do with ones confidence nor is not cutting it a negative thing. That's just the author opinion.

The article did remind me I have been jabbed in the neck multiple times with scissors by both proper hairdressers and by my Mum though. And I hate it, I really, really hate it. Thinking about it makes me rage inside, even though I know it's not on purpose.

[Frankenstein]

I'm pretty certain that this is the thread that brought me to LHC, through Googling of haircut phobias :p

[lithostoic]

Not exactly but I always fear the worst when I ask for a trim. I'm very specific, borderline rude about it. It's not as if they get paid by the inch so idk why they try to be sneaky and snip off more.

[MidnightMoon]

I think I have this :p
I have had nightmares of having my hair cut, and I am also paranoid that someone in the street or work could cut it, or stick something to it, be it as a joke or on purpose. They are so unaware of the worth it bears to me, so they would not know how much it matters.
I once told a man I would cut off his .... if he dared cut my hair as he was joking with the subject.

[yahirwaO.o]

I know there are some ladies that really have this very deep phobia and I can understand why. I hadn't been around a hairdresser for quite some years. I am guy and there were countless times they would really try to persuade me to cut it guy short even when I was specifying that just wanted a little dust trim. Add the fact I have fine hair yeah some made really rude comments on it.

You know removing some of my lenght didn't make feel bad, it was the comments that really annoyed the heck out of me.

Still I was always assertive and if they did what not I wanted I was simply not going to pay for the service. That phase usually does it to whoever hairdresser and usually kept their mouths shut, no more catty comments.

I've been doing a lot of LHC advises-micro trims that are making now my hair fuller while keeping it fairly long ish. However, I have also had good experiences with some so not all of them are really that bad. Actually I want to have a professional straight across and very even blunt cut so maybe I'll be visiting one in the next future.

Just make sure to go fearless, very detailed and assertive for what you want. A pic or a pinterest image really helps nowadays.

[turtlelover]

I get phobic, but more so when my hair is shorter and there is less margin for error. There is NOTHING you can do about a too short pixie!

[irodaryne]

I get phobic, but more so when my hair is shorter and there is less margin for error. There is NOTHING you can do about a too short pixie!

I know this one entirely too well. Oddly enough, I get less paranoid about getting longer hair trimmed than I do getting a pixie cut. It is just so darned hard to find a hair dresser that can do a decent pixie cut. It's not like I don't bring a thousand pictures of the same hair cut from different angles (when I go pixie, I have the one cut that I get), but apparently it's impossible for them to cut it right.

I've never actually had a problem with long hair trims.

[Silverbleed]

In my case it's got more to do with the hairdressers. I yet have to find someone that can make me feel good when I leave the salon. So far every time I've gone, I stepped into the shower asap to wash out the fake curls, mousse, and all that stuff.
Last time I went to the salon I asked if they could cut on my own demands (dry, no shampoo etc). But they refused, because they truly believed cutting wet was better for my (curly) hair. That did not really help to restore my faith in hairdressers.

[Complexity]

I was always in the it's just hair, it'll grow back camp, but I've found that since I started ignoring (and now caring again) about my hair and length, I'm terrified to let anyone aside from myself come near it with scissors.

[chen bao jun]

I was always in the it's just hair, it'll grow back camp, but I've found that since I started ignoring (and now caring again) about my hair and length, I'm terrified to let anyone aside from myself come near it with scissors.

I really really hate that comment. "It's just hair; it'll grow back."
I think its so patronizing.
And outside of the point. Which is that I don't want it growing BACK. I want it growing FURTHER. It's my hair; please don't tell me that someone doing something I didn't ask for and don't want to it is a trivial thing.
I think one reason I stay on LHC is how nice and supportive people are here to those who go to the hairdresser and end up with more lopped off than they ask for. on the couple of occasions I had too much cut off (once was jsut before my wedding), I just wanted people to say they were sorry it happened, not that I was silly for being upset and that it was more stylish. I knew it was more stylish. I don't like stylish and I didn't want that done.

[Complexity]

Just to clarify: That's how I used to feel about my own hair. I would never say such a thing to someone else!

I used to work in a salon and spent a lot of time trying to fix mistakes. I always understood that hair could be a big deal, it just never was for me until recently. My nails are another story altogether :) I've always been super obsessed with keeping them long and perfect.

Just before a wedding (or any big event) is THE WORST time for any kind of mistake (especially something like hair). It's probably been a while since it happened, but I still want to say that I'm sorry it did :)

[chen bao jun]

thank you, Shanda. I didn't think you had said that, sorry for going off. It's just that I have hated when people have said that to me.
but people off LHC always do think that we make too big a deal about our hair, don't they?
:)
Yes, its over 30 years since my wedding. I need to get over that, already. My husband stared at me recently when I said something about the wedding haircut from hell and said, But your hair on our wedding day was fine.

Yes, it looked okay on the day of the wedding, it was still within the time limit when 'shag' style haircuts (really severe layers) look fine. However, that haircut was the reason why I chopped all my hair off right AFTER the wedding, made it all as short as the shortest parts (which was like, shorter than pixie. Seriously).

Oh well. If I had never done that (and I wouldn't have by choice) I wouldn't know for sure now how much I hate seriously short hair and how awful it looks on me. I might be yet another old lady with chopped off hair...But I figure if it looked THAT bad at age 25, how much worse at close to 60 years old, ya know?

[Complexity]

I completely understand where you're coming from; I look awful with short hair too :)

[spirals]

I had a pixie when I was 11. I looked like an 11-year-old boy. I do have a bit of a fear of cutting now, though I didn't pre-LHC. But my last salon cut was just wonderful. She did exactly what I wanted, and it was even one of those lower-mid-priced chain salons.

[SaucyWench]

No phobia (fear). But, trust? That's a different word!

My Mom always cut/trimmed my hair and never gave me any cause to complain, from the time I was a little girl. On the rare visits to a salon, she stood next to me and made sure no scissors came near me! She handled my trims until I met dh.

Dh is the only one I trust with scissors near my hair. He's done all my trimming since 1994.

My recently-cut braid (26") will go in his cremation urn when I die, along with whatever-length braid I have at that future time. I have a weird thing about not wanting my hair cremated!

[ThrowNormanAway]

No phobia (fear). But, trust? That's a different word!

My Mom always cut/trimmed my hair and never gave me any cause to complain, from the time I was a little girl. On the rare visits to a salon, she stood next to me and made sure no scissors came near me! She handled my trims until I met dh.

Dh is the only one I trust with scissors near my hair. He's done all my trimming since 1994.

My recently-cut braid (26") will go in his cremation urn when I die, along with whatever-length braid I have at that future time. I have a weird thing about not wanting my hair cremated!

I totally get what you mean about wanting your hair saved to be kept instead of buried or cremated. It's a special part of you, and will never rot so it's freshly kind of a cool thing to keep

[spidermom]

Hmmmm.....I'm not paranoid about my hair at all, and guess what? Nobody has ever cut more than I asked except once, and I think it was my fault. I asked for a 1-inch trim, but then I was chattering away about how I was planning to get rid of my layers, and she went ahead and evened out my layers then and there, which was about a 4- or 5-inch cut. Yikes! I think she misunderstood that I was intending to do it gradually.

[SaucyWench]

I totally get what you mean about wanting your hair saved to be kept instead of buried or cremated. It's a special part of you, and will never rot so it's freshly kind of a cool thing to keep

Oh, it will be buried, just not burned! Nobody else would want it and I'd hate for it to simply be tossed in the garbage or sold on ebay (though, I honestly believe ds would not do either!).

If I die first, my remaining braid will be cut (then I will be cremated) and the previously-cut braid will be saved until dh dies. Then, they will be placed in my dh's cremation urn, along with his ashes, which will be placed in our family plot (he & I will be sharing our spot in the ground, next to both sets of our parents).

If he dies before me, I'll cut my hair shorter and place all of it in his urn, too. My long hair has been so special to him, I want it to stay with him... If he goes furst, I don't care about my long hair anymore. It's something private, between us....

Some people find all this just ghastly, I know. But, whatever....

[Persiangirl01]

I can't tell you how many times I have asked for my hair to be cut WITHOUT layers, but I wanted a fringe, and the hairdressers I went to always said that if they cut a full bang they have to layer my hair or it will look silly! A few times I fell for the trick, because I thought I could trust my hair dresser, but she would just layer my hair so heavily that people thought I had cut my hair into a bob! I did not go near a hairdresser for a year after that. I've finally found a lady who understands what I want, although I have given up on asking for bangs. She gave me a fairly big chop in August because my hair was so badly damaged (My hair is more prone to damage at long lengths! I need a full hemline if I want my hair to grow out without breakage). She cut out almost all the layers back then, and now my hair has finally started gaining length instead of breaking! I went to her again in feb and we took about 2 or 3cm off, but my hair grew about 8cm so I am happy with the results! That is the only lady I will trust with my hair now :)

[ThrowNormanAway]

Oh, it will be buried, just not burned! Nobody else would want it and I'd hate for it to simply be tossed in the garbage or sold on ebay (though, I honestly believe ds would not do either!).

If I die first, my remaining braid will be cut (then I will be cremated) and the previously-cut braid will be saved until dh dies. Then, they will be placed in my dh's cremation urn, along with his ashes, which will be placed in our family plot (he & I will be sharing our spot in the ground, next to both sets of our parents).

If he dies before me, I'll cut my hair shorter and place all of it in his urn, too. My long hair has been so special to him, I want it to stay with him... If he goes furst, I don't care about my long hair anymore. It's something private, between us....

Some people find all this just ghastly, I know. But, whatever....

Alright, I understand. I don't share the same connection with my partner concerning my hair, I'm just a big fan of oddities and curiosities, so my post mortem braid staying in the family seems totally cool. That's really sweet what you plan to do for you and your husband.

[Wusel]

Since my hair passed the 20"-mark and I can do a pretty long braid I dream regularly that I go to the salon for a tiny half-inch-trim and the lady cuts off my whole braid.
Looks like a phobia... yes. :D

[casiopeia]

I think I have this :p
I have had nightmares of having my hair cut, and I am also paranoid that someone in the street or work could cut it, or stick something to it, be it as a joke or on purpose. They are so unaware of the worth it bears to me, so they would not know how much it matters.
I once told a man I would cut off his .... if he dared cut my hair as he was joking with the subject.

Yeah, this is me exactly. I also don't see myself going to hairdressers anytime in the next years. I haven't been in 2 years and don't plan to.