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Wednesday 24 September 2014

Irrational Hatred of the Hairdressers

Today I posted the below photo on twitter of me looking very sad after getting my hair cut, to which I got a huge response of "ah you look great!" (thanks everyone, yisser all legends) but also a lot of "I hate it when you don't get what you asked for". I'm assuming then that I'm not alone in vehemently hating a trip to the hairdressers. I generally will avoid it for as long as possible and although I'm pretty good at dyeing my own hair I have yet to master any vague sort of cutting skills so that is one thing I just can't skip.
I explained that I was trying to keep the length so I just wanted a small amount taken off and to freshen up my side fringe, no layers. Instead I got layers, an arseways version of 'The Rachel' circa 1996 and I'm also somehow now the proud owner of a long bob. Overall, this is not too dissimilar to the time my sister decided to give me a bowl hair cut mere days before my first Holy Communion, thus giving our mother a conniption at the same time.


This all came about because I was engrossed in a Dawn O' Porter article in Glamour at the time and honestly, she had the whole thing finished by the time I'd read those two pages. When I looked up (what felt like five minutes later) there seemed to be a lot gone but I thought once it was dried it'd be better. Well I was wrong yet again because she then proceeded to give me an insane Stepford Wives style blow dry. I know what you're thinking- you should have complained, but honestly, the blow dry was fixable myself (straighteners and curlers at the ready) and the cut was fine- it was just more off than I expected. Really, what can you do about that? It's not like she could glue it back. The manager spoke poor English and I just couldn't face attempting pidgin Italian and making a complete fool of myself. Instead I left quickly, repeating "hair grows back, hair grows back, hair grows back" on repeat in my mind, like Jack Nicholson but less axe murder-y. 
Then I got to thinking of all the times I've gone to the hairdresser and left in a foul mood because I didn't get what I asked for. Of course I've had some good experiences too with excellent hair stylists, it just feels like the bad outweighs the good. I honestly don't know whether this is in a similar vein to how I hate getting my make up done or not. In that circumstance I avoid it because it's never done how I like it and I really can always do a better job myself. But with my hair, even if I show them a picture of my own hair from a previous time and say "that's what I want", it still somehow rarely works out. 

Am I alone in this too or do you have a less irrational (some would say normal) attitude to getting your hair done? 
XX

9 comments:

  1. The bad experiences definitely outweigh the good, I cannot think of one place I really love to get my hair done... it's more where will do the least damage kind of thing. I'm looking for somewhere new again after my last experience. I don't know if it's just that most stylists don't know how to work with my curly hair, if they get fed up halfway through or they genuinely just think they know best but it's always awful - from the cut to the blow dry and usually even the colour! Also, what is with that stepford wives blow-dry, I always get that and have to redo it when I get home.

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  2. With you hating haircuts. I just chop an inch off myself when it gets splitty. My hair is so fine I pull it off. And frankly, I feel better than paying thirty quid for a cut n blow I immediately comb out and snip at!

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  3. Anything would look great on you doll face! Aside of that, i can relate so much! A few years ago i went in for a trim, my hair was shoulder length and left with a ear lob bob. Mad! Since then, I got on well with Peter Mark in Dundrum and StyleClub on Talbot street, touch wood.

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  4. Hair is such a sensitive thing. I would rather have my hair grow out than rush to a hairstylist I don't trust. I have two hairstylists I trust to such a degree that all I have to say is I want to trim ___ inches and they take care of the rest. One time I said I wanted short hair around my shoulders and left it up to my stylist. But I tell ya, it took me lots of research and years to find these two. I was trying to find someone really good, but wouldn't break my bank. At the moment, I should be in for a visit, but their popularity makes it hard to mesh with my schedule. But the last few years have been hardly any, "OMG, my hair" moments because I'm so picky about my stylist.

    I think make up is another one that pushes a button for me. I remember for my prom, it was the early 2000s and they were trying to put brown lipstick on me and were so appalled that I wanted a brighter pink color. Luckily, my mom was there and she absolutely did not like the brown color they insisted on using for me. Nowadays, if I ever get my makeup done, I go early and watch a few of the artists at work and schedule with the one that I like.

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  5. I've only two hairdressers I trust, both family members, I'd be too terrified to changE

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  6. My grumpiness knows no bounds after a haircut, I both hate and love getting it cut because it's very rare I don't come out grumpy for the first half hour until I decide I like it, and that's just with my fringe!

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  7. I love my current hairdresser but have hated what some previous hairdressers have done to my hair. I used to put it off so much and do my own colour, like you, but now trust the girl I go to to do it all.
    My hair is poker straight and I could never understand the bad cuts I got or how rough some hairdressers can be with your head - nails should not scrape the scalp or dig into it while washing and please don't give clients whiplash from brushing their hair after washing.
    I remember once spending a few weeks with my hair constantly tied up because I hated a cut so much. 😠
    The struggle for good hair is real.

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  8. It's so annoying (and sometimes upsetting) when hairdressers don't give you what you asked for - but your hair did look AMAZING last night x

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  9. Ooh, poor you! There's nothing worse than losing inches which too you months and months to carefully grow! (you do look super-pretty as usual, but that's not the point).

    I find it helps to have the same hairdresser who you go to regularly (I go about every 7 weeks but that's cos I have medium-short hair) so you build up a rapport. And if you don't like a cut then keep trying 'till you find a good hairdresser who'll listen! Ask local friends for recommendations.

    I find haircuts pretty expensive in England compared to New Zealand. I don't love my current hairdresser quite as much as I did my lovely hairdresser in NZ, but hey, he's pretty good so that'll do me.

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