I was a very indecisive teen during highschool. Every 3 months my best friend and I would terrorize our local hairdresser.
“Gimme a perm! I want to be blonde! Straighten my hair! Gimme layers! Gimme extensions!” My most ridiculous request? “Please give me curly hair underneath, ONLY. I want the top of my head to be straight, and underneath to be curly! Woohoo! Oh, and dye the curly bit black, and leave the rest my natural brown.”
What the heck?! Where did I get that idea from? In two days, my best friend had two perms and bleached her hair blonde! (She still has hair, in case you’re wondering.) You can bet she had to chop off half her hair and deep condition like crazy for the rest of the year, though.
Poor hairdresser. We still go to her today when we’re in town. 
The thing is, we didn’t really need to have that second perm, or almost faint when we saw our hair turned out red instead of ‘rich brown’ – simply showing a picture of what you want to a hairstylist will help much better than words.
So here’s my tip:
Bring photos to your hairstylist of what you want – and specifically DON’T want – it really helps them greatly. Instead of using words, use visuals to explain.
The reason? One inch to you might be different for them (for whatever reason). I once asked for 2 inches off my ends, I got 4 inches off. Sigh.
Any crazy hair stories to share?
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Well then make sure you ask in centimetres and millimetres! Inches fail =)
ALWAYS HAPPEN!!! Every single time I go to get a trim (1-2 inches please!) my hair gets totally mutilated and I come out with hair a good 4-5 inches shorter.
LeSigh…
The two words you never tell your hair stylist – “Surprise me”
:p
LOL, Tine. So true.
Filip – Millimeters might be a little too obsessive
Paint Me Gorgeous – Yes! Why does that always happen?! Now I am SO careful and take ages to explain how much I really want off – I sound crazy but I would rather that than half my hair gone!
I’ve had it all. In the 80s I had an all over perm. Permenantly electrocuted look. Not nice at all!!!!!!!
hahaha….
And then there are times when u ask them to do something like perms and it doesn’t work… It;s what happened with my sis!
aaaaaaahhh. I pity those hairdressers because they aren’t ever sure of what we want… and we’re very good at complaining after!!! hahahahaha
I had a perm during high school … it was scary. Thankfully there are no photos!
i asked for and inch and a half off, lots of layers, and for my hair to pretty much look like a shorter version of what i had currently had. she chopped off 3 inches, without a layer to be found then curled my hair in the most hideous fashion. MY HAIR WAS STRAIGHTENED WHEN I WENT IN THERE!!! what would make her think i wanted it curled?? she didn’t even use scissors! she just took this styling tool and started ripping it across my hair. i’ll admit i’ve had that tool used on my hair before and it looked great, but that stylist (the one who actually LISTENED to what i wanted) used it to add some style after she used scissors to cut it. needless to say, my dad got his money back andi am NEVER going there again
Sounds to me like she was using a razor. Razors can be used either to texturize hair after cutting it with shears or it can be used to do an entire haircut. However, it definitely shouldn’t have been pulling on your hair. She either didn’t have your hair wet enough or had a dull blade. I can always tell when I need to change my blade. I wonder what her problem was. lol. I also never take the liberty of taking more hair off than a client asked for. Nor do I style it however I want to. Unless the client tells me I can. It’s stupid people like her who give cosmetologists a bad name.
I’d definitely advise you to do your reserch before you visit the salon. Bring in a few different pictures of what you would like. And a few of what you don’t like. The consultation is the most important part of the haircut. Make sure your stylist has a good idea of what you want before she starts cutting. And if you don’t like razor cuts, you can tell her not to use a razor. I’d say, don’t shun it forever though. I love using the razor to cut. They can make a haircut look awesome. Maybe your stylist just didn’t know how to use it properly. Sorry for the rambling… I realize you posted this quite some time ago. Hope you’ve had better luck since then. 
My name is Serene but I’m not so serene anymore.
OMG! I am so depressed right now after a bad haircut at ……Great Clips. I know!!!! I don’t know what I was thinking or maybe I wasn’t thinking at all. I was like a zombie that just walked in (waist long) hair and walked out (with shoulder length choppy hair).
My hubby needed a haircut and he always goes to Great Clips or places like that. He asked me if I would accompany him and I did. I had been contemplating on getting a trim or getting a shorter version of what I had. I had my hair layered and they all came together in the back in a V shape. It was very nice but the ends needed a cleanup. The longest part was below my hips. I have long, thick, jet black beautiful hair if I may say so myself. Oh, I mean “had”.
I asked the guy to take about two inches off and got six inches off. WAHHHHH!!!!GRRRRR!!! Not sure what to do now. My biggest mistake was going to a cheap place like that without doing any research and acting on impulse. I asked the guy to layer my hair and to maintain the V shape. I asked him before he started butchering my hair if he was confident enough. He said he was. So here I am venting with my hair in a bun. And the bun keeps falling off because now it doesn’t even want to stay in bun.
My hair isn’t textured anymore. It is layered but it looks like the steppes of a rice paddy field because you can actually see the layers. They are horizontal!!!! You can see lines. The inside hair is longer than the outside ones. It’s longer on the inside and shorter on the outside and all in one line. Do you know what I mean?
My word of advice, never ever got to those cheap chain places because I learned the hard way. Please post if you have any words of advice and encouragement for me.
I have finally found the perfect hairdresser, one that knows the true meaning of the word trim, she is the only hairdresser i have ever had complete faith in. I am so confident that if i have a special event on, i make an appointment that day and know i will come out glam.
Lovely Longlocks recently posted…Hair Extensions Cost
Sadly, I’m a cosmetologist who just got a bad haircut. From my boss. I don’t know what happened. She usually does a decent job. I’ll admit…I’m kinda picky. Not too picky though. I’ve been trying on and off for at least 5 years now to grow my hair out. I tried extremely hard this past year. My hair was finally touching my shoulders. I was so excited. I could finally pull it all back in a pony tail without the sides falling out, I could wear cute braids in my hair, wear cute accessories. Well…so much for that. It’ll take at least 4-5 months to grow it out to that length again. She just trimmed the very ends off the back. Unfortunately, she took a good 3.5 inches off the sides. It’s kind of a mullet. It’s awful. The worst part is, I just wanted it too look good for the hair show we’re going to next weekend. Guess I’ll either have to look like crap or cut off all the length in the back. Ugh! I’m cutting my own hair next time.
I’m a first year university student & had to stay up pretty much the whole week finishing essays & studying. Well anyways my mother came into town & as a gift for barely surviving my first year she took me to get my hair done (everything but school was screwing up & dying, but it my stresses reflected on my grades).. My hair was soo very long and healthy, I loved it. But summer is coming & my hair is very thick & dark. So I went to get it done. & my hair looks horrible now :’(. my layers arent even, it looks like she took a knife, closed her eyes & started chopping my hair, my hair barely touches my shoulders now… Its like there was a machine in the womens head that told her to do the exact opposite from what I asked for. well to say the least i could have done a better job myself. teaches me to get my hair cut when I’m sleep deprived.. oh well, It’ll grow back. I try to stay positive.. but it’s soo horrible. oh & theres still one more week of classes. ugh! soooo mad! Just another lesson learned I guess.. & the lesson is NEVER GET YOUR HAIR CUT AT A CHEAP SALON & WHEN YOUR SLEEP DEPRIVED.
I just got a bad hair cut. I’m so pissed because I brought a photo!!! It was of the front, sides, and back. She made all the layers way too short and shorter and thicker bangs. When she tried to style it my hair looked like utter crap. She barely glanced at the photo. My glasses were off and I couldn’t see when she was cutting it. I really should have refused to pay. It’s way too short now and I have to go back to work tomorrow and hear everybody’s comments on it. >:( I will never get my hair cut in a mall again. They’ve done decent jobs before but every time they styled it they’ve done a horrible job.