Talk, talk, TALK to your stylist

no problem ingrid, This was not really directed at you, I just hear a lot of bashing of stylist on this site, and I just wanted to make people aware that there are a lot of stylist out there who take pride in making our clients not only beautiful but extremely happy every day. My heart goes out to all of you who have had a bad experience at the salon. That is the one place I beleive you should always feel better when you leave, never worst. Thanks for being kind Ingrid, no harm done.

I`m a stylist, and I know I`m an artist, and that is what made me enter this profession. My clients are my canvas. However, my canvas is painted based on total agreement between myself and my client. There are absolutely no suprises. I take the time to consult, and get to know my client and we both know the outcome to expect. I make suggestions only, and my clients either agree or disagree, but we both agree on the cut they are about to recieve. I take a lot of pride in my work and my clients love every cut and color they recieve. I feel bad for those of you who have had bad experiences, but not every stylist is scissor happy, or a bad listener. Maybe I`m rare in my profession in your mind, but a lot of my colleagues truly care about making the person in our chair happy. So please, one bad apple does not spoil the bunch, nor seven. If you must judge someone base it on the content of their characther not on their profession. (Martin Luther King said something similiar to that.)

Hi Ingrid,

Thanks very much for your sympathetic words! As odd as this sounds, I will return to the salon. Honestly, their color work is superb. However, I will NOT be getting my hair cut there again. The next time I get a few highlights in and if the colorist asks if I`ll be getting a trim as well, I will (TRY to remain calm....) explain that several layers were cut into my hair last time that were not working with my hair, and the hair just looked short and wild. I`ll calmly say that I will simply trim my own hair from now on (or get a trusted friend to do so). I will also say that I wish the stylist would have discussed what I wanted a lot more before any cutting went on. THAT last part is the real crime, I felt. A few times, he just said, "Yeah, you want body and movement." (Hey, who can argue with that?!) I just didn`t realize how much he wasn`t cutting into.

Oh well, but unfortunately, since we do have to live with our hair every single day, it becomes real easy to become obsessed and upset by it!

All my best,

Jennifer

Hi Ingrid,

Oh, I brought pictures all right! He all but laughed at them. In his defense, he really is a talented haircutter. But what angers me is that he really didn`t listen to what *I* want. I kind of felt like I were a hair model, and he was "creating" a style for some show. Well, I was paying a lot of money for the cut!

He really cut very little length off the bottom, but he thought he was just being so clever is cutting the layers in to give me "movement." Yeah, well, I had so much movement that I wondered if my hair would ever quit moving! Okay, I`m exaggerating, but what I really hate is that layers on medium length hair really just make the hair look shorter. I HATE the layers around my face.

Grrrr.....sorry to vent. I`m still in a bad mood over this. But next time, I will NOT let a stylist trim my hair. I know there are some very wonderful stylists who truly listen to their clients, but unfortunately, I`ve simply never met one. {sigh}

Jennifer

I can`t say mine is a hair disaster, but I am not pleased with how my hair was cut.

Here`s a problem I see: an inexperienced stylist obviously won`t have the expertise to cut your hair really well. Yet, a very talented stylist *may* (which doesn`t necessarily mean it will happen) consider himself an "artist" and cut your hair the way HE wants.

And the latter happened to me. My hair was a few inches below my shoulders but hadn`t been trimmed for many months. I had it highlighted (which was fantastic!) and then the owner of the salon cut it. I brought in pictures, which he kind of sluffed off and said, "You want body and yet movement; yeah, I can do that." He seemed extremely confident so I didn`t argue much.

Well, he took very little length off, but unfortunately cut in SEVERAL layers. Probably 98% of most women would be happy with the cut, but my thick hair just became "poufy" and unfortunately, I`ve found out that the shorter layer pretty much defines the hair.

If I were an anchorwoman on television, I`d probably be thrilled. My hair had WAY too much body and wave. But that simply isn`t my style.

I couldn`t stand those %$#@! layers. So, against my better judgment, I cut about two inches off myself. It nearly killed me, and my hair is now just barely at the shoulder, but amazingly enough, it actually looks longer because it doesn`t have those horrid layers in it! Actually, there is a tiny bit of layering at the ends, and that`s okay, but I don`t like major layering.

Even at the expense of being seen as a pest, I would STRONGLY urge anyone visiting a stylist (unless, of course, you have visited him before and are completely confident with him) to make absolute certain that you are comfortable with your stylist`s understanding of what you want.

I`m not going to go crazy over two inches, but for someone with hair at or just below the shoulders, two inches is a lot of hair!

I will be patient and in about 3-4 months will just have my husband or a friend trim the very ends. And that`s ALL!

Jennifer