Tuesday 11 August 2020

Hair

 Today I sat in the vehicle, parked out on the street, waiting for my cell phone to ring to say I can enter the building. I went in, masked up, and had my hair cut by not my regular hair dresser but someone she has working for her with lots of years of experience. In fact, this hair dresser has come out of retirement. 

I showed her some pictures on my phone and explained what I wanted. I did not have my hair all styled when I went in because I wanted her to see the natural texture of my hair so she knew what she was working with. 

Normally I walk out of salons with my hair still damp and do not pay for a blow dry and extra poofing and fussing. I'm just going home anyway, and when you have long hair, it costs a lot to have someone cut it or colour it.

Oh my. This might be the worst cut I've ever had. I feel like someone could have pulled my hair into a pony tail and then taken a big pair of scissors and just cut straight across the pony tail. It is quite frankly awful and I don't know how I didn't know how bad it was while it was being cut. I was distracted by the bloody mask that kept riding down on my face every time I talked. I even tipped her because it is always so awkward when you go to pay and there is the tip option and they're standing right there.

I'm feeling a bit like this!    Source

So... now I need to find someone else who will fix this for me. No, I won't be going back to this woman. I don't want her to try to fix it because if she didn't do it right the first time, I'm thinking it could be even more of a disaster the second time around. I'm just hoping someone can fit me in before September.


I've written before about my hair dressing issues. It is so hard to find someone good who doesn't talk your ear off and tell you their life story. Trust me when I say that if I reveal that I'm a teacher (and WHY don't I just stop telling people?) I get to hear about every person they've ever known who has had a bad experience in school, or who has been bullied. I wonder if nurses have to sit and hear about their hair dresser's illnesses, or if mechanics have to listen to their hairdressers tell them about every car problem they've ever had? Going to a hair salon is so difficult for me, especially if I'm there for colour, because I am a captive audience for well over an hour. I have course, frizzy, thick hair which is currently triangular in shape and now I must seek out a new person to entrust to fix this grade three class picture hair cut all the while abiding by the covid rules. And I waited six months for this. Sigh.

Anyone else out there have difficulty with hair? Can I get an amen sister?

50 comments:

  1. I haven't been to a hair salon for 7-8 years. I have thin fine hair with lots of cowlicks. They don't account for the cowlicks and everything looks crooked. I'm afraid my method is to pull everything forward into a ponytail twist and cut. I do the same with my bangs. I always wanted thick curly hair, but after hearing your story maybe not. Be careful if you go somewhere else. When I was a kid this hair dresser fried my hair with a perm. Mom made an appointment somewhere else to get it fixed. Guess who changed salons also? You guessed it. The hair frier. She was so surprised that we changed salons also. Good luck.

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  2. I'm so sorry that you had this really bad experience and hope you will find someone to fix it for you. My hair is quite fine and I wear it short. My daughter cut it for me about a month ago after watching several youtube videos about "cutting grandma's hair" and I am happy with it. But I am rather low maintenance with hair and not too picky. But from what you describe, neither are you. You just had a terrible haircut!

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    1. The covid at-home hair cuts would have been forgivable, as they were non-professionals. I confess to cutting my husband's hair twice now! But he's not fussy about how it looks.

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  3. Oh boy. I feel for you. You only go out of necessity and now this. I just hope you find a non talker who can fix it all. Ha, but you won't know till the end of that visit either.
    I also dislike the hairdresser. I hate the small talk and colour my own hair because I don't want those extra hours being trapped there. My last cut was iny s in laws yard but done by my normal hairdresser who lives nearby and is extended family. It wasn't so bad. My s in law is a talker too so I could leave them to it.
    Now we have covid and my hair is getting bushy . I'll have to wait a few more weeks and maybe my s in law wants a cut too. Still don't like it though

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    1. I've been colouring my own hair for a while now. I can't do highlights and lowlights like a hairdresser can, but I can do it for a fraction of the cost.

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  4. It is just awful when you have an experience like the one you have endured. So many of us have been there and experienced the same type of thing. I hope you find a new hairdresser where you get the service you are wanting. I wouldn't go back to the same salon either especially as you showed her a photo of what you wanted. It is so disappointing when that happens.

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    1. Even my very positive daughter couldn't quite say anything supportive about my hair when I showed her last night.

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  5. Oh dear, you did have a bad experience. The only bad experience I had in this way was a hairdresser coming out of retirement "to help a new salon" and she was also diabolical. I never went back to that salon. I do, however, have a fairly philosophical view that it is only hair and it soon grows. I enjoy going and I suppose I am just lucky in that I have easy hair that grows fast and I suit most things. I dislike it when hairdressers ask me for details about what I want in terms of which piece of hair goes which way etc and feel that I should be able to leave it up to them! I go once a week and enjoy it. I have never got into a situation of discussing work unless I wanted to and led the conversation. I hope you soon feel better about your hair and can get it to go how you want Jenn. xx

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    1. Maybe it's the "coming out of retirement" part that should have given me a signal! Once a week? Kill me now!

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  6. That sounds grim. Going to the hairdresser during the pandemic is bad enough without coming out worse then you went in. I hope you find someone to sort it out, having a hairdresser you trust is worth a lot and I’m lucky to have one here in Italy and one back in the UK, strangely both are Italian men.

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    1. There is one person I might try to contact, but I don't know if she's taking customers right now or not. I would be fine with a man, if he was good. In fact, one of my first hairdressers, back in my spiral perm 80's days was a man and he was great!

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  7. I really think we need to see a photo Jenn to judge for ourselves? I have trained Paul to cut my hair. He does a great job but isn't very good at the small talk!

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    1. I can only imagine what my husband would create if he cut my hair (well, actually, it might be quite a bit like what I'm currently sporting!)

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  8. Amen sister! Oh Jenn I feel for you, living with a bad hair cut is awful. I have lived through several bad hair cuts & it seemed like a long time to grow out, hence why I have no style, I'm "just a trim" & a pony tail kind of person now. Is your regular hairdresser not doing hair yet? After this, you may just have to wait those weeks to grow it out & in the meantime ask friends for recommendations, but remember the mask is there to help cut the conversations down (lol). Amen sister in hair cut pain ... Mary-Lou =^[..]^=

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    1. The way the salon works, I believe, is only one customer at a time. My regular hair dresser (the owner of the salon) is booked up solid, and only cuts hair on a limited number of days, so I wouldn't have been able to get in with her for weeks and weeks.

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  9. Oh dear. You have tricky hair like my daughter’s. We were happy when our son married and brought “good” hair into the family. I remember tearful trips back from the hairdresser- for my daughter as a teen, and for me, too, when I was a kid. Having someone tell you it’ll grow out is no solace at all.

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    1. Oh I love that - good hair!! I have always wanted the type of hair that hung nice and heavy and straight after blow drying it. My hair just increases in volume and frizz after blow drying. I really do have a bathroom drawer full of product and appliances!

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  10. Thank goodness I have had the same hairdresser for years and she does it just how I like it. Poor you - you have my sympathies at a time when getting an appointment here at any rate is very difficult.

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    1. Yes, difficult here as well. I just reached out to try a previous hair dresser and discovered she had a baby not too long ago. Good for her, but I'm guessing I won't be getting an appointment.

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  11. I'm thinking there are very few women (maybe men, too!) who are happy with the cards they were dealt in the way of their head of hair. I would trade your coarse, frizzy, thick hair in a nanosecond for my thin, bone-straight, fine hair. Back in the day, the term for hair salons was "beauty parlors" and I have always hated to go to them as I never came out beautiful. Could I have sued for false advertising? Hey, you might try suing for your bad haircut! ;o)

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    1. You are absolutely right, when you looked them up in the yellow pages (remember them??), they were listed under B for beauty parlor!

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  12. I'd love to have my hair cut shorter but the kids don't me out and about. No problem. One of these days, I just might put a bowl on my head and clip all around the rim of the bowl. Problem solved. You have a wonderful day, hugs, Edna B.

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  13. I've had a few disastrously awful cuts in my day, so I feel your pain. A good hairstylist is worth his/her weight in gold. I hope you find one!

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  14. Sorry for your bad experience. I get my hair cut maybe once or twice a year. Long and thick plus natural curl , think Janis Joplin. I gave up color over 10 years ago as it cost a fortune ever 6-8 weeks and money could be better spent elsewhere. I was fortunate to have a fair amount of brunette mixed with the white . I always remember the one good thing about a bad haircut. It will eventually grow out😂

    Hang in there.

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    1. This is true. It will grow out, but probably into a longer, wider triangle. There are some out there who would pay big money for Janis Joplin hair.

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    2. That’s funny that you said that. My late mother-in-law and I had totally opposite hair hers was straight and thin and mine was insanely curly and wavy and thick. She was always getting perms and I was always using a straight iron and prior to that board in high school and an iron. Isn’t it funny how we always want what we don’t have?

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  15. Nothing is worse than living with a bad cut. I also have thick, course, wavy chin length hair. Most hairdressers struggle with my hair. Typically I get a hair cut every 6 months. After each cut, I make modifications. I blend long layers and chip the ends. This tames course thick hair. Then I re-angle the sides. I've learned with my hair a blunt cut never works, yet hairdressers like the blunt cut. Youtube videos will show you how to blend,chip and re-angle hair. Just start cutting lightly. If you like the result you can cut more. In COVID times these skills come in handy.

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  16. Amen from me. I have thick, frizzy hair too -- and it's curly, till it gets heavy and goes "wide" on me -- much like the photo of Gilda above. Don't even consider a blow dry, even in the middle of winter. I haven't been cut since February 11 -- yikes. That IS six months. I've been cutting my own, sort of. Ordered a kit on Amazon (it even came with a cute little cape, two pairs of scissors, a razor thing, combs, clips...) I'm handling the front and top pretty well but the back? I just hold it out and try to cut only a little bit at a time in case I totally screw it up. I color -- but haven't so now I have two inches of white which I cover up with this powder. I just ordered some temporary color my cousin recommended and this should be interesting, since I can't see the back, but at least I can try it front and top. It's too weird. I feel what you're goign for. I can be the crazy retired lady (I initially wrote that retread lady, which is probably more accurate), but you have to work....

    I DO hate a bad haircut. Any chance your husband or daughter could even out the triangle? From your description, it doesn't sound like they could make it worse.

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  17. Oh my lord, no, my husband could not make my hair better. He cuts stuff like sheet metal, wood, and drywall. Definitely not hair.

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  18. So sorry this didn't work out! I plan on cutting hubby and son's hair today, I watch a youtube hair cutting video first.

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    1. I have cut husband's hair, but 20-year old son wasn't about to let me touch his!

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  19. I am sorry about your bad experience. I have been going to the same person and she knows my hair and really I don’t think I have ever been unhappy. My oldest daughter is a colorist so my color always is great. I guess I have been lucky. I know my daughter has told me about some real horror stories of ladies coming to her with really bad colored hair to be fixed and how many hours and times they have to come in to fix it. There are some real bad hairdressers out there unfortunately. I hope you can find someone to fix it. Good Luck.

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    1. How wonderful that your daughter can do your colour!!!!

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  20. I have had the same hairdresser for most of 35 plus years. I have drifted away from him a couple of times but back I come. He is in his 70s, well into his 70s. He has a salon at the top of Bath where you sit looking down over the famous Milsom St. He did my bridal hair, my sister’s and my niece’s. Lockdown has made him retire from his salon but fortunately he is continuing to do his loyal clients at their homes. So the week after next he is coming to do mine at home 18 miles from Bath. Bless him!
    Would you like me to ask if he will do yours? 😂

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    1. That's a bit of a distance for a cut, but hey, a good hairdresser is difficult to find!

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  21. I have had past amen's. I hated my hair so I just kept it in a crew cut. Now I love my stylist. Love, love, love. If you have a passport, she probably would fit you in. Friend of mine...

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    1. If the England hairdresser doesn't work out (see above), I'll see what the boarder security says about my reason for going down to the States!

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  22. Oh, Jenn! Poor you!! And to tip her was the ultimate indignity. Thank goodness the tipping culture doesn't exist here. I've shed hot tears over cuts, once I got home, of course. Never once brave enough to say "stop!" mid-stream. I mostly do it myself now, with a biannual cut just to make it look less home-made, haha!! She's brilliant, Japanese and 4 minutes walk from my flat. She's so fast, she can do a wash cut and blow dry on me in 40 minutes! That'd win gold for speed in any hairdressing Olympics. Bite the bullet and get a pair of hairdressing scissors on the internet. That's one good thing about long hair, it being possible to cut it yourself. Stand in front of your bathroom mirror with your hair parted down the centre back and just comb little bits of hair, wet or dry, forward of your face or up above your head and snip a bit. Alternate side to side to make sure each corresponding bit is even in length. Keep checking with another mirror and snip off bits that are looking wrong. Before you know it, you'll have had a free haircut!

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    1. It's funny, I'll do my own colour and feel pretty secure in what I'm doing, but nope, I'm not prepared to cut my own hair. Good for you giving it a go!

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  23. Oh no. My last trip to a hairdresser was also disastrous. I don't go often--this was the first time in years, and I doubt I'll go back to another anytime in the next ten years or so. I do much better to just cut it myself. Then if it's messed up I can't complain, LOL. I do hope you find someone who understands your hair, Jenn. It's lovely in your profile pic.

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    1. Oh, there's a reason why it's my profile picture. It was a good hair day that day!

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  24. Oh, I think every woman has gone through the bad haircut at one point or another. My uncle used to say that a bad haircut only lasted three days. He was wrong. I hope you're able to find someone to fix it. Yikes!

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  25. And to think, I have an appointment the 25th for a perm. Hope I don't regret doing it. I pay, to have thick frizzy hair. :) It's awful to come home from the hairdresser with a bad hair cut, or a bad perm. I've been through it many times. Hope you find someone good to fix your bad cut. You have beautiful hair.

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  26. I feel for you but I can't relate. I am blessed with a really good hairstylist. It has now been 5 months since I have been there, and I think I am going to continue to let mine grow for a while longer, since I am trying to grow out layers anyway. You realize, that things could be worse, you could have attempted to cut your own. I tried that on my bangs, and don't recommend it. But a month afterward, and they are even starting to look okay. Eventually it all grows out, right?

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  27. I wish I could take my head off and cut it myself...says an ex- hairstylist. Worst experience was getting a perm on my long hair before my 25th school reunion (15yrs ago) that ended up melting onto the perm rods! Ended up with manly short frizzz. Now that was a nightmare! Have never reallly had a great haircut even though I was a stylist for 17 yrs and still cringe every time I have to get a cut.

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  28. Amen Sister...though she was hilarious, nobody wants to look like Roseanna-Anna Roseanna-Danna. What a nightmare! Here's a tip, do like Elaine from Seinfeld did in the limo, pretend you're going deaf - but don't get caught "hearing" like she did!!! I stopped going to hairdressers years ago. I don't have the patience to sit there with that fake smile, nodding and "uh-huh-ing"...I dye my own hair and cut it too. Alex usually has to even out the back for me though. I cut his hair too. Once you get used to it and have the right scissors, it's pretty easy.

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