Why did you stop going to your last hairdresser?

Hi Gang,

I'm just curious about why you left your last hairdresser? This is to help educate my newer stylist on what not to do.

Thank you

What I said: "Cut off very little hair - I don't want it short. I'm thinking about growing it long".

What she heard: "Cut it off. I want very little hair, really short. I don't want it long".

With me it was just the opposite of Uzma.

I wanted to go to a short pixie and she was afraid to cut it as short as I wanted even though there was another women who worked in the salon who had very short hair.
I almost asked to have the short haired beautician who was working on another customer to come over and finish my haircut.

I guess it is better to cut too little than too much though because you can always cut more off if the customer doesn't like it.

To me the most important thing about having a good hairdresser (and mine is good now because she knows what I want now), is to LISTEN to the customer and then have the KNOWLEDGE and SKILL at haircutting to do what the customer WANTS TO HAVE DONE with their hair. After all it is THEIR HAIR!

How did you feel about the atmosphere?
Did it play any role in your experience?

Atmosphere?

Well politeness and good manners are always important. And cleanliness.
I don't mind music playing if the music is good music but not rap , heavy metal or music that is too loud. Quiet isn't bad either.

The place I go to is well lit but not too bright and not too noisy. It's nice and the lady who does my hair knows exactly how I want it cut; short but not as short as a crewcut. And she knows the style of pixie I like. I just want her to give me a trim to keep it neat, and that is exactly what she does.

Hi

Just thought I would throw my two cents in. I recently left my hairdresser of 7 years. In the past 7 years I followed her to three salons. I left her becasue she has been slowly but surely, slacking on the quality of work she puts into my hair. She is young and doing through some personal stuff right now, but she should not let this come out in her work. The last time I went to see her, 2 months ago, she removed a black haircolor from my hair and added in a reddish brown. That is what I wanted. When she was done. I had a a more intense brownish red part at the top of my head(roots) and black chunks throughout the middle and bottom sections mixed with reddish brown parts. She said they were lowlights and that It would take alot more stripping to get it solid. I didn't understand why she didn't do it all in the first place before she added color. SHe had another client waiting so i would have to reschedule for her to fix it. For this I paid 75 dollars (no cut or blowdry included)When it finally dried I was very unsatisfied. Two weeks later I had to color it again becasue the roots had faded to such alight color that it looked funny with the rest.

I have not been to her since.

Jacqui

I have short hair - and my old stylist cut it depending on how she felt.
When she had a good day I received a good cut - well, on a bad day I had a bad hair day as well. Uneven....which is not what you want with short hair or any length of hair.

So I changed stylist and I am quite happy :-)
I got a consultation, we discussed my lifestyle, styling options - thanX Joyce! My next appointment is already booked.

Also both salons are different - the old one is in a mall, quite small, only lots of clients in the weekend, not during the week. Stylists don't talk to you if they don't like you, fit into their idea of life (sorry, I don't party all weekend...).
Two walls were glass (windows to the passage in the mall), so whatever happened to you was witnessed by people walking by.

New salon is quite big, in an old building with high ceilings, lots of light. People passing by can't necessarily see you with your head in foil or curlers due to the position of the stations.

Both offer free refreshments, both have quite young stylists working there.
My new salon also offers booking via the internet, though I prefer the personal contact in this busy world it is an option some people will like.

I am happy with my decision!

This is such a good thread, Lili.

I love reading all of your Salon experiences.

Post on Guy's.

I switched because a new salon opened close to my house and I saw a haircut that the owner had done and really liked it. I went in for a consultation and Voila (this is the name of the salon too), I had a new style that was great. I have been going there ever since and I am very, very happy with the quality of the haircuts and color I get there. This stylist is a french guy and he is just a wizard with hair. Very, very few people can do much with my fine, thin hair and this is the first stylist to make me happy since I left Atlanta.

the worst hair salon experiance I've ever had was about 7 months ago. My hair had gotten long and I was just going in for a trim(1-2 inches off). When the hairdresser was finished I realized that about 5 inches were gone! I was extremly upset and haven't gone back there since.

Good question. Because I like the way he does my hair. I can style it myself and go longer between trims. That is what makes a hairdresser great.

I started going to a different person to do my hair because I felt she lost her touch. She started out really good, being attentive, and did a good job. However, as time went on, I started getting the feeling that she wasn't paying enough attention anymore. It seemed that she was doing things haphazardly. I understand people have bad days at work and whatnot, but it happened about three times and I decided that I needed to find someone else to do my hair.

She always trimmed too much of my hair so it would never grow out long. And she totally fried my hair with bleach trying to give me highlights! And didn't bother to apply toner afterward. :( It's taken me 4 months (and a new hair stylist) to FINALLY get my hair in reasonably healthy condition.

i went to my last stylist for 3 1/2 years before i moved closer to work but further away from her. When she was on maternity leave, i thought i'd go crazy, i needed a haircut so badly! She has curly hair like mine and even was coloring her hair a similar shade of red. She is wonderful with color but when i started wearing my hair shorter, could not get the style i wanted. i was wanting a more blunt/square cut and she loves a round, soft look. Looks great on her but not what i wanted for me.

Anyway, i ended up moving closer to work, further from her salon, and it was difficult to make an appointment that was convenient for me and fit into her book. (it's an hour drive from work and my weekends are always booked up) I was having a really hard time making an appointment to have my hair colored before an important event so one day on a whim i bought a box of color and did it myself. It turned out so good i've done it myself ever since.

I never really loved her cuts so i started going to a guy a friend recomended. Turns out he's from a sicilian family just like me and they all have curly hair, including his wife and he is brilliant with curly hair! He is SO good with my hair, cut exactly like i wanted and he's so close to my work, i can go on my lunch break for a cut!

I don't have a regular hairdresser. I just never "connected" with a particular one or felt the need to visit the same one over and over.

Now partly, this might be due to using Visible Changes (mall salon) as my salon of choice (it's either that or engage in a crapshoot with all the little hometown salons around here) and they tend to have a rotating line-up of hairdressers.

Secondly, I hate spending lots of money on my hair and can only really part with $40 or less for a decent haircut.

Third, I have my mother who absolutely swears by a single hairdresser and I keep seeing the same haircut on her...month after month, year after year.

I like change. I like being fearless with my hair (from below my shoulders to above my ears in a single swoop) and hate being hindered by a stylist who doesn't think I should do it.

I did like my last stylist. She did an excellent job on my hair. However, I can't remember her name. :p

I used to go to my last stylist because she was able to give me a nice bob - hard to do on fine, straight hair like mine. But one day, after finishing the cut, she took the shaver to shave up my neck, and afterward shaved off "a few" strays from the bob itself.

The next day I washed it and the only thing it would do was a choppy, shaggy flip. It looked like I was trying to grow out a really bad haircut. Even with close trims, it took months to grow out.

My current stylist is the one I went to immediately after her. He trims exactly how much I want removed. No surprises. I've been a client now for more than 10 years.

Fun thread! I've been going to the same stylist for 15 years, and I love her.

I left my previous stylist for 2 reasons. First, he had a bit of a drinking problem, and sometimes his cuts were better than others. Once, when I'm sure he'd been drinking too much, he actually charged me the time of day on the clock on his wall as he finished (it was 11.48 or something like that). Second, and the last straw, he cut off more than I asked for right before my 10 year high school reunion. For about 3 years he'd been giving me the same cut - just touching the shoulders in back, slightly tapered on the sides - and I asked for just my usual trim, but for some reason (maybe the bottle!) that time he cut it off shorter and even all around without the tapering. I looked kind of like Buster Brown, and I'd been known for my hair in high school. Ugh.

Right after that I found a new hairstylist by asking a neighbor with a cute haircut who did her hair, and I've gone to that stylist ever since. She gives great cuts and has been very supportive as I've gone back and forth from shoulder length to bra strap length and once to short hair. It's a small shop with just two stylists, so it's an intimate, family atmosphere. She's also about $10 less per cut than many of the salons in town.

I have yet to ever get my hair cut by the same person twice. My #1 turnoff is if the stylist says something negative about the condition of my hair in a non-tactful way. My hair is very bleached, yes. It is also frizzy, and is a bit damaged. However, what they don't know is that my hair is naturally frizzy/wavy and has always felt coarse when it has been blow-dryed, even after using a flat iron and product to smooth it. They assume that I am an amateur who has fried my hair with bleach, and the condescending tone offends me. Tact is a valuable skill, and too many stylists lack it.

I also expect that if I've paid $50 for a haircut, I will not go home and find long pieces of hair that were accidentally missed and not cut. I have had three very sloppy hairdressers who all did that, and never saw me again.

I'm pretty picky, but some of the stylists I've been to were pretty interolable, hurried, and overpriced. Let's hope my haircut with a new stylist this week goes better. ;)

She made a very snide remark about women who "insist on relaxing their hair" so I was already a little leery, then she changed my follow up appointment 3 times. I moved on.

Have not had a regular stylist in a number of years, not have I been to a beauty shop in a number of years.

Part of this is because I've been growing my hair out quite long and give myself trims.  Why I am leery to go to a stylist? 

1.  Many stylists seem to not like to work on longer hair.

2.  Trims - you specifiy one length and the stylist does what he/she wants to do regardless.

3.  Patience to do the job correctly.  I've run into several situations where you need something a bit more complex - say, your hair actually shaped to its length and specific natural wave or curl and the stylist merely gives you the cookie-cutter hair cut. 

When I've gotten my hair professionally highlighted, the best results are usually when they do that sectional foil-highlighting method.  This can be time-consuming and I have only found a minority of stylists that will actually do it this way.  Most refuse to do the foil method and just slap that plastic cap on your head and rip delicate sections of your hair through those tiny holes to highlight.  Now, I actually can (and have done) do this myself at home.  Why should I pay some person to damage my hair in this manner.  (Note - I have long, thick, but rather individually fine strands that can break easily if snagged.)

4.  On occasion, I have gone in and chosen a style out of the many style books that customers can peruse.  Or I have brought in a clip of an example of how I want my hair cut/styled.  It never seems to make a difference becausew I usually end up with thesame cookie-cutter cut/style.

I used to have a FABULOUS stylist - she LISTENED to what I wanted and did a great job executing the cut I wanted, she was always up-to-date on new trends and techniques, etc.  Since I moved, I have had the worst hair experiences of my entire life!  I've been tempted to just buy a plane ticket back to my old city and have Mandy cut my hair again - it would be about the same amount of money for the ticket as what I've wasted on rude, distracted, arrogant, and ignorant stylists I've gone to. (sorry to be so sarcastic - just got my hair cut badly again yesterday). 

I went to the same hairdresser my whole life.  She's a family friend and she always did EXACTLY what I wanted- from super long to super short.  I stopped going to her almost three months ago because a) she cut too much off, b) she's hair dryer/iron happy, and c) she bleached my hair three times in one week last summer, and that's why I still have to work so hard to keep my hair healthy.  I asked her to make my hair lighter, but I could've waited a week or so in between bleachings.  It's a miracle my hair didn't fall out.

Hi all!  I changed stylists because I was not seeing any growth and I just plain didn't like the way she styled my hair.  The styles were always hard and dry looking never soft and full of body.

I left my last hairstylist because she charged $10 EXTRA because my hair was long and really thick.

I love my current hairstylist. She is so nice. She does exactly what I want and loves my thick wavy/curly hair. She showed me how to make my hair more manageable.

My previous hairstylists all complained about the thickness of my hair. E

I stopped going to hair stylists because no matter who I went to they did their own method after I very specifically told them how they needed to handle my hair. At the time, I had shoulder length straight hair.  If the stylist cut it fancy - pinning the top up and cutting it in sections then it did a flip (which I did NOT want) and if they just wet it down and cut it straight across then it stayed down and behaved.  I finally went door to door in the college dorms asking people if they thought they could cut straight.  If they didn't say "no" I handed them the scissors and told them "don't worry, if you screw it up it will grow again". Those were the best haircuts - took about 2 minutes to do. Then after I graduated I did it myself.

Recently I decided to update my look, something more fun, and went to an expensive stylist who came highly recommended.  The initial cut was fantastic.  But it turned out she can't follow existing styles, and I left the 6 week touchup looking like I was 20 years older than I am - I had a bowl on my head. Not young. Not good.  I called her two days later and she couldn't get me in for four weeks to fix her mess.  So I hacked at it myself and I am going back to straight, shoulder length, do it myself hair.  Also - during the touch-up cut, she cut my bangs real short (I told her not to touch them) and five minutes later she said "you must have cut your hair, look at what you did to your bangs, you will have to grow them out" WHAT?!!  Crazy lady...!