soooooo.....  you got a few minutes????

about eight months ago (march '05), i went into a supercuts with relatively even, shoulder length hair and asked for a trim.  i was very specific about the "trim" part- kept telling the lady how i was trying to grow it out and just wanted to even out the back.  SHE, all the while listening and saying "uh huh" and "yeah", proceeded to give me the ABSOLUTE WORST haircut i have ever had in my entire life.  (and that's saying something. trust me.)  i still can't say exactly what she did (she had me spun around to face the room, not the mirror), but it appears that she decided it would be a good idea to cut way INTO my hair, starting at the base of  my skull and working at a diagonal to the back of my head.  it looks now (after 8 months of growing it out w/out cutting it) like she did this in the center of my forehead, along the side of my head, starting at my right temple and slicing around to the back, from the top of my ear down to my neck, and then maybe slicing form the back of my head forward to pull the hair forward?  i can't be sure, since i don't know haircutting tricks.  what i do know is that after 8 months, i am just barely able to get the underpart of the right side tucked behind my ear, and there appears to be this wierd "c" of straggly, jagged hair dangling from the right underside of my head.  (yes- she only did this to one side.)  that means probably another 4 inches or so to where i can cut it to a reasonable style. 

i have never seen anyone with this type of haircut, and it has been eight months of sheer embarrassment to even get it to this point.  i have had to go to meetings and give presentations with chunks of hair poking out of the top of my head like antennas.  because of the way she cut it, i couldn't pull it in a ponytail or cut it to even it out.  not even palmade would work in slicking it down.  and even now, if i don't tightly pull the hair from the center of my forehead behind my ear, poofy chunks come forward from the side of my head like some defect cupie doll. 

now i was very clear about wanting a trim, which to me generally means a half inch, maybe an inch, off the BOTTOM,and i also mentioned that my hair was naturally curly (in a frizzy, lumpy kind of way) and i like to keep it straight, and still she went ahead and gave me this cut- not just a little boo boo whoops-i-took-off-two-inches-instead-of-one thing, but something she had to have known would be a drastic change.  i always go home to dry my hair, so it wasn't entirely apparent at first, but even sitting there, i noticed a change in the feel of my hair and had asked her how much she had taken off, and she had the gaul to tell me that she only took off about an inch to even out the back.  (lies!) 

so, after this very long venting session (thank you.), my question is this:  i know i have to let the hair grow out, fair or not.  i know it will take a long, long time to do so, social life be danged.  but what i'm curious about is if there is any kind of recourse for this kind of malpractice?  i know that sounds bitter, and trust me- i am bitter- but this type of thing just happens far too much, and hairdressers aleays get to walk away with the normal hair saying"sorry.  you'll just have to let it grow." or "i thought that's what you wanted."  understandably, miscommunications hapen sometimes, but there are many of those times like this, which goes beyond having a "bad day" as a stylist and more into the realm of total incompetence or breech of contract.  as i said, she had to have known that this mess would be a drastic change, and for her to just completely overlook that, and then have the nerve to lie about it, well, i don't think  a person like that should be cutting hair.  she no longer works at that location, but i know hairdressers need licences.  does anyone know if the liscencing board takes testimony from past clients/ victims??  

silly question, i know, but worth a shot.  no one else should have to go through this again. 

thank you for listening.  sorry for the ramble.  hugs for all the victims of Bad Hair.   

How utterly awful.  What, was she on another planet that day, or is she just deaf?  Because, to me, a trim means half an inch, or an inch at the most.  And any GOOD stylist would ask you what you mean by a "trim", not just proceed to hack off all your hair into a cut so unusual it can't be named. 

I think you are probably very gun shy now about ever going back to a salon (rightfully so), but it's important for you to find a stylist to work with on a continuous basis, that you trust and that communicates well, so that when you go in and ask for a "trim", that's what you get.

I recently went to a stylist that I had been seeing for a little over a year.  I knew we had a miscommunication problem, but somehow she still managed to give me the nicest cuts.  It just took me awhile to adjust to them, LOL.  Anyhow, this last time, I asked for a "trim" and ended up walking out with something closely resembling the carol brady shag.  That's when I fired her, in my mind.  I am now back with my old stylist, who is amazing and who never, ever takes off more than I ask for.  If only I had stuck with her the entire time (she had cut back her hours at one point), I'd probably have bra-length hair by now. 

Oh well.

Good luck to you.  And, to answer your question about whether or not there is recourse for an action like this, there might have been if you had made a complaint back when this all happened.  I'm afraid that since 8 months have passed, you might not be able do much about it. 

I could be wrong - I'd like to see if anyone else has an opinion on this.

Wow, too many hairstylists get away with things like this. It makes me very angry. Not only do they screw up your hair, they also screw up your self-esteem and in my opinion, your life.