Do hairdressers know best?

The term 'product' drives me mad, they never mean shampoo! I also hate the pedalling of their very expensive salon 'products'. I have found a good local hairdresser but she texts between haircuts looking to sell products, I suppose it's about extra earnings/commission but I find it infuriating.

I am a trained hairstylist retired long ago but we were a very forward thinking salon and before we sat the client down we noted height styling of clothes. Once sat we chatted about lifestyle, time to manage hair and their own perception before we even started. Then we discussed what the client would like and chatted about whether the style was going to be right for them. The clients loved it as it was all about them not a quick fix.

The same hairdresser has been cutting my hair for nearly forty years. She has, on occasion, suggested I have “something a little different” but I know what feels comfortable for me; I also know that as my only concession toward styling my own hair is to wash it, dry it vigorously and run my fingers through it when it is very short, a brush when it gets a bit longer! She is resigned. I go I looking like Worzel Gummidge and come out feeling ten years younger!

Last went to hairdresser Nov 2019 and didn’t like the cut having paid £50.
During lockdown I cut my husbands hair with clippers and one day spur of the moment decided to cut my grey locks, haven’t looked back! I’m happy with how it turns out, and like Savvy says hair grows.
Saved £100’s, and no intention of returning to hairdressers when lockdown is over.

I've had two very good hairdressers, my present one and the previous one but she now lives 200 miles away. They both listened to what I wanted and advised if it wouldn't suite my hair or face shape, or would be difficult to manage. My last appointment was in October 2019 when my hair was short with a soft body perm to control it and then blow dried. Easy to manage. Since then (because of lockdowns) I've been cutting it myself. All the layers have grown out and it's now a chin/collar length bob. I quite like the feel of longer hair again, though it could probably benefit from a god professional cut to get the shape right. But I know if I go back to my hairdresser she won't like it and will tell me it's ageing and boring. I've saved over £600 last year on perms and haircuts so maybe I'll just continue to cut my own hair, I've been cutting DH's hair for over 40 years and he always looks neat and tidy!

I only have one criteria for my hairdresser - no inverted Bob. I tell her openly either ‘a tidy up’ or ‘ do whatever you want - not an inverted Bob’
I have gone in with hair down my back and come out with a short shaggy Bob.
She suggested I went slowly natural (white) instead of regular colouring. Which eventually saved me £££ and put me bang up to date with hair fashion.
So happy with what she does since we moved 6 years ago I travel 40 miles for each appointment (pre lockdown) she has one hell of a mess to sort out when I go back. I decided end of summer to do it myself ? knowing she will work round my handy work when I next visit.

On the subject of hairdresser knowing best, did anyone watch 10 years younger, last night? The smoker, and lady with bad facial hair episode? The hair cuts were absolutely dire at the end!!! Horribly orange for one, and a flippin’Dallas’ mess for the other!!! Awful ?

Post Script
40 miles each way

My hair is fine, dead straight and flat. I have had it permed in the past to give it a different style, but eventually it started breaking off, and so I decided to grow it out and now have it in a straight one-length bob cut, which demands precision cutting and very good condition.
Finding a hairdresser who has the technical ability to cut a bob is challenging!

(At least my hair still looks okay-ish having not seen pair of hairdressers scissors since the beginning of December. It is simply a longer version of the bob. I will be glad when I have had some of the length taken off it though.)

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I have 2 hairdressers. One who blow dies it every week for a tenner in my local salon and the other who cuts and colours it quarterly in my home. My hair’s long and I wear a fringe so it’s not difficult to style and I’ve no problem with either stylist who do as I ask. My mobile stylist has booked me an appointment for 14th April for the full works and I can’t wait to be reacquainted with her. Had to trim my fringe this week as it was driving me mad but I wouldn’t have the confidence to go any further with it.

I'm another that gave up and them and cut my own. If I can't get it how I want it with scissors I resort to a short cut with clippers, but I much prefer it to being faffed with at the hairdressers then coming out with hair I dislike and a lot less money than I went in with.

I have naturally wavy, curly at the back hair. As I age it is now finer and fly away at the sides, heavier at the back. This I know about my hair and I agree most professionally trained hairdressers would be able to spot all of this
BUT
What they don't seem to grasp is the 'look' I am after. How I want to feel. Who I am. These things I am an expert on, but will they listen? Of course not. I come out looking like their Mum and every other over-60's customer they have

I am still a tomboy (at 67), I don't like looking 'Mumsy', I was at art school and then a designer, I do not want to look weird or try to look like a teenager. Is this so impossible to achieve?

Sadly being 'petite' and having wavy hair means people think I want to look like a little doll Aaaaaaargh!

After reading some of the DIY stories on here I am tempted to give it a go myself!

I think that hairdressers can get a bit stale doing the same old styles and out of the habit of being more creative. Mine mostly gets it almost right but not 100%.
Sometimes I'll say that I'd like to try something new and hope that she takes it on board. I always take a photo but it doesn't turn out exactly the same.
Although I've warned her I don't know what she'll say when she sees it next time as I've almost given myself a crew-cut.

I know how you feel - I have asked hairdressers to cut my hair quite short but they have refused incase other customers think she cuts other people's hair too short ! I have no regular hairdresser due to the refusals but when hairdressing college classes re-open (hopefully later this year) then I will return as there is no obstructions to the customer's requests.

My hair is just about growing to cover my scalp now after my disastrous DIY "all-off", and I am loving it. My fine wispy longer hair is all gone and what is growing back is in excellent condition. IF I go back to a hairdresser, I will want to continue this ultra short style, something she has resisted strongly in the past when I broached a change, so, No, hairdressers do not always know best.

I’ve gone to the same hairdresser for a very long time. I decided to change the colour and was speaking to a friend (also a hairdresser) about it and she suggested a couple of products and colours that she thought would be perfect. I duly told my hairdresser what I thought I wanted and she refused point blank to do it. We came to a compromise that I was very happy with. Her reasoning was that it might be my hair but it was her reputation on the line

Haven't got an appointment til 6 May, so any hairdresser would be good right now.

Worst hairdresser I had was when I asked for a wet cut, no conditioner no blow dry no spray.
Cut was fine then she put on conditioner, blow dry lotion and proceeded to blow dry it. When I objected she said it's the same price and carried on hair spray too.
Had to wash my hair and take an allergy tablet to stop it itching as I'm ok with shampoos but not conditioner or styling lotions or hair sprays. They closed down a few weeks later, no wonder they were empty when I walked in.

I love my hairdresser and I would like to write a book about the things we discuss. I have been going to her for years, but I have decided I need to try someone new - for several reasons really.

Firstly, we always have the same opening discussion. ' How much do you want off?' 'Well how fast does hair grow and when did I last come?'

Secondly, she seems to use different implements each time - scissors, razor blade, and then different methods - twirling the hair before cutting, or snipping across. I've asked about it, but never got a satisfactory answer.

Then she cuts it slightly differently every time. Is it unrealistic to expect her to remember me?

I have put up with these vagaries because she always does such a good job, but the final straw came when I found she had altered my colours without telling me. I used to have natural blonde hair and I have highlights and lowlights 3 times a year, but I noticed I was becoming more and more golden. We had a little chat about using cooler colours (more natural as you age I said), she didn't really understand that. I also found out she was lightening the lowlights because I have white patches at the front which show more quickly with a darker colour. I said again, that is natural and I don't mind.

Last time, she turned me out golden blonde again, and I realised that in her mind, that is what a 70 year old wants, but I don't want.

What a shame, I will miss our chats, we laughed a lot. So will I find a hairdresser who listens?

I have very fine hair and most hairdressers just don't seem able to deal with it effectively! Most of them cut it too short, and will, if I don't stop them quickly enough, blow it dry, so that it's completely straight (it does have some curl), and it then looks virtually non-existent! Now 73, I've had this problem my whole life, and as another poster said earlier, if you do find a hairdresser who does as you ask, for some reason, they move on and you have to start again!

I have a wonderful hairdresser and I go back to her even although I left the town, it is about 10 miles away now.
She knows my style and understands my thick but very fine hair, that suffers from being in a swimming pool when not in lockdown.
I've come to the conclusion that the best hairdressers are good at techniques, ie cutting and colouring, but they have a natural flair also. If they care about their own hair and appearance, chances they will care about yours too.....

I had a good hair dresser until we moved to another town where I had a dreadful hair cut. I have managed to do my own for the last fifty years. I was shocked when I learned how much money some women spend nowadays on their hair.

My head goes to a point and I have very fine hair that, owing to an immunosuppressive drug I have to take, has grown disturbingly thin. I had a very bad experience a few months ago when a stylist in Axminster ignored me for over 30 minutes, I was feeling very ill after a major operation and informed her of this but she left me freezing cold with a dye applied while she dealt with another client who had long thick hair. She then cut my hair in less than 10 minutes and made it look like a frumpy tea cosy, charging me £84 for the privilege. I have decided to go grey and currently I look atrocious. I’ve made an appointment at another hairdresser’s but am very nervous. I’m 77 but don’t see myself as a frump and am not confident I shan’t be charged a fortune. I know my new stylist hasn’t much to work with but I’d like to be taken seriously, and not exploited. Any advice for me?

I've always found local hairdressers listen to me. The occasions I've visited more upmarket salons, they have ignored me completely, on one occasion being quite rude (Vidal Sassoon) when I was told the stylist couldn't cut it the way I wanted because it would not represent him or the salon! I should have left but put myself in his hands. When he'd finished, I almost cried when I viewed myself in the mirror.