NEVER get a cheap haircut if you have short hair!!!

I used to have long blonde hair, but it was fine and unhealthy so I chopped it off. Well, not all of it: I went to a new styilist and asked him to give me a cut that is longer in the front and goes up in the back, but not a bob: I wanted it to me springy on the top of my head but very chunky and trendy. He rolled his eyes and tried to talk me out of it but did it anyway, and did a great job. He cut it just above chin length in front and above my neck in back, and then he used a razor to make many chunky strands of different lengths. It was so cute! People I didn't even know walked up to me all the time wanting to know who my hairstylist was (four people in the first week). Even my friends who didn't want me to cut it admitted it was way cuter than it was when it was long. Oh, sweet memories...

That same hairstylist ripped me off on my second visit. He announced his price had gone up by $9 after he finished my cut, and he totally changed the style so it was about the same length all the way around. It was very ugly on me, and it was too standard to match my slightly funky style.

The next time I got a hair cut was three weeks ago. I was too irritated o go back to that salon and I didn't feel like finding another so I went to Great Clips (which is just like Supercuts). I could not have been more clear about what I wanted when I talked to the hairdresser, but I ended up with my worst nightmare: a bob cut. It is longer in the front, but it makes me look ten years older and it's just awful. It insists on turning under, making it even worse. I didn't say anything to the hairdresser: I just tipped, paid, and left.

I feel like a doormat, and I'm absolutely terrified to go into a salon again. I'm afraid I won't be able to tell them what I want (since I've failed the last few times) and I'm afraid they will disregard my request, and that I won't be able to stop them. This happened a lot when I had long hair, but long hair is easy to fix: my hair was so short after the butchering that there was nothing anyone couldn have done to fix it!

When your hairstylist looks so proud when they look at your hair, how do you tell them you hate it and they need to fix it? How do you find a good hairstylist and keep him/her? What should I do with my hair?

Suck it up and tell them it's not what you want in the nicest way. Most salons will fix their mistakes if you say something. They want you to come back again. I made the same mistake when I wanted highlights. I had pictures of what I wanted and pictures of what I didn't want. I supposedly had the "best colorist" in the salon (Cost Cutters). Maybe the trashy way the salon was kept in and the gross hair the staff had should have made me leave (I did feel uncomfortable... stupid me for not listening!). I don't think all cheap salons are bad (sometimes you can find a great stylest) but there's prolly something about a bad one that will tip you off.