Hairdresser - a bit of a rant!

I keep mine long with a longish fringe. I've had short cuts in the past but I never feel they suit me. Maybe if I had better hairdressers? They always want to stick some layers in but I say no; I like to be able to hoick it all into a ponytail.

Every sympathy here as I struggle with my hair. Like so many others you find a good hairdresser then you or they move. My hair is so thick and wiry and some hairdressers seem to want to flatten it into submission with straighteners which just isn't me.

I have a home hairdresser now and he isn't great but i just stick with him. He knows what I like and mostly I get it. Burt I am growing my hair long again after having it cut short at the start of the pandemic to get rid of the colour and put an end to hair dyes. I'll just wear it tied back. It's much easier for me to manage myself that way.

I used a salon this week though as I'm down at my daughters and after my hair was done, shampoo and blow dry which I'd booked by telephone, I asked if I could book again for next week. The receptionist tried to say they really only took appointments for colours and cuts. I just explained I didn't need that and she reluctantly gave me the appointment I'd asked for. Is this the norm now?

The salon was quiet when I was there so I'd have thought any appointment was good ie a paying customer and a returning one at that. It kinda took the shine off what should have been a nice experience as I feel a hair salon visit is a treat.

I am extremely jealous reading about all you ladies who have decent hair that can be cut well, even if it often disappoints you. Mine is so fine and thin with the texture of candyfloss, that no expert in the world could possibly make it look nice. I am destined to go around forever with a horrid wispy cloud on top of my head. No style whatsoever. Be grateful you have hair that can be cut and styled (when you find the right hairdresser). You have no idea how awful it is to have hair like mine.

I went to saks had my long hair cut into a bob. I love it. Also I was sick of going to hairdressers where they go off in the middle of doing my hair to speak to family friends etc. I wanted to feel pampered I work as a carer and have worked all through covid and im burnt out. I will definitely go back as I felt very well looked after and I feel they know what they are doing.

My stepdaughter is a hairdresser and until she got involved with my hair I felt a little like most of the posts here. Moaning and dissatisfied but feeling I have no option.
I now understand a lot more about hair and my own hair and I realise that as I have aged over the years my hair has changed, so what was great when I was younger is not so great now my hair is more wiry and thinner. I also felt that having longer hair that I could put in a ponytail or up was much easier to look after but I realise that this is just a comfort blanket and people most definitely don't see the same me as I see when I look in a mirror. The celebs that look good and younger for their age are Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Julie Walters, Sharon Stone all of whom have shorter styled hair and not the ones that go for the unsettled look.
Have a conversation with your stylist in terms of what would suit your face and hair type and I bet you'll be surprised.

I am so thankful that it’s not just me that worries about hairdressers! I go to a very reputable salon and the young lady that colours my hair is brilliant. The chap that cuts my hair is well into his 70’s and only works two or three days in the week but he is a very good hairdresser and I will miss him when he decides to retire completely. It’s a round trip of over a 100 miles to get to the hairdresser and it costs a small fortune but thankfully my hair which is very fine and soft doesn’t need frequent colour treatments, no more than twice a year normally which helps to keep costs down. I treat my trips to the hairdressers as a day out just to be able to justify the expense.

I would be worried about having to find another salon but I know that one day I am going to have to face the challenge!

I read this in a magazine years ago and found it to be quite funny as it's sometimes difficult to get a hairdresser to change my style. " You know dear, I always have said it. Life ought to be lived to the full, After all, just imagine being faithful to one, it's so dull! If one wants something different - One practically has to use force." Who was I thinking of changing? Why, my hairdresser darling, of course!

My have been with my hairdresser for over 20 years and my dd goes too.
She’s great she knows what you want And I am pleased with it. The same with my dd, we often say we dread it if she retires.
We have had many different styles over the years, perms, bobs and now mine is short and sassy.
My dd has shoulder length blonde hair and has highlights regularly I have mine cut every 5 weeks to keep my style in.
My dd goes every 3 months for her highlights and a trim every 6 weeks. She doesn’t colour your hair with chemicals she uses natural herbal colours. Which look more natural.

It really is true that if you find a good a hairdresser you have to keep hold of them (and hope they don't move away)

My current one is really good and the chap who works under her is amazing but she wont let me swap to him

Callistemon21

^to be told I looked like a mad monk without the tonsure^
???

Apparently mine's a haystack!!

Believe me if any one had heard what came out of my mouth I would have been excommunicated.
I feel really sorry for you I wish mine would stick up .
Many years ago I went for one of those twisted perms everyone had,I came home to be told I looked like Shirley Williams.
He doesn't like it long and he doesn't like it short, he thought it looked great during lockdown as he was cutting the back.
I am almost certain it's back to the bob. I have just been told his barber does women hair if I dared I would go and ask for a DA though the barber probably isn't old enough to remember them.

I honestly think life is too short to bother with a hairdresser who doesn't make you look the way you want. Try one of the good chains, like Toni and Guy where you know they've had really good training. Hair matters! A sub-par cut can sap all the joy!

Some years ago my wonderful hairdresser of 23 years died,I tried quite a few different ones not good result,then I saw a friend and her hair looked how I wanted mine so now I go to her hairdresser.So maybe keep checking everyone you see and try that method,good luck.

Problem I find with hairdressers is that if you find one you like and go regularly they can become a bit lax and don’t do such a good job as the first few times.
I have only seen mine once since the start of the pandemic, so have saved a small fortune at £60 a cut.
I have got used to long hair now, it’s straight and fine, and tie it back in a claw, or pin it up. Much more versatile and easier to manage, apart from cutting fringe, so I may never darken a hair salon again!
I have noticed lots of older women with longer hair since lockdown, we’re setting a trend.

I was gutted when I arrived for my last hair appointment to discover that my beloved hairdresser of some 7 years , a great character & fantastic with my thick unruly hair, had unexpectedly left in the 4 weeks since I was last there! Nobody had thought to tell me & I felt like crying. At in excess of £50 for a cut & blow dry every month, they could at least have rung me to tell me & ask which of the other stylists I'd like. Instead, I'd been allocated one who happened to be free that day. In all fairness, she made a good stab at it, considering she lacks the 7 years experience of it my former hairdresser had, but the principal of it upset me. I've been back to her today to let her have another go & it's a bit better so I've got April booked in. I can't bear the thought of looking for another salon. I definitely won't me joining a lot of other grans who've grown theirs out over lockdown - mine grows out really curly & I look like the wicked witch of the west!!

I love my hairdresser with a passion. He’s gay so OH doesn’t mind.
Having said that he always does what he wants to with my hair so I have given up showing him photos.

All hairdressers should read these posts, and try to understand some of the misery they inflict! Seriously, though, ageing causes changes to hair and a good hairdresser should be able to “diagnose” it and what will and won’t work.

I have attacked my hair very badly 4 times in the last 3 months as the waiting list for a curly cut is mad.

What bugs me though, is that barbers charge men so little compared to a women’s hairdresser, just for a basic cut.

I shall be paying £61 for my cut, curl by curl, but it’s short now and won’t take long.

I do not like having my hair washed and even gently diffuser dried, I always come out looking about 10 years older than I am.

Now where’s that wig catalogue…?

Can I just ask those of who you say you put your hair up, what do you actually use? Do you use those clip things? Or something else. I fancy doing it but don't know how.

I’m so lucky, my Hd is more than 1000% brilliant, I love her and when I move at the end of the year I will do 140 mile round trip to continue having my hair coloured and cut with her.

in the 1960's I was a model for vidal sassoon ,lucky for me he used to cut my hair to show the students and it was red - not ginger but vey fly away. He used to do a great cut and then say to me to put my head down and shake it about and then stand up and it should go back into place . It was the cut that counts definitely. Since then have lived abroad had long hair put up for concerts and combed out for every day the next day etc, but now what counts for me. ? Well I have white hair, still very fine, but usually swim twice a week, one of the few exercises I am able to do, so I need my hair to look clean, keep out of my eyes and dry quickly. As it is very fine whatever sort of cut I have it will fly away so dont worry. Just have it cut when it suits me, dont like to be chained to a specific day or time as life can change quickly and I dont like to cancel things so just ring up that day or the day before and see if someone can cut it. My life is more important that what my hair looks like to me so loong as it is clean and not in the way. If it really matters to you I know there is a way of putting a picture of yourself on the computer and try the hairstyles on top to get an idea of what you want. If your hair is very important to you and alters your feelings about yourself then I think it is worth shopping around, asking friends who they go to if you like their haircut and go for whatever appeals to you. for some people being able to go out for a meal is their particular pleasure, but for you your hairstyle may matter most. So I would say think what matters to you and make a choice, and if it s hairstyle keep trying new places until you find what suits you. You are having the hair do , you are paying for it , it is your choice.

I found my hairdresser by asking someone I saw in street where they had their hair done because it looked fantastic, been going to that hairdresser for a few years now and she's great, and even though salon prices have gone up she lets me pay the price I originally paid when I first went to her, This is in London by the way

I have a theory that the reason most women don't do a great cut on other females, is that subconsciously they don't want them to look better than they do, lol. Seriously though, I have only ever found one female hairdresser in my whole lifetime who did such a good job that I walked out to the salon feeling 10 years younger. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford to go to her regularly, and when I eventually could, she had gone. Other than her, the only times I've walked out of a salon happy with my hair is when a man had cut it - again, my theory, is that men actually like you to look great!

Madeleine45 I also used to go Vidal Sassoons as a model in my long distant youth. It gave me an understanding of what a good cut should be and I think I’ve got an expectation of the same standard but have rarely found it since.

I posted on here last week about my frustration at not being able to get a good cut with my thick wavy curly hair
I’ve feel like I’ve been on a helterskelter journey through endless hairdressers and endless disappointment, I’ve had razor cuts pixie cuts bobs, mullets, wedges, asymmetrical cuts (accidentally) my hair has been straightened, thinned, layered, permed etc

I was advised on here to look for a Vidal Sassoon trained stylist - it turns out there’s one up the road from me who I’ve not been to before. - so I’m going to go and talk to him about my hair to try and get an idea of him. My friend swears by her stylist and her hair always looks really good but it’s a 100 mile round trip for me.

In the meantime I’ve got a plan - I’ve been studying my hair shape and growth etc and looking through old photos to see what suited me and what didn’t - there’s endless short overly layered cuts and short choppy fringes! I’m growing out the layers as much as I can and am going to try trimming it as the layers grow down. I’m also clipping my fringe off my face to grow it out.
Once it gets a bit better I’ll decide what to d and whether to try out one of these hairdressers or keep going with my plan

In my experience hairdressers who can cut short hair well are rare, outside of the big-name salons. Many hairdressers are good at styling longer hair and are not interested in shorter styles, so finding a good short-style person is imperative. I had been going to the same place for years but the person who did a good job left and her successor made such a hash of cutting my hair I knew I had to move on. A friend had a good short cut and she recommended the person who did it, a young man who is now running his own business and still cutting my hair nearly a decade later. Try to get a recommendation and if you find a good one, hang on!

I thought that it was just me,
Farzanah.

Each time I have tried a new hairdresser, the first cut is fantastic, outstanding but at each subsequent visit I am less and less pleased.

The hairdressers seem to listen less, talk more and the original cut just disappears.

Why?!

Skydancer I have bought a few hair claws and clips from a brilliant site called Tegen - no connection to me. They have videos on their site on how to use their hair accessories to put hair up and try different styles, which Ive found very helpful.