Unhappy With Salon Service~ How to Deal?

What got me thinking about posting this topic is that I have had two really awful salon services in the past year. Without wanting to sound 'shallow' (as I do know there ARE worse things in life~ although on the other hand, we do know that our hair really affects how we feel about ourselves)~ BOTH instances were really traumatic to me.

WARNING~ L   O    N    G    POST!  :)

The first time was just awful and it was so bad that I cried everytime I looked in the mirror.  I went into shock when I realized what happened.

It was June 2005 and I went to a new salon (L'Attitudes in Canada~ a chain salon similar to Regis Salons in the USA I believe) .  I needed to get my bleached blonde hair done~ just my roots touched up~ nothing major.  I had been getting my hair bleached for 15 years, so this was nothing new.  I knew what to ask for etc.  My regular hair colourist had gone on holidays and then didn't end up returning to work so I was on my own to find someone else ~and this salon had done someone elses' blonde that looked great IMO.

Went in for my appointment and had a brief consult in the chair and told her what I wanted.  I didn't mind the colourist ~but I found her to be a bit obnoxious~ a bit high on herself, even though she had no reason to be bragging about herself in the manner that she was (we weren't on those topics, etc, but I just let it go~ not a big deal), she was also the type who couldn't be wrong about anything~ she would say something and if I said "Um, no, that's not what they have done to my hair ion the past"~ or whatever, she'd get pi$$y... and she was just a teeny bit unknowledgable about the latest hair products.  Again, no biggie, I figured there are so many new products out there and it must be hard to keep up with everything and maybe not everyone is a product junkie like me. :)

So she starts doing my roots and I start reading my magazine not paying attention.  She also got a 'helper' to mix the colour and to do some of the front and sides as well with the brush.

She put me under the 'steamer'~ heat, a tad different from the dryer, but I figured she knew what she was doing.

Rinsed and she said she wanted to do a deep conditioning~ great.  She said, 'Wow, your hair is in really bad shape' and I was sort of like 'Huh???'. She showed me some of my hair in her hand and said 'it's almost see through'.  It was wet and I couldn't really see it and I know that whenever I wash my hair, I get about ten strands that come out, so I didn't think much of it.

We get to the chair and she kept trying to get me to let her cut off WAY more than I wanted.  I kept saying 'no' and she argued and argued.  I was seriously about to get up and say, "okay, that's it, I'll get it trimmed elsewhere if you don't want to do what I want".  She finally said fine, she'd do what I wanted.

I start reading my magazine again and all of the sudden I saw a SIX INCH chunk of hair drop.  I stopped her and jumped out of my seat and said~ "What are you doing"????  She started carrying on that my hair was so damaged that she had to do this to even it out and just kept repeating stuff like that.  I was thinking 'Where is all this 'Your hair is so damaged' talk coming from?  I had never heard that before.  I had been told that my hair was dry from bleaching it~ but I more often heard that my hair was in surprizingly good condition considering the long length and how long it had been coloured for.

I told her to just even out what she did~ no more and I left without even letting her dry it.  BIG MISTAKE I would realize later.  I paid~ and actually tipped her and left.  I think I was just in absolute shock at that point about losing the six inches in length~ little did I know that was nothing compared to what I was about to find out!~

The problem with not letting her dry it it was that I couldn't see what she had done. Driving home I was in a panic over how much she had cut off.  I got home and dried my hair and.... that's when I was traumatized!!!

She had burnt my hair off!  It was horrible.  I had one inch bangs that stood straight out (and I had NEVER HAD BANG BEFORE~ nothing more than a few face framing layers that were chin length) and they were so incredibly burnt that they looked charred as if they had been burned by fire or a candle.  All around my hair~ the top layer (sides, back) was 2 to 3 inches of hair left.  The top layer had been completely burned off from 2 to 3 inches from my roots.  The under layers were still there, but I had 2 or 3 inches of hair sticking up all over all the way around my hair.  And not just a few pieces~ about the thickness of my banging al the way around had been burned off!!!

I lost it.  Not only had I just lost SIX INCHES OFF THE LENGTH OF MY HAIR WITHOUT MY CONSENT, SHE HAD ALSO BURNED THE PERIMETER OF MY HAIR TO 3 INCHES LONG.

I cried and cried and didn't know what to do.  I went to sleep that night and had nightmares.  I woke up in the middle of the night feeling okay and then as soon as what had happened sunk in again from my sleepy haze, that horrible, desperate feeling in my stomach returned.  I was not only miserable~ I was devastated.  I was known for my long, pale blond hair and was complimented on it DAILY.  I loved it .  Past tense.

I finally made the decision to get hair extensions~ at whatever cost.  I was leaving for two weeks in Mexico in a few days and wanted to look better for my trip.  Went and had the extensions put in and they helped a but~ but I still had all those burnt chunks around the perimeter of my head.   

Wasn't keen on the extensions~ found the ones I had not be be as good as others I had seen.  Due to my breakage, if the wind even blew~ you could see the extensions quite clearly. I also found them heavy and hard to care for.  I had them taken out three weeks later~ although I am glad I got them as they gave me a bit of time to get used to the iea that I had lost a lot of my hair.

After that, I simply wore bandanas a lot, hats, scarves etc~ as opposed to getting my hair all cut off.  I figured I'd keep whatever length I had left~ and however silly it looked at the time, I figured once the burnt parts grew out enough to blend in, I'd at least still have the length in the underlayers.  FINALLY, this December I had just close to enough growth to get them blended in as layers.  There are still some odd bits that aren't quite right, but they are MUCH Better.

I never ever complained to that Salon~ regretfully.  I was just so devastated and felt like there was nothing they could do to get my hair back~ not the burnt off parts or the six extra inches she cut off as well.  Later I found out that I could have had the salon pay for my extensions~ but I had left it too long by then.  I HAVE told ABSOLUTELY EVREYONE I KNOW about what happened and who did it.  SUE AT L'Attitudes Salon in the Georgian Mall in Barrie, Ontario did this!!!!

BTW~ what I suspect happened~ the colourist pulled the bleach too far down my lengths.  She did point out some areas down to about three inches from my roots that could have been lightened a bit more~ and I figured she'd come back and deal with them once we were closer to the end of my processing time.  NOPE~ I suspect now, that she simply pulled the bleach right down about four inches from my roots. 

Live and learn~ I swore I'd never let something like that happen again.

GUESS WHAT!  I just had ANOTHER salon disaster!  Unreal.  Rather than type it all out~ I will simply provide the links to what happened as I have already described it on here. 

http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=38813 &PN=1

http://talk.hairboutique.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=38633 &PN=1

Basically with this nightmare that just happened~ It seems to be fixable~ and I hope the integrity of my hair stays intact (I will try to baby it as much as possible to help)~ The worst part this time~I was really upset with the attitude of the colourist.

I have gone over and over it in my head thinking about what she said to me to see if I could have misconstrued it somehow.

Basically~ after she coloured my hair~ she left me with a junior to wash the colour out and then I went downstairs to have my hair cut by someone else and never saw her again.  She didn't ask me if I liked and and if she did see the final colour that day~ it was from way behind me because I didn't see her see it at all.

I left in shock (again) *laughing*.  I HATED THE COLOUR.  It was brownish gray.  SO DARK!  I was PALE BLOND when I went in AND happy with my pale blonde. (I had simply booked having my roots touched up). 

Afterwards, I thought all night what to do and I really didn't want to go back to her because she had done this to me, but I finally figured I should because then she could correct it and at least she knew what she had just done.  I was really worried about damage and wanted to make sure this was corrected as gently as possible.

Called the next morning and spoke to her.  She was a nasty B**** about it.  Really bad about it.  Wow~ nothing even close to the philosophy I had heard from colourists who say "We WANT to know if you are unhappy so we can fix it and make you happy".  Uh, NOPE~ it was like she took it as an attack on her!

VERY NICELY I said~ 'Jennifer~ I am very unhappy with my colour'.  Quick as can be, she said~ well, you were happy last night'. I said, 'No, I wasn't, I just didn't know what to say so I didn't say anything at all'. I went on to explain to her that she had told me that she was 'simply going to put some lowlights in to add dimension because in her opinion my allover blonde was 'dated'.  She jumped all over everything I said~ (which I was stating nicely and calmly).  She kept changing her story too.  I basically said~ "Jenn, I am really unhappy with this.  I did not want to lose my blonde hair and it is now brown.  I just want my blonde hair back."  She went on to tell me that she couldn't fix it that day but the following day~ I said fine.  THEN~ she starts being REALLY mean and says this~ 'Well, I will fix your hair for you, but after that you will need to find a new colourist.  If you don't want to do what needs to be done to get your hair back to good health, then I don't want to be your colourist.  Like I told you, you could have just gone with this colour for a few months and then in three months you'd have healthy hair and be blonde again". (I'm sitting there thinking~ "where is all this coming from?  You have never said anything to me like this~ we didn't even talk about colouring my hair brown~ you told me you were adding a 'few lowlights' to add dimension.  I was supposed to remain blonde").  Instead, I simply said "How does colouring my hair brown get it healthier if we are just going to go blonde again in a few months?  Wouldn't that be more damaging than just redoing the roots monthly if I want to stay blonde?"  It just didn't make sense.  She just got snotty again and said "You obviously don't understand hair".

Overall, I was SOOO uncomfortable going back in there, but my absolute biggest concern was getting my blonde hair back in the least damaging way.  As much as I didn't want to see her ignorant face again, I wanted her to fix it because she knew exactly what she had just put on it and I figured that would be the best way to correct it.  When I arrived at the salon, I did say to her, 'Listen, I'm not trying to get a free colour here.  I just want my blonde hair back.  I have no problem paying~ please just get my blonde back without damaging my hair".

She became a bit nicer after that (and didn't charge me afterall)~ and still didn't really fix it either.  It was STILL brown with blonde highlights when I left.  The weird thing was~ when we were talking again~ she actually admitted that she didn't mention colouring my hair brown to me because she knew I would immediately say no when I heard the colours she wanted to put in ~but she went ahead anyway because she 'thought' I would really like it when I saw it.  Can you believe that!!!! (Uh lady~ that 'no' you suspected I would say to the brown colour would probably because it's NOT what I wanted!!!~ DUH!!!).

Later she did say to me that 'she would be my colourist after all' *snort*.  She said it as if she was doing me a favour 'letting' me come back and having her do me the favour of screwing up my hair even more.  Like I would EVER go back again.  UGH!

Thats my trauma!  Thanks for reading.  MORE SO~ thank you to everyone for all your info and support in helping me through that horrible experience.  Some people really don't understand how horrible it feel to have someone screw your hair up really bad~ and some people make it seem like we are making too big of a deal over our hair.  It's nice to have other people who care about their hair just as much and can understand and be supportive.  It REALLY made a difference for me!  Thanks :)

(...and again~ edited for spelling:)

Sarah~

I think what you described is the same thing that happens to me.  I am not normally someone who can be pressured into something (major) that I really have no desire to agree to.  Yet, at the salon I have felt very unknowlegable at times and there have been times where I was pressured into cutting more hair off than I would want simply through intimidation.

The stylist will have me in his/her chair and be suggesting cutting more layers and extra inches off the bottom and I will say no.  They then have started in with saying 'you hair will look so much better' and 'you hair needs it, the ends are split~ do you want to have frizzy and processed looking hair'? 

Even though I KNOW my hair better than that person does and I have had my doubts over what they are saying, I have been pushed into things thinking 'well they are the professional and maybe they can see something that I cannot'.  (Even though they aren't looking at my hair under a microscope or anything).

Two hair disasters is enough for me though! 

I will try to never let it happen again.  If a colourist/stylist starts trying to push me into something I do not want, it will put my guard up and if they cannot agree right away to what I am asking for, I will simply leave and tell them that I don't think its a good idea for me to have my hair done by them since we are obviously on completely different pages.   Otherwise, it just isn't worth the risk to me anymore.  All those years growing hair out again after 30 minutes from a pushy or untalented stylist/colourist.