I went to the hairdresser last Saturday and was looking forward to getting a nice cut.  I had been to the hairdresser before and it is an expensive salon.  The hairdresser did a really lovely hair cut for me last time.  My hair is quite wiry and thick and is past my shoulders and I am growing it long.  I wanted to have a bit more shape put into it and asked her to trim the bottom and put light layers into it.  However, she has thinned my whole head and cut more off the bottom than I wanted.  I have no weight in my hair now as it's been thinned and layered and therefore there is no body at all to my hair.  It just looks really frizzy in some parts.  I am just gutted.  It will take me at least 6 months for the body to thicken up and for it to look better.
Sometimes I just wonder if hairdressers really listen to us or whether they just do their own thing in any case.  Bit of a pest when we are paying a lot of money to get something a hundred times worse than what we had originally. Word of warning, never get your hair drastically cut or styled unless you have been to the stylist on numerous occasions and she knows your hair!
Hilary


I survived beauty school and came out with only one bad haircut.... FROM MY INSTRUCTOR! No joke! It was horrible and looked like she took a weedwacker to the side of my head. I cried silently for days on end having to face her every day. Thank GOD for hair extensions!

Now as a hairdresser I always talk to my new clients while I’m cutting, explaining what I am doing and why. It helps to put them at ease. After I make my first cut I always hold my shears in front of the client and ask them "Is this length ok?" (By showing them the amount I just took off) I always tell them, "I can take more off, I just can't put it back, LOL." I do have a problem doing my specialty cuts, because my methods are unconventional, and it makes people nervous. My confidence conquers their fears. They always love the cut when it’s done, and return to me because no one else cuts the way I do. That is the true Beauty of the industry, NO two hairdressers are alike, no two haircuts are alike. And there is NO SUCH thing as a perfect haircut. If your hairdresser isn't confident in what she’s doing, be wary. Ask questions, don’t be afraid to speak up. I always tell my clients if there’s even ONE hair out of place in the cut, to come back and let me fix it. I don’t want my business going elsewhere and letting someone else chop it up.

And for the sake of sanity ladies, PLEASE don’t walk into a salon asking for Hi-Lights and a new style haircut when you HAVE to be somewhere important in an hour. It’s just not possible. Would you want your dentist to hurry through your cavity filling, or the car specialist rushing through your brake job on your car? Go to the salon on your day off, when you’re not rushed. Your stylist will thank you for it, and you'll probably have a much better experience.

Thanks for all the other great tips from other Stylists, you all have really been helpful. And to those who think some schools are better than others, guess what? Everyone takes the same State Board Exams and gets the SAME Licence. Some hairdressers have what it takes, and some just don’t. I’ve asked girls in town who cut your hair last, and it blows me away when they tell me they paid a $180 for their cut when I’m offering to fix it.

Best Wishes for a Good Hair Day.     Anonymous

I have been a hair colorist for more years then I care to mention. I can tell you some stories that have come my way with people who color their hair at home with "box color". We can not help you with your mistakes that you make at home with home hair color kits of any kind.The general public knows nothing of the CHEMISTRY behind hair coloring..so off you go to your local store and buy color according to the color on the box. You are asking for more problems then you ever dreamed possible when you use these products. People come to a professional hair colorist and they think we can't tell that a person has box color on their hair? All we have to do is touch it and we can tell. Some times all we have to do is wet it down and smell it and we can tell. I have had people tell me they haven't ever colored their hair...let me say this. We aren't stupid hairdressers. If you expect a hairdresser to "fix' your color mistakes, you are wrong because we can't. You have to be honest and tell us that you did color your hair at home and that you used a non-professional product. When a client comes to me and they have any traces of store bought color in their hair and expect me to fix it, I tell them to find another hair colorist to ruin your hair because you've already done a good job of it yourself.  Patricia

Hi Denise.  You have my sincere sympathy.  I also have thick and lots of it hair.  I do get my textured to give it volume and movement.  Did the stylist use a thinning shear that has a lot of little teeth?  I hate thinning shears!!!  I find using a texture shear with 14 teeth works the best on my hair.  I bought my own from an on-line supplier.  A texture shear with 14 teeth gives a better result than a thinning shear.  The thinning shear just thins and flattens the hair.  A good hairdresser can also texture using their scissors.  The cut I like best is a pixie cut then the texture shear used on it.  It gives the cut that piecey, sexy look.  I also like the funkiness of the cut.  I too cannot stand flat, shapeless hair.  Believe me your hair will recover.  I know it's hard going through it.  I've been there many times.  Just take care of yourself.  Pam

I forgot to mention on my previous post about using the Head and Shoulders on dry hair for 1/2 hour and then conditioning it.  I forgot to mention that for yellow AND orange brassiness, the very best conditioner I have found for that is the Loreal Color Vive (for highlighted hair), it comes in an orange bottle, and IT WORKS!!!  Best of luck to y'all!!! Debby

Hi again...just wanted to share a tip that I tried today that I read on another "bad hair" website. I bought some Head and Shoulders (the blue kind), and I massaged it on my dry hair, I left it on for close to 1/2 hour and washed it out and (of course) conditioned it, and the results were awesome. Wayyyyy better that any of the toners I've tried and definitely better than Clairol Shimmer lights, which made my hair even brassier. This is THE BEST my hair has looked since I screwed it up with a bad highlight job. The brassiness is barely noticeable, and the oranginess is almost completely gone. I'm going to continue to wash my hair like this until I decide if I'm going to try a professional colorist or try it again myself and leave it on for the 3 hours I used to have to do when I highlighted my black hair. This is highly recommended, no more toners for me, I can't believe how much better my hair looks by doing this simple procedure. Hope someone out there gives it a try, I'm sure you will be pleased with the results. Good Luck to y'all with any hair disasters you may have. I think we have all learned our hair can make or break our overall looks.  Debby


I read quite a few of the entries here. I cried for 2 hours last night. I, like so many others wanted a change! I have been going to the same stylist for over 3 years. She's been wonderful. I had medium length, dark blonde/lt. brown hair. Pretty thick and curly. After looking at several pictures, we decided on a shorter (right past chin length) style. She used a chemical straightener on it!  My hair is now plasterd to my head with a permanent part on the side. She had to cut it pretty short in the back and stack it because the hair wouldn't move and texturized it hoping that would help. Just made it even more flat and thinner looking. Does anyone know if this will get any better or am I doomed to "plastered helmet head" for a long time? It took me over an hour to do it this morning, couldn't even get my make-up on because of the tears.  Denise

I decided at my age of 49 it was time to make a change in my very black hair, so I decided to go with highlights (done at home of course), I've done it before in my younger years with perfect results, but OMG this time was major disaster. I had to do it twice, since the first time I got all the hairs underneath, so I bought another kit.....same thing, all my under hairs highlighted, but was barely noticeable other than the brassy reds and golds that chose to make themselves noticeable on the top hairs. No more caps for me!!! I have to spend more money at Sally's on Toners, shampoos, etc....I could have had this done professionally!!! I just wanted to mention that yesterday I was back at Sally's to try to Clairol Shimmer Lights, just got done using it, and it works great on the hair that has already reached the gold tone, but did nothing for the orange tones. This shampoo is violet based, and the more researching I did, violet based is pretty much for the yellowness....so back to Sally's I go tomorrow for a blue based shampoo. Just wanted to let you all know that the violet based Toners or shampoos will do nothing for the orange. Good Luck to you all on your own personal hair dilemmas!!!! Deb

I  came across your website and I truely feel sorry for terrible experiences people have had. I have a few tips through my 16 year experience that I would like to share...
1. NEVER let a stylist turn you away from the mirror while cutting!!!! This is THE MOST important tidbit. Stylists that are comfortable in their ability will NEVER do this. The only time it is acceptable is when your stylist hands you the 'hand mirror' and turns you around to confirm the length to cut the back. All cutting should be done with you facing the mirror.
2. Stylists should always do an in-depth consultation and repeat back to you what was heard. I use a picture book for all new clients for visual aide to make sure we are on the same page before I ever pick up the shears. Terminology for every cut is different to different people.
3. Always ask the price prior to service. Most services are charged seprately. A simple blow dry with nothing fancy could run you an extra 10 to 20 bucks.
4. A good stylist talks 10% and listens 90%...the floor should be yours and the stylist should keep the conversation on your hair and not her personal problems.
5. You will always find a good stylist if the stylist paid their dues in a chain salon for at least 1 to 2 years prior to going into full service. Chains salons give stylists the high volume of different hair types to get familiar with. In the four years that I worked in a chain salon, I cut over 16,000 heads of hair. That is experience.
6. Always tip! We do remember the ones who don't (sad to say). This is the honest truth. Chain salons usually pay either strickly by the hour @ $7-$8. No commissions or bonuses or minimum wage plus 20% if you hit a certain high level of productivity. Full service salons usually pay the stylist 40% and take 60% for themselves or charge a weekly booth rent of $150.00 or more. Stylists only make decent money when they own their own salon...but figure they then have rent, utilities, insurance etc. So tipping well (at least $5.00) is a must. It will be the difference between us fitting you in on a crunch or fitting in the good tipper. Trust me, a dollar tip is like leaving the waitress a penny for bad service.
7. A good stylist will bring you in for a free color consultation and patch test the day before the color service. If not, beware. Even if you have used the same brand of color for years, you could still have a violent allergic reaction.   Stephanie

For Darla and Heather: Reading about your experience breaks my heart.  I have suffered the same experience. A bad razor cut and bleach job that led to me having to cut off hair I was growing for two years.  I went though hair hell, lost a lot of weight, stressed myself out and I too started having irrational thoughts.  I think it was something like post traumatic stress disorder.  Think of it, someone took something from you.  Ruining your hair can be very traumatic and anyone who says it's only hair, well let me take garden shears to your head then throw bleach on it.  Let's see how you feel after your hair is ruined.  Your hair is part of your appearance.  I believe the only thing I could do is cut it off and start over.  I had hair that at the most was half an inch.  I also have very thick hair.  It's no fun growing out.  People do look at you weird.  This is why I say those that say it's only hair, do not know what they are talking about.  It's also no fun when you know the cut you need and some "stylist" doesn't hear a thing you say and does their own thing on your head.  To top it off you have to pay for the mess and that only causes you to stress out more.  I wish there was some way to make the idiot stylist responsible for the bad job.   Please believe me it will get better in time.  Meanwhile give yourself some deep conditioning treatments and take some multi-vitamins.  I don't believe they make your hair grow any faster.  That's pre programmed.  But, I believe they help nourish your body from the inside out.  If you're healthy on the inside, it shows on the outside.  I am 40 years old and I hardly have any grays in my dark brown hair.  I will never color my hair again.  No highlights or ammonia based chemicals on my head.  I have learned to love what God gave me.  Please take care of yourselves and know you are not alone.  Pam 

  First, I want to say that this site has been fantastic for me as I go through my bad hair situation….I moved to a small town. My hairdresser in Memphis was wonderful and I forgot that there are bad ones out there since she spoiled me. My hair was very long and healthy. It was almost all one length. My hair is fine but I had a decent amount of it and I just had caramel and blonde highlights woven into my brown hair.  I just figured I could call up just any ole body and they could handle some blonde highlights. It isn’t rocket science, right? Well, it must be. The first time I went to this girl, my hair was good. It looked great actually. I went back a second time and it seemed a little dry. I noticed that there were a few short pieces here and there but not bad. I thought I would go back for a touch up a few months later and I told her to be very careful because it seemed like I had some damage and to only do a few pieces. I guess I was still holding on to my first impression with her. She said she needed to do more than a few pieces but she would be extra careful….I told her that would be fine. She was young but her mom owned the salon and the salon was voted the best in town. This was a huge mistake to go back. She fried my hair. Fried it. It started breaking off within the next few months and I went ballistic. I got very depressed, lost a ton of weight, and it ruined my summer. All I could do is stand in front of the mirror and pick through it, finding the pieces that were damaged and looking at it. It took time for this breakage to happen, which was weird. It weakened my hair so much and so I was so afraid that I was going to end up completely bald. This was an irrational fear but I was terrified. I just wanted to lie in the bed and cry.  
    It has been eleven months. I have short pieces that are still growing out. I keep my hair in a pony tail every day when I go to work….some pieces still won’t go into a pony tail yet. I drive to Memphis every month or so to get my hair done. She has had to cut in layers and I had to lose quite a bit of length.  I will never let anyone else do my hair again. I will never let anyone put blonde in it either. The small town hairstylist overlapped the color with the bleach so with every application, my hair got weaker and weaker.  I am just glad that some time has gone by…I am almost at a year. It has been very painful and I feel for girls who had to go through this, too.   Darla

I am a sophomore in college and had decided that I needed a haircut. I had also been pondering dyeing my hair a deep red for a while. I talked to people and everyone said that it would look really good on me. The problem is, I really liked the color I had (a golden strawberry blonde, my natural color) so I was worried. Anyway, so I was very stressed over my classes and I walked past my usual salon and decided "What the heck, you only live once!" and entered. First sign that I was making a huge mistake: The hairdresser made a very sad face when I said I wanted to dye my hair. She said I had such a beautiful color already, and that made me even more nervous than I already was (I had never dyed my hair before). Anyway, so I picked out the color, a nice natural looking red, natural looking was very important to me because part of my class was interviewing professional people and no one would take me seriously if I had purple hair. Anyway, so an hour passes and the hairdresser washes my hair and tells me how great I look and how I look like a movie star. When I look in the mirror, I freak. IT WAS BRIGHT ORANGE! It was like the color of one of those safety cones they put on the road. The hairdresser wouldn't listen to me and told me that it looked good. I was scared I was going to cry right there in the salon. Finally, she agreed to try again and I picked a much much darker red, hoping that I could fix it and still have red hair. Well, now I sit here, with a weird orange-redish-pinkish hair. Ugh! What was I thinking?! Now I just want my natural color back! This was such a huge mistake! I miss my old hair. Now I have to go through classes with this disaster of a haircolor. I guess I'll just have to pretend that this was what I wanted. Is there anyway to fix this, or do I just have to wait for it to grow out?  Also, the woman cut my hair and that looks really bad too, but a bad haircut I can live with (it'll grow out in a month) I cannot stand this hair. Every time I look in the mirror I feel like crying.   Heather

I am constantly changing my short hair - cut, color, you name it. My hairstylist has been with me for about five years and she's been wonderful every time I've changed things up, but stupid me, sometimes I just have to screw with it and ruin a good thing. I've worn my hair the same for about a year now, which is an unusually long period of time for me to go without change: ultra-short with the front bangs very long - down to about my chin. Yesterday I decided to go asymmetrical with it and leave the long bangs angled down to my chin on one side. It looked great! Hair Color.  Go to a search engine and type in "roots only".  You should pull up this website  www.hair-coloring.com.  You can purchase for a few dollars this plastic bottle with a large hollow comb on the cap.  You put your hair color (mixed) in the bottle, screw on the comb cap and and comb your scalp.  In less than 10 seconds (I am SERIOUS!!) you have done your roots.  I could not believe it.  NO OVERLAP.  You use less hair color.  The amount of roots you do is tiny compared to what you or a hairdresser would do.  After about a year you have much healthier hair.  I used to do my roots every 4 to 6 weeks and it was a big deal and always on my day off (yeah I lead such an exciting life). 

Blond Hair Color.  So you wanna be blond. I dont blame you!!  I love it and done right it looks beautiful on just about everyone no matter what your nationality or ethnicity.   One mistake I see women make is choosing a color too light!! The pictures on the box looks pretty but are not accurate for most of us.    Look around you at natural blondes.  They look light enough and really pretty.  Its like women are afraid no one will notice their blond hair unless it is really bleached but that is not true.  Blond comes in all colors, caramel, honey, bronze, ash, gold, strawberry etc. The first thing you should do is pick the darkest blond you can find.  Dont freak out if you think it is not light enough.  Wear it for a few days.  Ask your friends about it and notice who looks at you, plus it will lighten slightly in a few days as you wash it.  Still dont like it?  Dont bleach it lighter yet.  It should still be healthy and you can go to a reputable hairdresser, tell her you use a ONE STEP color on your hair and you want a few pale blond highlights put in.  This will look really natural.  If you truly want to go lighter, please just test on one strand and then see if that is what you really want.  P.S.  If you like the blond hair you got but think it is a little too brassy or yellowy, you can use toners on them, they last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks and give you that natural blond look.  They wont damage your hair if they are the ones that DO NOT use developer.  Just put 'em on and wait.  P.S.S.  Only color your hair all the way through one or two times.  After that you must ONLY do your roots from then on or you will wreck your hair.

Hairbreaking.   2.    Use a satin pillow case 4.    Put hair in ponytail and just wash top of scalp in sink. 6.     When you hair is damp or almost dry, put in velcro rollers.  Yes it does take longer (go do something glamourous like laundry while you are waiting) but it is so worth it to have beautiful undamaged hair.  I love making my hair all puffed up and big knowing that I did not use a speck of heat.  Be patient for results.  As your healthy hair grows in you wont see it for a few months. 

First I would like to say that I have had a couple of bad hair cuts but not in years now.  I went to get my bangs and hair trimmed.  I went to this same place a couple of months ago and had the side swept bangs cut.  I loved them, great job.  Well tonight I went in at 7 they close at 8.  That is a whole hour, well I sat there for 45 mins, then they called my name.  I sat down in the chair and the girl ask me what I wanted done, of course I said TRIM my bangs and explained to her how the other girl told me to tell anybody else that cut my bangs how to do it, she said ok yea I know how to do that.  So she proceeded to cut.  I want you to know she then had the nerve to say to me, Oh you didn't tell me you had a cow lick!!!!  Excuse me, nobody told me that I did, anyways.  I looked in the mirror, and to my dismay, the girl had cut the shorter side of my bangs about 2 milimeters from my hair line!!!!  What on Earth was she thinking.  I don't know how to fix this.  I guess I will start wearing headbands.  Poor me, heartbroken hair

My hair is natural medium brown and I had blonde highlights.  I went to a salon because I wanted to go all over blonde.  I told the stylist this and he said ok and went to go mix the color.  I was sitting in the chair and he was doing somebody else and I was noticing that the ends of my hair were still the same dark color and the top was turning this neon orangey gold color.  He came over and was like " Oh, thats weird."  He tried to put a toner on it and it just turned a color I would describe as the crayola color marigold at the top with the ends still being darker with blonde highlights.  I told him I did not like and he said he didn't think it was brassy at all.  I went home and my 10 year old sister was asking me why I died my hair red.  I was irate that I was allowed to leave the salon looking the way I did.  I called and the manager said he'd fix my hair for me.  When I sat down in the chair I told him what the problem was and when he got finished he said he thought it looked good but unfortuantely my hair is now just a lighter brassy red-blonde color. It looks hideous and unatural to me .  I spent all my money at that stupid place,  I can't afford to go anywhere else now, and I'm definately not going back there.  I'm ashamed to even leave the house now and I not sure what to do about this mess I have right now.
***********
Has anyone had their hair 'stripped' by the beautician as a cutting process in order to thin it? How is that supposed to work? I can't find out anything that explains what I just went through. Rather than using thinning shears, it sounded and felt like she was sawing on it with the edge of a seashell ! Wowser, it hurt! I couldn't see what tool she had in her hands because it smarted so that I had tears in my eyes. The process changed the shape of my style that we'd agreed to for 4 months and I don't like the new shape. Now it's been a week since she 'stripped' it and I still wake up with a headache and stinging scalp. Every shampoo I try burns. Was she trying to get rid of me as a customer? I've gone to her 4 times and always gave her a tip (20%). I'm not an ideal subject because my head is big and I had alot of hair, but I kept it short. Well, thanks, just writing this out helps me see I'd better not go back. Betsi



I couldn't agree more with Stephanie: "I don't know what it is about hairdressers----they see someone with beautiful long hair and they think
now that would be fun to really CUT." I'm 15, from the US, and I've had some awful hair moments. Ever since I was 11, I've started shaking when I get near one of those places. My most recent one was probably the onethat pissed me off the most. It happened almost exactly a year ago, October 9, 2004. My hair was curly, dark brown (to this day, I've never highlighted or coloured it) and below my tailbone. I loved it. I was going to get my hair styled for homecoming and I was nervous and kept reassuring myself, she won't cut it. I went into the place and the lady, Jennifer, had me sit down. She looked at my hair in utter disgust and combed it all out while my mom went toget an early dinner for my brother. She kept making sighing sounds like this was putting her out in a major way. From time to time, she would make rude comments. Another stylist walked past and said, wow, what long hair. Jennifer actually smirked at me in the mirror. I had bangs I'd been growing out for awhile and she asked "what are THESE?"I told her they were bangs I was growing out and she snorted. Then my mom come back and rather than asking me what I want to do, Jennifer says, "...Mom, what do you want to do with....this?" My mom just looked at me. Finally, at Jennifer's insistence, I agreed to get 3 inches cut off. I was facing a mirror and I suddenly noticed that my WET (keep in mind it's curly) hair was being cut to two or three inches below my shoulders. I just numbed myself up and didn't think about it. But, as stupid as it might sound, that experience was traumatizing. My mom paid 120 bucks for that little cut, but it ruined my freshman homecoming. I cried for the next 3 days. I haven't gotten my hair cut or trimmed professionally since, and now it's almost to my waist again. I just decided to do it myself from that point on. But I can't believe the number of rude and condescending hairdressers I've come across. Granted, there must be manyreally good ones, but I've had some bad experiences. This site made me feel a lot better, cause I see I'm not alone with this. Thanks, guys. Sophia
*****
Of course there are two sides to every story…The hairdresser who has had clients lie to her, who have botched up their own hair or demand certain things against advice. But there is my story of a disaster of a month ago which could have been avoided by good professional advice and better hair practice (after all we rely on the professional advice of hairdressers)!

My wedding has been planned for the past two years (for Dec this year) my bridesmaids and myself have been growing our hair for most of that time for the long flowing locks look to go with the theme of the wedding.  I have always been complimented on my lovely hair, but felt my hair needed a bit of curl for the wedding and if I got a perm now it would still have a nice wave by the time Dec comes.

Well I requested a consultation with the hairdresser who assured me that (when I told her I home coloured my hair and asked if my hair was sutiable for a perm) that it was strong hair and the perm would look lovely and that she would charge me $140.  So I went ahead and had to perm.  I felt the apprentice had left the solution on for too long I was forgotten most of the time and also the apprentice was not thorough in washing the solution off - especially the underneath bits.  Well when they were taking the rods out my hair was breaking off so they had to cut some off (that upset me!).  They gave me a complimentary card for a treatment and told me to come back next week.  I said I wanted to go home and let it dry naturally - well by the time it dried naturally it dried into a big dried out fuzz ball sticking straight up into the air!  I did not sleep all night and first thing in the morning I went back to the salon in tears.  They gave me a free treatment - said it looked overprocessed and I went back four times (free treatments) in all with no improvement, each time they had to cut more hair off/or it just broke off - most of the underneath hair had to be cut off at the scalp!  I have been too embarrassed to be seen in public or work and could not sleep so eventually had to go to the doctor and get sleeping tablets.  I have spend hundreds of dollars with "fixing protein products etc" which hasn't helped much.  Other hairdressers tell me when the hair is damaged to this extent the best thing is to cut it all off.  I have postphoned my wedding as I have lost my confidence and feel I would have an unhappy wedding day looking like this.  I have considered a wig that may be the next option.  I have not been back to the original hairdressers as I cannot face it, but have written a letter of complaint to them.  SAD LADY

*****
After reading about 1/2 of the entries on this site, I decided I had to write.  I've been a hairdresser for about 22 years.  
While there were a few people who were not happy with what I did with their hair over the years, many more were elated 
that someone listened to them.  My mistakes were mainly from failure to communicate, and were mainly the results of my
customers insisting that I do something that I actively did not advise, and often warned against.  For example, when 
someone says she wants her hair "thinned out", she is usually asking me to use channel shears, which WILL create 
shorter layers that WILL stick out.  This is a physics issue.  If you remove hair held down and straight due to 
the weight of the strand andgravity, the hair will stand up and get poufy.  I cannot violate the laws of physics 
any better than the next person.  If I explain why I don't want to "thin" the hair because I know the customer 
will not like the effects, they tell me that everyone else always does it, so I should too.  At that point, I will 
again say that I advise against it, but they are paying for my service, and they are in charge.  Most of the time 
they are glad that I didn't, and the few who demand wish they had not.  Please do not ask us to thin hair that you 
do not want layered.  We can't do it.  

As for chemicals of any kind, your hairstylist is always blamed when your perm or color doesn't turn out the way you want.  
I cannot tell you how many times I have KNOWN that some chemical was put on a head of hair and the customer turned cartwheels denying that anything had been done.  I have managed to wriggle
out of making bad situations worse by taking test strands of hair that had something in it, processing it, and showing 
the end results to the customers.  I had a little girl and her mother lie to me about a home perm done the DAY BEFORE, 
on foam rubber rollers, burning the girl's head, and they LIED to me about the perm.  I only got out of doing another perm
because I refused to do another perm over the girl's burnt scalp. Customers, three things:  think physics before you 
get your hair cut, always ask for a test strand BEFORE a chemical service, and be careful what you ask for on the grounds 
that you may just get it.  And, also think, dear customers, that many good stylists with sound reputations (like me) leave
hair dressing for better paying jobs because you expect us to not only cure your appearance boredom, but also to solve 
all of your self-image issues,improve your relationships, get you a better job, and take ten pounds off of you.  
That's a lot of power you give us.  We are only human.  What you ask us to do is greater than what you pray to your 
Higher Power for.  Drue-Marie

*****
One day i went into the hair salon with hair down to the middle of my back. My hair is curly so it takes a really long time to grow. 
I told my hairdresser to take half and inch off my hair and give my bangs a trim because i was growing them out. I wasn't 
facing a mirror so i had no clue what was happening after she had styled it she showed me my hair. It was at the middle of 
my ear and one side was 2 inches shorter then the other it was awful.  Aly

Okay girls, we all have our story or stories in some cases.  I started reading these (some of you made me feel better) and must confess, "I too, have been victimized by a hairdresser."  WHY is it that you can take a picture to a person who seems so confident that they can do anything only to end up wondering how they ever ended up in the business?! I'm 36 and love to keep my hair trendy.  I made the decision to go a shorter for a change in looks.  Did I ever get a change.  I am now the proud owner of a spiked mullet (which is impressive because I have curly hair).  This wasn't a good style when it was in style.  On me, with a square jaw line and high forehead, its tragic!  What is even worse is that I knew she was going to screw it up and I watched her do it and let her.  How can two people look at the same picture and come away with such different interpretations.  We even talked about my jaw line and forehead.  I always leave my bangs long and in fact ask for longer layers so it softens the look.  I would love an opportunity just once to give back to the hairdresser what she gives in a bad haircut.  You know- Our turn to take the scissors, have her sit in the seat with her back to the mirror, and just go to town.  The truth is a bad hair cut is an emotional trauma.  Your identity is shaken.  Yes hair grows back- but mine grows slow and by that I mean ssllllooooooowwwwww.  I did leave her shop crying.  Some things I will start doing to ensure that this doesn't happen again- 1. Show a picture ask what needs to be done to achieve the look.  If we disagree move on. 2.  If the hairdresser is trying to cut my hair at the same time she is working with another client RESCHEDULE! Multi-tasking may be the mode of operation for today but not at the expense of my hair.  3.  If she seems like she is having a bad day she probably is and your head will inevitably take the brunt of her inner turmoil.  It's not worth it to me.  4. Return to this website to remind myself of my new resolve.  I have promised myself this is THE LAST TIME I will deal with a bad cut.  Cherie

Hello I'm 16 years old. This story happened last month when i decided to dye my hair blond. So i went to my mother to dye 
my hair.  After an hour she finished.  When i looked in the mirror it was great, but i decided i wanted it a bit brighter, 
so after my mom went to sleep i went to the bathroom and took the color brightener cream. I ignored the instructions 
(big mistake) and put like half of the cream and then waited for ten minutes and washed my hair without noticing 
the change. The next day when i woke up i was late for school and paid no attention to my hair. At school my colleagues 
looked strange at me but i didn't know why, so i went to the bathroom and immediately i looked into a mirror
then i almost fainted . MY HAIR WAS COMPLETLY GREY !!!!! And it is long, beneath my shoulders so it can't go unnoticed. 
This was the worst day of my life!  Angela