TRUE BAD HAIR DAY TALES

Copyright 2008 by Nancy J. Cohen

READERS, this is your page.  You are invited to submit your hair care tips, stories about bad hair days, and other beauty lore for publication on this page.  The author reserves the right to select and edit entries.   Send your stories and tips to: Nancy J. Cohen's mailbox

Jim, I think men like you with the slick, smooth, bald scalp are very attractive.  I enjoyed reading what you wrote.  We are not our hair.  Pam

A "Bald" Hair Day Tale
It was not exactly a bad hair day, it was more a long hair to bald, by waxing my scalp smooth, day. All I can tell you is that having a completely, REALLY smooth skin bald scalp is unique, especially when you go from having a full head of longish hair to slick bald scalp within two hours or so. Suddenly, whenever you see a woman with long thick hair you are reminded that all you can do is decide whether you want a glossy or matte finish on your smooth and shadowless scalp.

By the way, I was bald for weeks and weeks. The best upside, since I now had a cueball head, was suddenly I was attracting women who were skin bald as well, either by choice or because they had slick scalp alopecia universalis. They really liked being with a man who was as slick and bald as they were. Their constant consideration was that most women have beautiful long hair while their scalps could not be made any smoother or balder.I loved being really bald, but I really loved being with really bald women.

If you wax you scalp continuously you WILL finally become permanently bald, I guarantee that, and only within at most two years. Then you will be able to get rid of any combs and replace them with wax to buff up the scalp to a wet looking, glossy finish. Besides the slick look, the slick feel is terrific. When  woman would rub her hand across my super smooth head ti would tend to slip off because it was so unbelievable smooth. I have waxed four times and I think the hair is starting to fail; I think I am on my way to being real and permanently bald., with only the occasional stray vellus hair that can easlity be plucked out.   Jim

Hi, my daughter went to a salon to have her highlights touched up. She is a natural dirty water blonde but has been getting highlights for about 8 years so her hair was more of a champagne blonde with some of her natural hair blended in. So, anyway, she goes to this salon to get her highlights touched up and this stylists just completely ruined my daughters hair. The stylist used 40% bleach on my daughters already blonde hair. Then between the foils she applied a color and also applied this color to all of my daughters roots. My daughter ended up with orange hair that had white stripes. My daughter seriously looked like the ice cream that is orange sherbert and vanilla. Well, my daughter called me and was crying hysterically. I spoke with the stylist and she told me my daughter didn't like her hair because it was too golden. I informed the stylist that to my daughter even golden is orange to her. The stylist was no help what so ever so I demanded to speak with someone else. Another stylist got on the phone and told me she was trying to fix my daughters hair but she was very limited on what she could do because the she was afraid it was damaged from the bleach. She said she could try and put a toner that was blue based to tone down the orange but was afraid the white pieces would pick up the blue. Oh, and I would like to add that this happened on New Years Eve and my daughter had a date with a fellow that she was really smitten on. So, back to the horror story. The first stylist just pretty much left my daughter at the wash basin crying because she had plans for the evening and left this other stylist trying to fix my daughters hair. She applied a toner but had to wash it out quickly because it was burning my daughters scalp. My daughter bought a hat and went out with her date but she was so miserable. Two days later my daughter returned to the same salon so that the second stylist could try once again to fix her hair. They weaved it gain with some foils and she also added some low lights to her hair. It looked ok but the top crown area was still orange and white against the scalp. So, after about 2 washes the low lights turned green. So, now my daughter has orange and white hair on the top and green hair on the bottom. So, two days later my daughter goes to her old stylist and she once again tries to foil out more of the orange while adding a toner between the foils. It looked a little better for about a week. My daughter ended up cutting her once beautiful long blonde hair to her collarbone and the cut is awful. Her hair had such a bad chemical cut that it is hard to blend her hair not to mention it is severely thin now.  It has been 2 1/2 weeks since my daughter has had a correction done to her hair and it is of course still orange no shine what so ever and a terrible short style that does nothing for her and dark roots that are coming in. Anonymous

I am 14 years old with my hair past my waist. my   mom dropped me off at my aunts home for the summer. My two girl cousins my age had very short hair ,which  stunned me because when I saw them a month ago, they had waist length hair too .my mom left and my cousins went to play. I asked them what happen to there hair and got told there mom gave them  a hair cut. when we returned to there home, my aunt said that I go to the bathroom to get cleaned up. There was a bath full, so she started undressing me , throwing my clothes into the corner. Then to my surprise , she told me to sit on the chair she then removed my hairclips allowing my hair to be free. then  my aunt grabbed a large handful of hair and began to cut my hair. she told me my mom wanted me to get my hair cut like my cousins.i cried for her to stop, but  she just laughed, cutting away. Within no time , my hair was cut to about 3 inches in length. when she was done, she made me clean up the hair off the floor , then take my bath. I am still mad at my aunt today.  Anonymous

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

Shortly after being married, I wanted to get a permanent to give some body to my genetically thin hair. Since money was tight, I used a coupon special from a local paper and went to a new salon. The stylist had very long sharp artificial fingernails, which dug into my scalp as she washed my hair  - then she put on the perm solution. OMG, what pain! I was too shy and intimidated to say anything to this older and somewhat aggressive woman. Of course, the perm looked terrible. And my scalp hurt for a couple of weeks!  If they were running the coupon special to get more regular customers, their tactic didn't work with me. I never went back there, and didn't get another perm for many years.  Susan

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 sure could use a lot of moral support right now! One month ago I finally decided to get the angled bob cut I had been considering for over a year. I had long straight fine hair, but a lot of it. It was down past my bra strap, where it had been for the past 6 or 7 years. I am really manic about my hair care, so it was in great condition. So, I decided if I was ever brave enough to cut it off, I would donate it. At least if I hated it, I would have done something great for some one right? Well, the stylist put it in a pony tail and we decided I would do 8 inches for pantene instead of 10 inches for lock of love. Not as drastic for me. Well, she cut the pony tail of and says it is only 7 inches! Now,I can't send it any where! My hair was just past laying on my shoulders, slightly longer. So, I think great... at least it will grow back. So I tell her to cut it on a slight angle, no bunch of layers or stacking. I leave there with hair just under my ears, and layers in the back, that are 3 inches long. I have cried every day for a month straight. I thought I would have to be medicated to get through my days. I am 40 years old, and haven't had hair this short for 2 decades. My son is 17 and has NEVER seen me with short hair, until now that is! My heart was in the right place with best of intentions, but this has left me devastated beyond words. I found this site looking for a support system!  Anonymous

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!
 
Then this morning I looked in the mirror and thought - hmmm, those bangs look really heavy, what with the left side being so short now and all. Perhaps a little trim with the thinning shears would help out (I bought a pair of thinning shears at Ulta years ago, and without fail I've screwed my hair up with them every time I've brought them out of hiding). I snipped at it a little bit right on the ends and went about my business, until several hours had passed and I looked in the mirror again and thought, ya know, it looks a little uneven down there at the ends, I should just snip it with those thinning shears about halfway up my head to even things out. Then I go and look in the bathroom mirror to check my handiwork (because I was not even smart enough to hack at my hair in a well-lighted place) and saw that I had two very distinct and blunt "layers" (using that word lightly) in my previously sexy, swoopy bangs. It looks sort of like shingles on a rooftop...after one or two more snips, thank God I at least had the wherewithal to throw the stupid thinning shears in the garbage and accept that, once again, I was going to have to endure a few weeks of "damage control" (i.e., barrettes) until those stupid shingles fill in and I can get my hairdreser to layer over the damage.
 
Fortunately, I've had sooooo many hair disasters over the years that I no longer get too worked up about them. Some have been the fault of hairdressers but most of them have been of my own making. Once I thinned such a horrible bald spot into my own head (those damn shears again) that I had to color my scalp with a magic marker every day for two weeks. And once I decided to shave my head into a super-close crop and didn't check to see if the guard was on the clippers and shaved a reverse mohawk into the top of my hair! It looked like I had an airport landing strip on top of my head (had to shave the rest off - practically BALD - but I had no choice).
 
Keep in mind, ladies, a few things that will help you get through the bad hair experience (and I KNOW how traumatic it is to keep reliving, in your mind, the beautiful hair that was...believe me, I took a picture of my fabulous new 'do just last night and now I'm having to stop myself from looking at it and, if not downright crying, at least sighing a lot and feeling real pissed off).
 
#1. As much as it may feel like it, you are NOT your hair. You are still wonderful, fabulous YOU even with a bad haircut. And even a bad hairdo looks better on a smiling face.
 
#2. You may think your hair is an eyesore, but honestly, most people don't notice your hair no matter what it looks like. And even if they do, they only notice it for a moment or so and then they move on. Most people genuinely do not care what your hair looks like!
 
#3. Hair grows, and it grows at about the same rate for everyone. My GI Jane crewcut went from mangy to manageable in about one month (albeit still damn short). Even if your hair is really, really horrible right now, in a month or so you'll at least be able to get it into a more manageable style, and it will keep changing by the month as it grows. So hang in there!  Cynthia

This morning I woke up with the excitement of knowing I was going to "beautify" my self by getting a cut and color! I was excited all day, as my hair dresser has never failed me or disappointed me yet..........UNTIL TODAY!  I entered the salon with a large picture of a GORGEOUS hairdo that I printed from the internet. I wanted the EXACT cut, but a browner color. The hair cut was below collar bone length in long, tapering layers (no blunt!!!!) with side swept bangs (not straight bangs).  Well....here I sit typing, with my BLUNT......SHOULDER LENGTH ......STRAIGHT ACROSS BANGS! I COULD SCREAM!   Instead of looking like a hottie.......... I look alot like DUDLEY MOORE!!!  No long tapering layers, but lots of short choppy layers that end in the middle of nowhere!I have put it in a pony tail, that looks OK, but I envisioned myself to be a thing a beauty......not the thing that my husband bursts out in laughter every time looks at!   
 All of these stories have done a couple of things for me
1) they have gotten me away from the mirror (where, in fits of anger, have gone mad......fluffing my hair and screaming)
2) have made me smile......that's a biggie (when all I want to do is cry......and get even with my hairdresser)
Hopefully, this will NOT happen again, but I will stay tuned to this site.......it made both me and my husband laugh-out-loud!   Aimee

So, I am an 18 year old female, and I just so happen to smoke. Well, last night I was sitting outside on my porch to respect my parents by not smoking in the house. Well, I used a match and leaned over to light it. All of a sudden I feel a burning sensation and see bright orange. MY HAIR HAD CAUGHT FIRE. I quickly put it out, and ran into the house not knowing what was going on, but I could smell the singed hair. I look in the mirror and totally freaked! My eyebrows are yellow, half of the lashes on my right eye are gone with yellow tips, and about an inch of my hair was signed. I looked like a CLOWN. And, the funny thing is.. I'm a natural medium brown. Well, I normally dye my hair dark brown every month, because it brings out my bright green eyes. I've done practically every color on my hair, except red! So, on this same night, I had JUST got done dying my hair "Light Auburn" (which didn't turn out as bright as I wanted because my hair was too dark, but I'm working on it) and I loved it! So, I was crying in hysterics. I took a shower, and my mom trimmed the singed hair, and I colored the ends of my lashes with mascara. I also colored in my right eyebrow with a brown liner. So, just know.. don't light a match so close to your hair! It was so traumatizing. Cassidy

Even experienced stylists get bad haircuts and colors.  Everyone has a different idea of what should be done.  I once had to have 2 haircuts in the same day because of an inexperienced stylist. I wanted some layers in my bob and she made me look like the guy from the movie “Loser.”   If you aren’t sure who to go to, ask people who have a great hairstyle or color.  When you call the salon to make an appointment, make a consultation appointment first.  This way the stylist will be able to see your hair and get an idea of what you want, color wise as well.  As a hair stylist, it isn’t easy to get it perfect when the client is late, doesn’t really know what they want or the client’s vision for their hair isn’t communicated perfectly.  The last thing we need to is to be rushed and have a finicky client.  Those two qualities will always produce bad results.  If you are still nervous about someone new, ask to see some of their work (portfolio) and how long they’ve been doing hair.  Never be afraid to ask for a senior or master stylist.  It may cost more, but I’m sure your results will pay off.
Vicky

I had long hair (bra strap length) with a lot of long layers all the way through. My hairdresser comes to the house so i made a appt to have it colored and cut as im off on my holidays in 10 days. She did the colour first (dark choc brown with black streaks) which i have to admit turned out really well.and then asked how i wanted it cut. My hair is naturally wavy so i usually just wear it in a ponytail after letting it dry naturally so as not to over style it. But when im going out i straigten it and flick it out at the sides, the shortest layers were just below ear level, so from ear level to bra strap it would flick out really nicely and i loved it and was forever getting compliments on how fantastic it looks when done. I told my hair dresser i wanted a trim with no more than 1 inch taken off the length and asked if she could put me a long fringe in to give a little more shape around the face We were chatting as she cut and since we were at my house there was no mirror to see what she was doing. She then got a bit heated telling me about something one of her work mates had done. My husband walked in halfway through and said "God thats short" but i thought he was being his usual funny self so just ignored it. Finally shes done so i went to look in the mirror and OH MY GOD MY STUNNING hair is now about a inch above my shoulders and my layers are horribly short, from top of head to my ears its about a inch long, SO ive gone from long and layered to top heavy, helmet style MULLET!!!! (it gets worse) I coudnt speak so she nattered on as usual and left, but the thing is this woman sees me every day at school when we drop our kids off, she also sees me twice a month for girls nite out and she has cut it quite a few times SO WHAT THE HELL WAS SHE THINKING My mate called round today and was totally shocked and made me stand while she took a photo on her phone of the back of my head, well theres a huge chunk missing from the middle of the back, about 2 inches shorter than the rest and one side is about half a inch longer than the other. And in amongst all of it are some really long strands that are sticking out about a inch below the bottom. So not only have i got a blokes mullet cut its also missing chunks at the back Im so gutted  ive cried and cried! My husband and my mate have been great, shes phoned around and got hold of a hairdresser she knows whos going to come and look at it then have a talk with me about what she can do but she has warned me that chances are im gonna have to go very short, and my husband has told me that if i want i can get hair exstentions for the holiday regardless of the cost (£500+) And to top it all off i had to pick kids up at school and walked into my hairdresser, she did a double take and the look of shock on her face was a picture, she just mumbled hi then ran off!!! Im convinced she musnt have paid any attention to it while she was doing it or why would she look so shocked!!! So fingers crossed this new hairdresser mite be able to help if not its hair exstentions and im so upset My advice is make sure you can see what there doing and get them to show you how much they are going to cut off, and try not to let them talk too much as how can they concentrate on what they are doing? SUZIE

Recently, I needed hightlights. I had grown my hair to the middle of my back, it was blonde, thick and really beautiful. I went to the Salon at our Mall and asked for highlights and one inch off the back. The lady at the salon said my hair was so pretty but she "knew just what to do" and off she went to get the color and foils...she came back and started. It took her over 2 hours to get all the foil in my hair. While she worked she added a different color to my roots. Meanwhile, all the girls that were working that day were staring and watching. They didn't say anything, just watched..When she finally stopped putting color on my hair and stopped putting me under the dryer, she rinsed my hair and it was burned and YELLOW. I was hysterical. The girls that had been watching her then started telling me they knew she was messing my hair up, yet, they said nothing while she was doing it.. Finally the store manager came over and asked what she had put on it. She told him and then told him I was a red head when I got there, she had the nerve to argue with me. My hair was mixture of blondes. It was so pretty and what I had after she got finished was ruined hair. It had taken me years to grow it out to the point that it was. When the manager took me away from all the other customers to keep them from seeing the damage, he said it made him sick to his stomach. I showed him pictures of what my hair was like before I got there and cried the entire time he worked on it. I got there that day at 1:45. I did not leave until 8:15pm. He promised to fix m hair and put low lights in it so I could at least go to work the next day. About a month goes by and I need my roots touched up so I make an appointment. He bleaches my hair and it's too blonde so he added low lights and now my hair is GRAY. We picked out a picture of the color I wanted and guess what? Now he is telling me he just does not know what I want to do with my hair or what color I want. It would be nice if for the past 6 weeks I didn't have to hide from everyone but he's recently made it worse. I have lost 6 inches off the back and need 5 more taken off. The lady that did this was fired. She didn't need to be doing hair anyway. So, to get the gray out of my hair I have another appointment this Saturday; not sure if I should at this point but what else can I do?  Kari

Last evening I decided to hi-light my hair with a boxed product from the store.. I have frosted my hair for the last 30 years with great success.. Well, after I tried this new product on my dark brown, grown-out roots, I was very disappointed when I washed the product out. It was gold and brassy. I was very upset, as my frosting is usually very light and evenly placed throughout my hair.. I was going to call my stylist when I thought I would ask about hair color disasters online..Needless to say, I ran across this site and read about using prell or dish detergent to tone down brassiness..I didn't have dawn detergent as suggested, but used ajax from under the kitchen sink!! I washed it and left it on the root area for a few minutes, rinsed it out and then proceeded to wash it again with prell..Might as well be really sure..HA.. Well, it worked!! My hair acutally looks really nice. It is more blonde and the gold brassiness is gone.. Be sure to use a really good conditioner when you are done washing it.. Your website helped me immensely..thanks to the good tips that some of your readers have left.. Hope this will help someone else..I am amazed that it really worked!!!  Sue

I just want to say sorry to all of you for the bad experiences you've had, I am a hairstylist and I've had some bad stories to tell about things that have happened to me, but I won't go into detail, don't want to relive the experiences.  I just wanted to share some very good advice for you.  Don't give up on us hairstylists completely.  If you see or know someone who's hair you like, ask them who does it.  NEVER AND I REPEAT NEVER let a stylist cut, trim, or shape up your hair until you have been to them a couple of times and seen some of their work.  Even if it means for a wash and blow-dry or a style.  The thing is hair isn't one size fit all, a stylist is more likely to style your hair, cut, or color it the way that you want if they know you hair.  Some people take meds or have used something on their hair that they sometimes forget to tell the stylist about which can and does effect the results of color (remember it is a chemical).  The best thing to do is have a consultation with the stylist (many do this for free) at least a day or two before you come in for your appointment.  I can't begin to tell you how many people go to the salon and expect some type of miracle, I have often made clients mad because I wouldn't bleach their hair, lol. But I'd much rather you be mad at me because I didn't do something than if I did it knowing that it would not come out right no matter what I or anyone did. Bring in a photo and a friend, lol, they can see what your stylist is doing if you can't,lol <>Stay loyal to your stylist and tip them good,lol, believe me anything that you ask for will receive an honest opinion (if required) or it will be giving special attention. Remember most stylist don't receive the full amount of your service, we really do make our money through our tips,lol, just like you waiters and waitresses.  A Hairstylist's Viewpoint

I won't go into much detail about my hair story, as all we want to find out is HOW TO FIX IT, for those desperate ladies staying home because they have been ripped of their esteem, try FANCIFULL daily wash MOUSSE, yes, it is a daily wash, but let me tell you I am a different person each day when I use it, there is no Damage, no commitment, and it will NOT be another story added to this website when used. Be sure to get the mousse as the rinse has an overwhelming perfume smell and actually gives me migrains. You can buy the Mousse  via the internet or at Sallys Beauty Supply or the rinse at Walgreens or Walmart. I was also told from Sally's to try the Beautiful collection for a depositing color.  No peroxide or ammonia and washes out in 6 shampoos.   Anonymous

I really feel for people who trust a trained hairdresser with a pair of scissors. You tell them what you want, and they chop away, doing the exact opposite.I had healthy hair layered to my shoulders. I went for my regular trim at our salon, which you don't always get the same person, but their reputation for listening to what customers want is high on the list. But not in this case of mine. This guy started cutting. I noticed him using scissors, while holding the whole length of my hair at the back , and he began shearing the scissor down the hair shaft. I stopped him and asked what he was doing. He said it will add definition. When he showed me my hair cut  in the mirror, i could'nt see what he had done. I told him i cant see my hair, where is my long layers? And i felt the back with my hands and it was soo thin, it was awful. He had cut short the top layer, and sheared all the rest of my layers with curl off!!!!!! And my sides were long. I told him i did'nt like it, and it's too late you have cut it all off. I went home and washed my hair and evaluated it again. My hair looked sparse and thin, like i was sick. I cried and asked my friends what they thought. They honestly told me the truth, it looked bad. I went back 2 days later and showed the other salon workers there. They were so shocked at how the hair was cut. They apologised and tried their best to trim and even up the hair that was left. They told me it will have to grow back and thicken up. This man that cut my hair was a new employee, and the manager was informed, and he will be given the sack. So now i am left looking alot better than before, but i have to grow the volume back, and he has damaged my hair by the way he had sheared the hair shaft. So i had to invest in a descent moistursing shampoo and conditioner. I do ,thank God, have the option of wearing my hair up which looks good. But yes, i do feel for all you gals who have lost your locks due to someone who thinks they know better or less. I tell you what though, it's made me toughen up. I used to be too scared to say my peice and learn to say no to your hairdresser! Now after this disaster, i am a new women, and i am no longer afraid to stand my ground. All you gals you do the same, refuse anything that you notice that the hairdresser is doing differently, become familair with the cut routine. Don't be afraid to speak up if you notice something is not right, before letting them continue. After a few bad hair cuts and regrows, you soon learn enough is enough! Michelle
-------------------------
 
I'm furious with hairdressers who think they know better when choosing which hairstyles suit you. Fair enough, 
they are the professionals and know how to cut it so it falls in a certain way, but what they dont know is that 
after you leave the salon, you then have to live your life as normal with what is probably a hideous haircut. I went 
to the hairdressers yesterday and left fuming, which is what has provoked me to write this! So, I go into the 
hairdressers yesterday for an appointment with my usual hairdresser who is about 25. Bear in mind that she has 
gorgeous hair- really well cut and mantained. So, you would think she knows the importance of a good haircut. 
Well firstly she sat me down and asked how I was getting on with my hair, whether I felt it was dry, looking at split 
ends etc, and I told her that all I wanted cut off was 2 inches at most, but the main reason I came was to get my 
layers re-done because they had started to blend in and make my hair look flat.

My hair was about halfway down my back, a couple of inches below my bra strap. She nodded, and after it got washed 
she combed it and began to cut. You know when you can feel the scissors pressing against your neck/back and can 
tell it's being cut way too short? well i could feel the scissors pressing into the nape of my neck, and immediately 
thought uh-oh. I left her to it, thinking she understood what I was telling her, and maybe this isn't the actual length 
that she's cutting. By the time she had worked her way to the front of my face, I could've cried. My hair has hovering 
just above  my shoulders, and I looked like an 12 year old the way she had shaped the hair around my face. It sort of 
flicked into my face, with the feathered bits gradually getting longer. My face shape is oval, so this style just 
accentuated it and made my face look round and podgy- not very flattering at all. To add to this, it was a blunt cut 
which I had specifically told her I didnt like. She said 'oh well when your hair gets shorter it gets less fine 
towards the ends, and so it will look blunt. Oh, so that would explain why her hair, which has just slightly longer 
than how she had done mine, wasn't blunt at all! I askedif she could do something to make the style look softer. 
She got the pair of scissors out again and began to cut upwards, which softens the look but also takes about another inch 
off the length. Bloody hell, I wished I'd left it the way it was. My hair now sits around my jaw line and I hate it. 
It doesn't even go up into a ponytail, so there's no disguising it. My self esteem has plumetted and I won't ever be 
going back to that salon.  Abigail

DON'T  GET YOUR HAIR DONE PROFESSIONALLY IN PENNSYLVANIA.... I DON'T KNOW HOW ANYONE GETS THEIR LICENSE.  IT MUST BE A PAY OFF THING IN THE STATE!!  NO ONE KNOWS ANY NEW STYLE OR COLOURING OR WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT & YOU END UP COMING OUT WITH AN OLD LADY STYLE!! PLUS THEY ALWAYS THINK A "TRIM"  IS A MJOR HAIR CUT  & YOU END UP WITH VERY SHORT HAIR &  NO BANGS!!    Anonymous

These tips are for Karen.  Go to a salon and have reconstructor treatments done, those treatments will hopefully save your hair, I've heard positive things about the treatments. Go to the salon just for the treatments, I know you want your hair fixed now, but don't let anyone talk you into coloring just yet.  You need a hair color specialist,just because someone is a stylist doesn't mean they are good with color. I don't know if I can say the name of this product or person. Robert Craig has a web site with his hair color and products, you can even call him for advice. If not, then you need to look up a hair color specialist that does hair color correction. If you see a person that has hair you like,just go up to them and ask who does their hair, it's worth a shot to even ask if they color it. You could try a demi permanent color first to see if you like the color, if you do then you could have it done in the same color,but permanent.  I know what it is like to have your hair destroyed and what it takes to get it back to something that looks at least okay and presentable. I'm thinking it will take me at least three years to even begin to like my hair again, I know what it is like not wanting to go anywhere. Hopefully this will help you understand the base colors in hair color. If you have to much red , a green base helps get rid of red ,to much orange,then you need something with a purple base, to much gold(yellow) then blue base. If the hair is really porous and damaged then it can be very tricky to correct though even using the right bases. If the hair is bleached it is much more complicated,you will need to put back all the tones that where taken out. M.A.

I just recently went to the salon to get my hair touched up because the first day of my Sophomore year in high school is tomorrow. The woman who did my hair took an electric razor to the back of my hair (like the kind they use on men) and shaved the back entirely too short. I have about 6 inches of hair left all around, and I want to scream because I have to go to school tomorrow looking like that. I don't know what possessed the woman to take a razor to my hair when all I asked for was a quick trim.  Liz

Years ago I wanted to be blonde (naturally dark brown, curly hair), and, thinking I'd get a good deal from the local beauty college, I asked the student for a beige shade. I didn't know what she was trying to do but at least she didn't hide me from seeing it... however, she just kept telling me the colour would look better once it dried .. I had tiger stripes on the crown, and the rest was flaming orange.  K.

I went to [my hairdresser] and said I wanted high and low lights, with ash blonde tones.  NO GOLD at all.  This woman had total confidence and off she went.  After the foils were taken off I nearly fell off the chair.  My hair was soooo dark and you could hardly see a highlight through my hair.  I was so shocked.  She was as well, but covered it up by saying she would just put on a little toner, which would tone the hair down.  But kept repeating it looked wonderful/fabulous.  After the toner was taken off there was really difference.  She suggested she do a few more foils on the top of my head.  By this time I had been in this salon for 3 1/2hrs!  And I had a function to go to that night.  After those foils were taken off it was 6pm and I had to race off to get ready for my function....  still with the hair so dark.  She kept repeating that I looked fabulous.  Well at least one person did.  No-one else liked the colour of my hair that night.  On Monday after work I was back in the salon to say that everyone said my hair looked terrible, that the colour was not me, and that it looked very flat and dull.  She AGREED with me and said she would redo an overall colour and then put some high and low lights through the top.  Again I was there 3 hrs and this time all this gold showed through my hair.  Again she put a toner all over to try and tone down the colour, especially the gold that I hate and specifically asked not to have.  And again she kept saying how wonderful it looked, so much better.  Now in the salon all she has are a few down lights.

As soon as I got back to my own place I took one look in the mirror and burst into tears.  The colour was so horrible;  all this gold that I had specifically asked not to have.  Again the next day at work everyone said my hair looked terrible!  The hairdresser/owner has said that after a couple of washes the colour would fade and it would look lovely....  A couple of washes and it would fade!!!???  By now I have spent $350 and it is going to 'fade' after a couple of washes....  I phoned her and said I hated the colour and was still not happy.  She told me to wait a couple of days and then come back if I was still unhappy.  So a few days later I went back and again she starts on my hair.  This time I end up ORANGE, with a burnt scalp - and my hair so broken an dry it is falling out!  Before I left the salon she told me to see how I felt the next day and to give her a call.  I got home and my hair was so bad I could not even go out that night.  I spoke to her on the phone the next day and she suggested that I come in on the Monday after work and she would try again, that she did not know what was going wrong, and she could not find a colour consultant available to meet with me to sort out the problem.  Another miserable weekend in hiding.  Monday afternoon I arrived at her salon to be told by her that there was NOTHING she could do for my hair, that I was to find someone else to sort out 'my problem'.  She said she would give me a refund for all the money that I had spent....  Ask me if I got this money!  No way.  I have phoned this so-called hairdresser, I have written even saying I will take legal action if she does not refund me, have even had a friend who's a lawyer phone asking for the money.  Even went in there yesterday and was told to leave the salon and to stop 'hassling her'. How dare she!  This so-called hairdresser is running a business, is offering a service.  She should be totally held accountable for her actions.  Where is the fairness that I have to now find another hairdresser who will take on the mess of my hair.  And all the extra money that I have to pay to have my hair repaired and corrected to the colour I have chosen.  Has anyone got any pointers and help for me?  Karen
Years ago I wanted to be blonde (naturally dark brown, curly hair), and, thinking I'd get a good deal from the local 
beauty college, I asked the student for a beige shade. I didn't know what she was trying to do but at least she didn't 
hide me from seeing it... however, she just kept telling me the colour would look better once it dried ..I had tiger 
stripes on the crown, and the rest was flaming orange.  Anonymous
SHORT AND NOT SO SWEET .......as of 2 days ago I have  the worst hair I have ever had in my life and this even includes the Tonettes Home  Perms my mom put in when I was a child. I said a "light body perm and shape up my hair" that's all . I now look exactly like Buckwheat with light skin, same curl same cut. I just need 5 minutes alone with her hair that's all I ask. The woman doesn't need a license just a lawnmower!  From a reader

This is a tip that might help someone. Once I had this horrible short hair cut that I was growing out and I couldn't do anything with it. I would curl it and that made it look so much better, but the curl would not stay know matter what I did, with in half an hour my hair would look like a floppy mess again. I got desperate and bought so many different products hoping something would hold the curl. Nothing worked until I tried this shampoo called Wash N Curl. It seems like it works better on shorter styles if your hair is straight. You do have to curl it, I used hot rollers or a curling iron. I noticed that they have a Wash N Curl conditioner now. The shampoo sure did save me from walking around looking horrible.  I hope this helps someone.  Anonymous

After reading a few comments, I would like to add my own tips for being a  "believable blonde"  Since my hair is naturally dark brown, I am well versed in the brassy, yellowish and red after-effects of bleaching. And I know how hard it is to correct. First of all- I agree that too many first-timers make the mistake of going 'too blonde' and it looks not only very fake, but very unheathy. Real blond hair has dimension and is rarely all one flat yellow color. However, I continue to bleach because I absolutely love the flexibility of being able to keep it light ( with a Fanci-ful toner ) <>OR darken my hair termporarily whenever I want with a harmless no chemical color like 'Clariol Jazzing' or the 'Beautiful' collection.  Sure, it washes out in a few shampoos, but there's no damage either. And I immediately notice how much thicker my hair looks after I darken it to a medium/dark blond.
 
Here's my tip....As anyone who has dark hair knows, the worst time is when you first bleach your re-growth and get that terrible bright yellowish bleached look. Often it may not match with the rest of your hair if you've been using a tonor or semi-permanent color.  So immediately after bleaching, towel dry the hair and after a few minutes apply 'Jazzing' in MOCHA. I know it sounds dark ( dark brown )....But after leaving it on for about 30 minutes and applying medium heat with a hair dryer....My roots looked totally natural, it always comes out a rich deep blonde with NO red or brassy highlights. Basically, like a natural blonde's roots would look.  And the best part is- It washes out gradually after a few days, and by then that horrific yellowish bleached look has usually oxidized, so you are left with a more natural shade of blonde.
 
I tried a whole barrage of different no-chemical colors ( and mixed combinations of colors ) and this is the one shade that worked the best consistently. I finally stopped just trying the 'blonde'  colors and went darker and darker until I got what looked most natural. Obviously this tip might work best for those with darker hair.  I find this simpler and better for your hair than applying and re-applying toners that contain ammonia and/or peroxide each time you re-touch your hair. Bleaching your hair is bad enough- try to keep the chemicals to a mimunum and your hair looks like healthier.   Alexandra
 
I would like to add some insight of my own. This has to do with stylists not listening to their clients. Please listen when a client tells you what works best for their hair. It's their head. If a client tells you the razor can't be used on their hair it's because they do not like the results. Please invest in the proper tools. It's very important to have different texture shears. I have thick, coarse hair. Believe me I know how it needs to be cut. After a proper shaping I like to add volume and lift and get the bulkiness out. I hate when stylists tell me a thinning shear with 30 teeth will do the same job as a texture shear with 14 teeth. Very different effect. The thinning shear only makes it flat. Men like the thinning shear. A woman wants volume, the proper texture shear provides this. I've also had stylist tell me adding texture with the scissors is the proper way to do it. Maybe, but not on my head. I know what works and what doesn't. I've lived with this hair for 38 years. A friend gave some good advice and told me to invest in my own texture shears. This way I know the right ones will be used. Please remember that it is the client that keeps you in business. Listen to the client and if you have ideas, discuss them with us. Don't do something because you want to create a "masterpiece." It would be better to try that with your own head.  Pam

Here's a tip for Trish. Use Prell shampoo or dish detergent on your hair,it will make the color fade out much faster. Be sure to use a good conditioner afterwards though,some leave in conditioner, like Infusium would be good to. This works on permanent hair color also. I know what you mean about hiding, I've been there. Anonymous

Thanks for making me be able to find some humor in these stories.  As  I read them it makes me feel not so horrible for my own awful  experience.  I had recently had a color and highlight done that was really bland.  I decided I wasn't happy with it - it looked really blah, so I went back to the salon to have it done a richer color,  even showed magazine pictures of the color I wanted.  Well, now I  have gone from brownish tones to purple/mahogany color with black tips at the ends.  My children tell me I look like a "goth".  After crying over it, I went to another salon who said that if I was to fix  it right away that I risked hair damage.  So we opted for the healthier hair solution which means I have to wait several weeks with this hideous color on my hair.  I remain in hiding until then.   Fortunately, it is not a permanent color and will eventually fade.   No, our hair does not define who we are, but it is still an  enormous  part of our appearance and how we feel about ourselves.  Trish

My uncle is a hairstylist in Massachusetts. He's very talented (now) and knows his work well. He's been doing this for quite a few years...since at least 1989 or so. Now, as many know, the process of becoming a stylist involves practice...and oftentimes this practice imposes itself upon one's relatives. I was the victim of such an experiment.  I was living in Waltham. At the time, I had shoulder-length brown hair with some minor auburn highlights. I'd been known to perm my hair fairly frequently, and it was getting a touch on the dry side, but since my hair is baby-fine and flat otherwise, I thought it was needed. After all, nobody had mentioned "undercutting" or "razor cuts" to me!  I'd come to visit my parents to find my uncle working on my mother's hair. After a quick moment, my mother dove into her role as "Jewish Parent" and decided my hair needed work, and Ira was going to do it. I nearly froze and ran on the spot, because back then...if she decided my hair needed work, it didn't matter what style I wanted...she'd tell my uncle her thoughts, he'd nod to me, and boom. My hair was in the style she demanded...often far shorter than I wanted. Far, far shorter. It's the real reason I stopped letting him cut my hair (even though he thinks it's because of what happened next.)  You see, he'd gotten some auburn dye to improve my highlights. Oh, yes. She'd planned it in advance, can you tell? They pushed and pushed, and finally I caved. I sat down, and he got to work, pulling strands of my hair through that plastic cap of his, strand by strand. Problem is, his supplier didn't give him the dark auburn color highlights the box said it was. They'd givin him strawberry blonde. Time passes, and they clean out my hair...and he gasps and stares. My mother gasps and stares. I demand to know what's wrong, and they tell me.  "Maybe it will dry darker."  "Not dark enough," responds my mother. And she was right. My hair was brighter and lighter than Lucille Ball's ever was. I mean, it glowed. Bright. My uncle was mortified, but I thought it amazingly funny. I asked to keep it overnight, so I could show my friends.  The next day, I return, and he's there with solid brown hair dye, hoping to darken it. It worked...but only enough to make my hair the same copper as the Duracell Copper-top battery. Not a good color for me, either. But he thought that a good style could make it liveable until it wore off.  We waited a week, and then he goes to perm it. He washes it, he styles it, and I look at it, and run my hand through a part to get it smoother...and a clump comes out.  That was when I screamed and cried. It was the only clump that fell out, thankfully, but trust me...it took him years to live it down.  Marilyn

NEVER use bleach on hair that you have used henna on. You will be lucky if you have any hair left if you do. Always tell your hair dresser if you have used henna. They should know that you do not put chemicals on top of it. Anonymous

This is for Andrea. Don't put anymore color on your hair. Go to a salon and get conditioning treatments,it may help your hair from being so gummy. I don't know if you like short hair,but maybe after your hair grows for a few months you can get a shorter cut.It sounds like the person that did your hair has no clue about different hair types and should not be doing hair. All the chemicals she put on your hair is just to much. Maybe after you get some trims you can darken your hair. I hope you try the conditioning treatments. My heart really goes out to you.  Anonymous 

I write this as a comfort to anyone else who has experienced anything similar.  As we speak, my scalp, feeling parched and dry, painful with a couple of open sores, and very painful reminder of my first visit to a small-town hair salon hoping to be the beautiful natural blonde.  I have dyed my hair with Clairol Torrid's Flame red for years now, and only this past year began using Henna auburns.  I have always been curious about being a blonde, and went to a stylist who worked out of her home in a small town in Wyoming.  Despite her saying she had owned her own salon for 26 years, I should have backed away when she appeared rather clueless about hair.  Anyways, after attempting to get light blonde highlights, after sitting under a scalp-burning hair dryer for a little over an hour with bleach foils in (Matrix Color Graphics), I left with a funky punky city look- orangey/banana colored highlights in flame red hair.  I was going for the natural look, but came out looking like a punk.  I went back to the stylist 5 days later, and she decided to entirely bleache my head in a double-process.  She scheduled two other customers during that time, and sat me with bleach in my hair for 50 minutes, and then washed it out and put me under the heat for another burning 25 minutes while she cut another customer's hair.  I went back into her chair and she put an ash blonde haircolor and foils in.  The whole time hair was falling out in massive clumps, shedding like a cat.  My lap was covered in a thick layer of hair that broke (fell?) out during this process.  I am left with hair that has the consistency of glue if you roll it between your fingers, it takes 3 hours for it to dry, It has lost its elasticity and any curl.  I have a brillo pad for my hair.  It wa never thick, but it was healthy and below my shoulders.  Now it is a painful and scratchy yellow reminder of what can go wrong.  I know that I can't dye it dark right away, the thought makes me want to scream in pain.  But I also know that it will take at least a year to recover from this nightmare.  Hearing other horror stories really put it into perspective.  Needless to say, it made me even more anxious knowing how long it will take for this to grow out.  Ladies, you are not alone.
Andrea

I am a 14 year old girl...I had beautiful long hair that was red. I have an obsession with red hair I just love it. So I decided one day after midterms I would have of my two friends dye my hair RED. Not a good idea. I totally freaked out when I got out of the shower! it was the most horrible color ever! Not only was it ugly but it wasn't put on evenly and it had 3 different colors in it! My friends said I should dry it and then see what it looked like, so I did...yup still horrible so I just broke down and started bawling to make matters worse they tried to tell me how cute it was and how original it was! I called my mom she was mad at first then she became my savior she gave me all the numbers in town and round for hairstylists, but they were all booked for like 2 weeks and I couldn't wait that long! So I asked my most reliable hair dresser if my mom could fix it with a medium brown and she said it would work. But oh do i miss my red hair, I am never dying my hair outside a salon again!! Never trust your friends when it comes to your hair-- Kate

    I have miraculously sparkling healthy hair - it's naturally light ashen blonde with alot of white streaks and about 4 times a year I apply 1/2 and 1/2 the following to add gold tones to it and help make the white less noticeable;
Clairol Brass Busters 30D Flaxen Blond
Level 9/Base Blue-Violet
20 vol. Creme Developer
    I mix it in a ceramic bowl and apply it to the roots with a toothbrush and then after about 20 min. comb it gently down the hair slightly and leave it for another 20 min. Then I rinse it all out and use a really good deep conditioner.  Makes my hair pretty slippery and almost greasy looking for a day or two but that's okay.
    The first few days it looks a bit reddish but I use Freida Sheer Blonde Shampoo and Conditioner for the first week and the little bit of red drops out very quickly and the lovely golden tones remain.
    It is exceptionally soft and like super fine silky baby hair and you don't see any grow out because at the top of the head and the front it is mostly whitish now anyway.
    I don't use much hairspray and refuse to use mousse/gel/etc.  I rarely use a curling iron and mostly just use a blow dryer on cool with a round brush after my hair is halfway dry (which doesn't take long) and now and then I will use velcro rollers at the crown.
    I like to put on Redken Anti-Snap and wrap it in a cotton towel when I get out of the shower and then let it air dry halfway before I do anything and many days I just let it air dry and do nothing. 
    It is amazing to me why on earth people can not just work with what they have.  Sure I always wanted to look like Farrah Fawcett or Sigourney Weaver but it just ain't gonna happen!  I have tried perms before but every single time they either do not take or they go straight within two weeks so now I just let it be straight and sleek. Michelle

I was invited to a TGIF dance with a special guy.  I wanted to look my best and managed to fit in a hair appointment just an hour or so before the big date!  The hair dresser (someone fairly new to me) decided to pile my hair on top of my head in tiny ringlets.  Each ringlet was put into place with a hairpin.  I literally had a 'head full of metal' when I left the salon!  That evening, while dancing, my prince charming was astonished to see hairpins raining from my hair dropping on me, him and all over the dance floor! Stiff, loopy curls popped out all over my head.  It was a real clown show.  I was mortified!  Eve

<>For the person that says these stories are pathetic. You are not in their shoes; you have no idea what they are going through. You are pathetic for trying to put down people that you don't even know. I guess that is what it takes for you to feel good about yourself.  All these people on here are not clumping all hair dressers into one. If they don't ever want their hair cut again that is their choice.Maybe they have had enough of hairdressers doing their own thing on their hair. The way you think is exactly why I don't trust most hair dressers . What you wrote just comes across as hateful and uncaring.By the way I have paid over one hundred dollars to have my hair done in an upscale salon in Newport Beach. Worst cut I have seen in all my day. What you pay for is not what you get. There are hairstylists who would disagree with you about the razor. My new hairstylist is  great and gasped when she saw that a razor had been used on my hair,my hair is not curly either. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I don't understand why hairstylists have to write in and try to put down people. These people are only telling what their hair stylist did to them. Anonymous

Omg, these stories are pathetic. I like how all of you are grouping every hairstylist in the world as one horrible person who can't
do hair. And the girl who "had to take medication"...wow, I've never been so embarassed for someone. As for all of you and your "razoring" issues, the only hair type that cannot be cut with a razor is curly hair because curly hair needs blunt edges or it frizzes out. I go to one of the best hair schools in the world, so yes I would know. It's all about communication. You need to communicate well with people who have hair you like and about their stylist and THEN AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, the stylist herself. Spend a little money and go see a good stylist and you might actually get what you pay for. Also ask them what school they went to.
It makes quite a difference, or even go to a really good school if there is one in your area. It only takes a couple of days to learn
how to cut hair so ask for an almost graduate. Since you are a grade to them as well as a client, they will try even harder to give
you exactly what you want. After each step of the hair cut, they have to get it checked by a licensed instructor who will fix any mistakes. I just find it incredible that you people are saying, "I will never let another hairstylist ever touch my hair again!" That's like saying your first grade teacher couldn't write her abc's, so you're never going to let another teacher teach you for the rest of your life. Drama drama drama. Honestly as a stylist, most clients have no idea what "long layers" or "stacked" or "razored" really are,
hence the importance of communication.

My comments are for Mariela. True we are not forced in any way to get a haircut. In fact we are paying, usually high dollar, for this service. The public wanting decent hair is what keeps a stylist in business. It would serve a stylist well to listen to the client. The client knows their own hair. We know what works and what doesn't. I have told a
stylist my hair could not be razored. Next thing I know she's starting to run the razor through my hair. I did stop her and her answer was most stylists don't know how to use the razor or when to replace it. Well, she made a mess of my hair. It took many cuts to fix that damage. You can say we are shallow for thinking so much of our hair. Personally
I don't feel shallow. Nor do I think anyone that lost their hair for any reason would feel shallow by wearing a wig. Our hair helps us feel comfortable. I know when I cut my hair off due to the bad razor cut or my most recent highlighting disaster I didn't like people calling me baldy or buzz. Those comments are downright cruel. Please don't make
any of us dealing with a bad hair situation feel any worse by saying this is our fault. Remember the stylist is supposed to be the professional. Pam I am so tired of hairdressers not taking responsibility for their mistakes. How can we SPEAK UP if we have no clue that the hairdresser is butchering us. A lot of times the hair is butchered in the back ,we don't have eyes in the back of our head! or they turn us away from the mirror . We don't notice the butcher job until it is too late. Often we don't notice until we get home and take a good look at it in our mirror. I really do believe there are a lot of TALENTLESS hairdressers out there,it's very hard to find a good one and good hairdressers don't try to blame the client when the hair doesn't look right.Here is some advice for hairdressers,most often then not the client does know their hair better then you do and knows what will and won't work,YOU need to listen and stop doing your own thing on your clients hair,nine times out of ten that will end in disaster. I am completely furious and tired of hairdressers mutilating and taking my long hair from me after spending YEARS growing it back out. This time not only was my length taken,but my thickness too.Here's some more advice -- Don't use the razor or thinning shears on your clients hair not unless you were asked to and if you are a good hair dresser you will know what type of hair texture you NEVER use them on. For hairdressers that are so tired of their clients that they are bitter,you need to stop doing hair because your clients hair will pay dearly for your bitterness.The clients are forced into a bad situation when they cannot see what the hairdressers is doing,plus if you're good, the hair shouldn't be ruined should it?  Melissa

I'm 16 and I have had a bad hair experience. It started When my naturally dark brown hair had started growing out from the coppery streaks that had been put in a month ago. I decided that I wanted to put new streaks in to cover up the re-growth. So I bought the Garnier high-lighting kit and had my friend help me highlight my hair. It was all going well after we applied through my hair once, but I thought that I wanted it a bit lighter. So I had the highlights applied a second time and after i had it blow dried I discovered that the top layer of my hair was a mess of ORANGEY coloured hair. I felt like crying. And so after I dyed my hair back to permanent dark brown, but the colour seems to be fading out and I don't know why. So now you can see the Orange-ness in my hair coming through. AND I DO NO WANT TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL LOOKING LIKE THIS. EEeeek!  Sarah

I have been a hairstylist for five years now and if I told you my horror stories with awful customers you would really have something to cry about. First of all let me start by telling you that I too have a bad hair cut as I write to you. I too just had one of the worst color experiences of my life and have pictures to prove it. And last but not least I have alopecia which makes my hair fall out in round sections of my head leaving it completely bald. Imagine all of this and I'm a hairstylist! My biggest concern with what I have just read is that all of these women act as if they were forced into a bad situation. Call me crazy but if I feel uncomfortable with what's going on with my hair I'm going to say something before I have to run home crying. This just shows how shallow our society can be. Do we think that hair defines who we are? Let me tell all of you that if hair is what defines you or makes you a better person you have to take a good look in the mirror and reevaluate your life. Or if you are so disgusted with our profession you should learn how to cut hair, color and perm. That way you won't be subjected to our "evil" talentless hands. You may think I am bitter about the subject but how may people can just walk off the street into your work place and tell you how to do your job. It is not as easy as you think.  I want to give some advice to those of you who suffer from any bad services in a beauty salon. We can only continue to ruin your hair if you don't SPEAK UP!  Mariela

I was going to cosmotology school and working 2 jobs at the same time. I  had bleach blond hair, by touching the roots up every 2 weeks. I used a peroxide bleach with no ammonia since my hair was already medium golden -ash blond naturally. Well it came to be where I had to ride a bicycle 10 miles a day as well because my car broke down and I just went through a domestic violence divorce ( bad guy)...I was sooooo tired from working and school and biking it,
I hardly had time to do laundry across the street , and fit in time for sleep. ( I had to type up a schedule of my weekly activities) I just wanted to dye my hair because the roots were showing pretty bad, and thats not kool when u r in cosmo school ..... I fell asleep with the hair dye on for 4 1/2 hours.....thank god there was no ammonia in it. I would have probably been bald. I still had hair, but it was damaged and now it's growing out. My advice, if you're too busy to even get sleep , do not attempt to dye your own hair. HEE HEE. From a Reader

If this sounds like something anyone has gone through, please write to this site and give me advice.I had nice long hair.I decided to go to a salon and get a LITTLE BIT of a style done to my hair.I took pictures out of magazines of the hair style I wanted,I knew the style would work because I used to have it cut that way.I went to someone that I know and people I know go to him and highly recommended him to me.I have fine straight hair,but a lot of it. We talked about my hair type and he said that he cuts my type of hair all the time.The haircut I wanted was very basic,you know that style that is a couple inches below your shoulders with layers that start at your chin.Well, that is not at all what he gave me.My layers started too high ,like up to my ears,he left the back too long for the beginning short layers, making the bottom of my hair look thin,but to top it all off he used a razor on my hair,like half way up my layers,So all my hair looks thin.I NEVER allow anyone to use a razor on my hair,that is a HUGE NO NO on fine hair.The hair cut I wanted did not involve a razor at all and he did not have my permission to use it.I couldn't see what he was doing,So I had no idea of what he did.It's been seven months since this happened.I have worn my hair up this whole time because it cannot be worn down at all.The proportion of it is all wrong and my hair looks like a frayed rope, thin and stringy.When this first happened I tried curling it,but for some reason it would not even curl with a curling iron.I do not trust hairdressers anymore,they always ruin my hair,especially when it is long.I have no idea what to do with my hair.It has grown some,but the way it is growing out looks HORRIBLE.
I need to have it cut into a better proporton and try to get some of this razored part off. I already know that one trim will not even come close to getting rid of the razored part.I don't even call this a bad cut; a bad cut would have grown out by now,he mutilated my hair.I'm sure he can sleep good at night,but I haven't the entire seven months.I cannot even describe how angry I am . I have been so depressed over this that I had to take medication for depression and I have to take sleeping pills in order to sleep.What he did to my hair is unforgivable.Not only do I have to suffer because of this,but my husband does too.
I only go out of the house if I have to,otherwise I stay inside most of the time.He ruined my hair and my self esteem all at once.I'm not worried about having long hair anymore,all I want is something that will look at least cute and normal.Once I get my hair to look decent I am NEVER going to let a hairdresser touch it. They need to realize we are walking billboards of their work and when people ask, I do tell them who did this to my hair.  Missy
I have coarse curly hair past my shoulders. For many years, I have been trying to grow it long - so I only take a tiny bit off the ends. My hair is naturally a chestnut color, but because I like it dark, I've been coloring it the darkest brown--a moisturizing type color that goes over my natural color. Because my hair dresser colored my ends each time I went in for a color, it started to look black. Some people thought it was striking (I have very pale skin), but others found it "goth" looking. When my roots started growing in this time, instead of coloring over them with the dark color, I decided I wanted my natural color to grow in but I didn't want to wait years for it to grow in. Boy, now I regret it. My hair dresser decided against taking all the color out of my hair and decided to go with highlights the color of my natural hair. Well, the first day, it seemed okay. I also got some layers in my hair. Now, three days later, my hair has turned about six different shades ranging from white-blonde to orange to brassy to brown. Ugh!! Not only that - but the bleach TOTALLY destroyed my beloved healthy hair. I have worked years and years, taking vitamins and putting oils on my hair to keep it strong and healthy (which isn't always easy with curly hair), now it's all destroyed in just a few hours. I'm so sick, I could cry. Now I have a big frizzy, dryed-out mess. The only comfort is that I can put lots of conditioning things in it - treatments, and oils, but it's so much work! I just want my old hair back.  Lila

I wanted to cry as I read those awful stories...I have been there!!  But.....I got some good tips here for everyone and I hope they help.
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.

If your hair is brassy after a while purchase Clairol Shimmer Lights blue shampoo.  Leave up to five minutes for it to soak in if you need to.  The longer you leave it on, the cooler it gets.  If it gets too blue or greyish looking, purchase   Shimmer Lights Gold Shampoo.  Use alone, or mix with the blue in equal or unequal parts and experiment until you get the color you want or use toners.
 
Hairbreaking.  
1.  If your hair is long enough, every night before you go to sleep, put it up in a ponytail with a cloth hairtie, or do a braid or do two pigtails.  Dont make it tight, it should be very comfortable. Do this religiously!!!
2.    Use a satin pillow case
3.    Go as long as possible without using shampoo.  Use super hot water to wash your hair or only wash the bangs or the top of your scalp.  This was so weird at first but I found out I could actually do this and my hair looked good!!!  You will probably not go as long in the warm weather. 
4.    Put hair in ponytail and just wash top of scalp in sink.
5.    Get a blow dryer that has a NO HEAT setting (I mean zero heat) and use that exclusively.  Yes it takes longer but it is worth it!!!! You can get that blow dry look.  After your healthy hair grows in, every once in awhile when you are in a rush you can use heat.
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. 
7.    Colored hair can be very stretchy when wet.  If you go to get a haircut, insist the hairdresser cut it dry or wash it but let it dry almost completely.  Why?  Because she will tug on it and pull on it as she cuts it and it will seem even but as it dries, it will contract and look shorter and crooked.  

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
I have never written in to any magazine, web site, newspaper with a review, opinion, or question. Now I want to post a billboard advertisement warning women with long hair to watch out. Hair stylists do not like long hair. They will try to cut your hair short no matter what you tell them. I do not know why. When I go in a salon for a trim I always watch them cut my hair. I have had to stop several stylists after asking 'show me what you are cutting'. They are always about to cut six inches or more when I've asked for one or two inches. After I stop them they always insist they should cut off more. Don't be afraid to walk out; you will never regret it but you will more often regret that you didn't.  Anonymous

After 2 years of talking about getting a spiral perm, I finally broke down and did it. From the moment I walked into the salon the hairdresser argued with me, saying my hair was dyed when it was not. She told me the best perm for me would be a spiral perm at 80 dollars. I was happy at the price considering alot of smaller less known places quoted me over 100 dollars because of my excessively long hair. I told her I wanted big curls, not small kinky ones..she told me blue rods would be best..i figured she was the stylist and she knew best. I sat down in the chair, and read the latest Cosmo while she did her magic. She tugged and tattered my hair until my scalp was sore and then applied the lotion, which promptly ran down my face and into my ears. She then walked away and begain to ignore me, which i was fine with as I just wanted to read anyway. She returned about 30 mins later and hurried me to the washing station where she washed the solution from my hair. She spent a good 10 mins then talking me into buying their shampoo brand because it would put the moisture back in. I said I already used Paul Mitchell shampoo and their brand conditioner but she wouldn't let it go. Finally she took the rods out, and I got to see my hair....I thought at first the curls were too small..but I shrugged it off, paid and left. I went shopping for a jacket afterwards and all through the store people were staring at me. I thought it was because my hair looked that good! noooopee! I got to a mirror and noticed my hair was up to the ceiling, poodlefied and frizzy. Not to mention my naturally red hair was now a light strawberry blonde.  I nearly broke down in tears, but I couldn't help but laugh instead. I'm sure that's what stopped me from crying. I decided since I walked around so long like that, I might as well grab some haircare products to try and tame it while I was there.  I applied and applied and applied..my hair finally looked decent..but I awoke to the same poodle mess the next morning. NEVER ever again will I get a perm. I should have just been happy with the moderately wavy locks I had.  From a Reader

I have been in the same situation that Sally is in.My suggestion is don't torture yourself by looking at your old lock of hair.(I also did that.) Give the lock to someone in your family or something.Now for recovering your bleached hair.Get conditioning treatments at a salon or try hot oil treatments,you can get those in the beauty supply store or maybe even the market .Keep trimming your hair,if you keep it in a layered style that will help remove the bleached hair faster.I know that you said you do not want to put color on your hair ever again,but as your hair grows out the contrast will be to much.I would suggest using a demi semi permanent color on the bleached part so that it will at least blend with your natural color.Don't put the color on your new growth.I would get allot of trims before putting any color though.Be careful with the base color to.Try gold or red base.No green, blue, violet or ash base.Don't worry about your natural color looking black.It will look lighter as it grows out.I doubt if your natural color has changed.It just looks dark compared to the lighter color.Hair grows about half an inch a month.Most of the bleached part should be off in about ten months if you keep trimming.The demi semi permanent colors are not as harsh on hair as permanent color.They do fade,but so does permanent color.  Missy
 
Since I was a child ( I am now 43 ) I have always had brown straight waist length hair which everyone went mad over & always told me not to touch or spoil with hair dye, perm etc. Oh how I wish I'd listened! Two years ago after a fit of depression I hacked off my waist length hair & cut it into a short layered style ( I'm good at cutting my own hair! :-) Anyhow, I looked good & if I'd left it at that I woulda been o.k, but I decided to be a platinum blonde...I bought the kit but something went drastically wrong resulting in most of my hair being washed down the plug hole breaking off in the mid back of my head to within a centimeter in some areas of my scalp! I also went blonde alright, big brassy blonde...anyhow I managed a style where I could comb back the front sections of hair to cover the broken area & I wore it like this for around a year...not content with one disaster I decided to dye it again & this time it turned out a ginger shade! I went to get some advice from the hairdressers & they told me to use an ash toner which I did & it went to areasonable, bluish tinted blonde. Over time the blue tint disappeared & the end result was a rather good pale blonde...however over the next six months my roots have grown back & I have noticed instead of the brown hair I use to have it is now black for whatever reason! Anyhow, even after all these mistakes, not to be outdone I decided to get a decent job done at a proffessional salon instead of relying on my lack of expertise at home...how wrong can you possibly be??? The result is the 2-3 inch of roots that I wanted bleached in some places are white & I mean just like the snow! I have patchy gingery places & the blonde where there is any is a kinda greyish to it, it is also slightly frizzed in places which will be a nightmare when I have to wash it...I sit at home & wonder why...especially as I was beginning to think that my dark hair really wasn't so bad at all...I'm finished with the bleach & my hair looks like a mop...I recall days not so long ago that I had waist length chestnut hair & I could weep...when I cut it off that time I kept a hank of it just to remind me of how my hair looked..sometimes I get it out & feel it & wonder at it's natural beauty & I can't in a million years wonder how I did what I've done to the hair that everybody wanted as their own..I will never have it again, the chemical process has even changed it's natural colour from chestnut brown to black...I will never dye my hair again...it is even beyond tears...Sally, England.

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.
***********
I think I may have the answer for Betsi.Stripping the hair is when color is being removed.Sounds like the hairdresser used a dull razor on your hair.Using a razor is called texturizing.If your hair was dry and not wet then that would probably hurt.Also texturizing thins the hair out.Any technique done on your hair should never hurt. Melissa

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
I love your site.  I want to tell you of my experiences.  In early 2003, I started growing my hair out from a bad razor cut.  I have thick, course hair the has to be shaped right in order to grow it out.   I just would have the very ends trimmed to blend with the sides as they grew out.  Earlier this year I went to a "stylist" for a trim.  I told her to point cut the layers and add some texture with the texturizing shears.  I told her my hair could not be razored.  Next thing I know she is taking her razor to my hair.  She tells me most hairstylist don't use a sharp enough razor that is why my ends were frayed looking before.  I was like I know my hair.  Why I didn't just jump up and run I don't know.  Well it took a few hair cuts to get rid of the wirey look to my hair.   I found a stylist that gave me a cute cut and I though why not add some hightlights to my brown hair.  Caramel was the color I was looking for.  I came in a week after this cut for my appointment.  She was doing someone else at the time.  This person had a bad color job she needed fixed.  Well I wanted highlights using color.  I thought she would do this.  I see her brushing on a white paste.  I thought this has to be bleach.  She brushed this on my hair using foils and then put me under a dryer for like 40 minutes.  My hair came out brassy blonde on top and dark everywhere else.  It also felt like straw and my scalp hurt.  It made me sick to look at it. I didn't want this person touching me again.  I have been through so many "stylists" within the last five months trying to fix this.  Needless to say, I'm at the same place I was two years ago after the first nasty razor cut.  I can not sleep or eat.  My husband is very supportive and has been a doll.  I just want my hair back.  I take hair vitamins and I pray a lot.  Why does hair consume us like this?<>  Thanks for letting me vent.  Pam

I am sitting here with my hair in a bun because,YES! I had ANOTHER bad haircut that makes me want to cry . I have had stylists do really bad things to my hair, not just ridiculous cuts, but horrible color also. I have a few tips and suggestions. FIRST TIP - If you have already put a darker color over your hair that has either been lightened or bleached, and it came out a gross color, use Prell shampoo or Dawn dish detergent on it until it fades. MAKE SURE you use a really good conditioner everytime you use the Prell or dish detergent. TIP- use Infusium leave-in conditioner also. DO NOT put another color over your hair if you have turned it green or grey. You may make it worse! TIP-go to a beauty supply store instead of buying haircolor in a box at the market. The colors at the beauty supply store are labeled, so you will know what base colors are in them. If you have bleached hair, do not use these base colors: green, ash,  or violet. It is very hard to get bleached hair back to a natural darker color. SUGGESTION - just keep having your hair trimmed after you have colored it darker, getting little layers cut in will help to remove the bleached part faster.

When I was in my mid 20's, I had hair that went to my waist. I lightened it a very light blonde .I got so many compliments on it, sometimes people would say that it wasn't real because it was so pretty and long.  Well,one day I decided to get my hair trimmed and my hair wound up being three inches all over my head!!!!!! The boyfriend that I was going out with at the time told me that he was going back with his ex-girlfriend. Did I cry over him? NO! Did I cry over my hair? Yes! I know this is hard to really grasp, but ladies, we are not our hair and it will grow back. People who love us and are our friends will not care what our hair looks like.This is something I have to remind myself of a lot right now, because it is so hard to deal with a bad haircut. I am 35 now, and I will never get use to having bad haircuts.

I am thinking about becoming a hairdresser, just to help save at least some women from going through a hair nightmare SUGGESTION -If you are going to go get your hair highlighted, don't let them put you under a dryer. Before ever letting them touch your hair, ask how they do the highlights. If they say they are going to put you under the dryer, LEAVE! You are not obligated to stay and have your hair fall out. Don't let them use that cap where they pull the hair through.  Strategically placed highlights with foils is much better. Highlights should not turn to white, if they do, they're over-processed. Highlights can be done with color and not bleach, if you have not colored your hair. I hope I have just stopped someone from getting their hair ruined or helped with a color problem. Oh,a razor cut should only be done on wet hair, not dry, and having your hair colored and then razored right after, should never be done! It could damage your hair.   Missy
 
<>Ok, i decided 2 go 4 a new look and i went to a salon around where i live. I went inside the salon and i spoke wit the guy (he was gay) and i told him how i wanted my hair.....let me just tell you that i have been crying for the last three days. Well since he didnt agree with me on any of the colors that i choose i said what do u recommend he says maroon will look nice. I said ok, I also told him that i wanted 2 cut my hair straight up to my neck he says ok. Ok so he starts cutting off my hair when i saw all that hair on the floor i wanted to cry i held back the tears. I thought that it will look better when evrything is done........i was WRONG!!!  they washed my hair and put me under the dryer i stood under there for about an hour and i taught wow my hair dried quick,my mind starts to race and i start to think omg he cut it 2 short i was right he did cut it 2 short. Then he blew my hair straight my head felt so light i wanted to cry...and the color didnt turn out maroon u could say its black. After hes done he takes out a pair of scissors and does a style on my hair it was to late to say anything...I was so mad!! i told him 2 cut it straight. So i went in there with golden hair up to my shoulders and came out with short black hair. When i got home my mom said omg he didnt cut it straight..she then says i dont like it!!!...now i dont want to come out of my house im embarrased and i have been crying my behind off for the last three days. Nini

I am 27 years  old and have been dyeing my hair for over 10 years my first bad hair experience happened a couple of years ago when I decided to dye the underneath of my hair fusia pink ( I know it sounds kind of strange) but none the less went to a new hairdresser because mine at the time did not carry those products.  my hair was blonde on top and burgundy underneath the hairdresser told me she could give me my desired look but did not explain the process in which to get it, by the way my hair was pretty dry underneath she said it was fine and it would take well so I'm not sure what she used but she totally stripped it (it was white) and then put the stain on (pink) it looked great until the next day I washed and dried my hair and chunks were coming out and eventually about a month later random parts of the back of my head were so many different lengths it looked disgusting I cried for weeks.  I was very good to my hair after that and took very good care of it only had my roots touched up twice that year which was hard as I have brown hair naturally. This story gets worse.......,after all the time I spent worrying and babying my hair I vowed only to go to my original hairdressing as I trust her, well I moved about 3 hours away and was too difficult to get to see her so I did some research on salons in my area and thought I found a good one they were an aveeda salon(supposed to be good right) WRONG I guess she used a high volume bleach or something but my hair is a very light brown it was too strong for my hair and now the top of my hair is badly damaged I am scared to do anything to it including brushing it, it also might have had something to do with the water in the area I'm not sure but my hair is like the bottom of a broom I was actually considering shaving it and wearing a wig haha but I don't think it's gone to that point yet. my suggestion is to all stick with what you know and if you like the hairdresser you have DON'T CHANGE you could be heading for a world of trouble even though it's only hair problems like these take a very long time to fix.  Cat

My friend has been cutting my hair for almost five years. I have always has long hair to the middle of my back. She would just me a trim and highlights. She is studying to become a hairdresser so she loves the practice. I went to her house one day for a trim with two of my firends and they both got their hair done then it was my turn. While she was cutting we started talking about short hair and they al agreed i would look great with short hair but i did not care. Well anyway we were talking and all of sudden i looked down and saw alot of hair on the ground including my ponytail. i flipped out and left. the next day i went to a salon and asked if they could fix this disaster and give me highlights. i thought everything was going to be ok. The lady started looking at my hair and said there was not much that she could do to save the length. So i dealt with that and i figured it would be a cute haircut that my hair would sit in the middle of my ear. The lady said she would have to give me bangs. Bangs i said. I hate bangs and i think i look horrrible with them. But whatever she cut them and i watched as more of my hair was falling on the ground. So i left went home and was soo upset becasue my haircut made me look like an old lady which i am certaintly not. I could not live with this. I went to a cheap salon thinking i had alrerady spent alot of money on my hair and what else could go wrong. I walked in and everyone just looked at me. I sat down with a nice young girl and she said this was not the hairstyle for me. She said there was not much for her to work with. I sadi i just want to look like i'm in college. She asked if i wanted to watch her cut my hair and i said NO. I had seen enough. She turned the chair around and started to cut then the clipper went on and i heard that and felt it. About a half hour later she turned me around and to my belief i had about a inch and half of hair left on my head. It was a very short pixie cut. She said this was really all she could do. I understood. I went from hair down to the middle of my back to a pixie cut.At least those bangs are gone. i have gotten so many compliments on this short hairstyle.I still am not a huge fan of it but what can i do???

I've always wanted my hair angled. Too bad i never knew the difference between angled and layered. I asked the lady for short layers hugging my face. What i meant to say was angles. I thought she was doing layers all around,and angles in the front, but what she really did was A MULLET! She made MY hair look like a boy-mushroom cut!! All the layers were ABOVE my ears,and i had VERY thin pieces of long hair. ALWAYS REMEMBER THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANGLES AND LAYERS!!! Don't make the same mistake i did!! Now all i can do is wait and pray that it grows back pretty within two months!! Which is highly unlikly. Kristen

 I am sitting here in tears of rage as I type this.  This morning I had long layered naturally curly hair that I could wear down scrunched or slicked back and pulled up high in a pony tail with beautiful ringlets framing my face.  My hair was beautiful and I just wanted the dead ends trimmed off of each layer.  I even showed the hairdresser an inch with my fingers. This witch butchered my head!  I wasn't facing a mirror and I didn't realize what was happening until it was too late!  She cut ALL of my long hair off and evened it out to the shortest layer which was just below my ears.  I have a short mushroom cut, or as they call it blunt cut.   I couldn't speak, I just paid and left, and have been crying ever since and in a state of shock and I keep looking in the mirror and feeling where my hair use to be and making a pathetic attempt to stretch out what I have left.  I thought when she was cutting my hair, she was just trimming the shortest layer, I didn't realize she was going beyond that layer to the underneath layers and cutting them right off!  I had long beautiful layered naturally curly hair this morning and now I am going to bed with a short mushroom head.  It took a couple years to grow my hair and I am never getting it cut again!  What part of just trim the dead ends off didn't the hairdresser understand?  Julie
 
I am a guy but I still dye my hair from time to time.  About a year ago, I decided to bleach my hair.  Instead of leaving it in my hair for the usual 20-30 mins or whatever, I must have carelessly left it in for like an hour or so.  Well, my hair ended up looking like a bit yellow-white fuzzball.  I was due to stay in America for awhile and went off with peroxide blonde hair (very dry and brittle).  Anyhow, while I was there  I decided to try to dye my hair even though my hair was bleached.  I went for a brownish colour.  It didn't come out brown, it came out PURPLE!  Luckilly for me, being a guy, I knew my hair would grow out.  Eventually, the sun restored my colour to blonde - silly little me didn't learn from my first mistake.  I still tried to dye my hair again with still having bleach in my hair - greyish purple really wasn't my colour.  Ah well, my hair is a decent enough colour now.   It's kinda bleach blonde, a bit dull but I will just bleach it (for a shorter period) to fix that.  James
 
I worked in a Salon for a year, I was coming up to my apprenticeship so they were teaching me a lot before I actually got the apprenticeship - although the lady who owned the Salon decided 2 weeks before I started, to tell me she couldn't afford to start the apprenticeship! SO I left thinking it was just a huge waste of time, to find out that she had started the apprenticeship HERSELF. This was a 45 year old dragon who had never been a hairdresser before. I was pleased to find out it all went terribly wrong for her because she ended up burning a lot of scalps, burning OFF eyebrows and all of these other gross things! SO I had my last laugh. ANYWAY....knowing about hairdressing quite a bit, I do a lot of my own treatments, colours and cuts, also for friends and family. But I found a picture of Britney Spears [and] the hair looked really good. It was very dark and light brown & blonde foils all throughout the hair, I have naturally light blonde hair and I needed a change, so I thought this would be perfect! I had tried to get in with my preferred hairdresser who is a good friend of mine, but she was totally booked up, I was too impatient and went to this other salon! I made a huge mistake..The ditz of a girl was known for being a bit of a B*tch, and she spent the whole time gossipping and being rude about a lot of people I knew (Small town). She looked at the picture I gave her and decided that what she was going to do would turn out the same but would be better. I wasn't in front of the mirror like most of these stories, she turned me around. She started by putting peroxide through the top ¼ of my hair - I thought this was strange. Then she proceeded to do ¾ of the back of my hair, I didn't know WHAT colour this was because she had me HIDDEN!  Anyway this chick did all the colours and then got the apprentice to wash it out and cut it, I knew the apprentice, she is a really nice girl who owns her own business now. As she was washing it out, she whispered to me, "Ummm...this isn't exactly how you wanted it, I don't think?" and I said "Oh ok...as long as it isn't horrendous!" To which she was silent.When she put me infront of the mirror I almost balled my eyes out, ¾ of my head was JET BLACK and the other ¼ (Top of my head) was bright blonde! She blow dried it and cut it while I kept my tears back, I was charged over $150 and when I got home my boyfriend just burst out with laughter which made ME feel worse, so I cried for about 2 days about it KNOWING that stripping my hair would be terrible, and me being a dark colour all over is bad anyway because of my light skin. To start with....i ASKED for foils, she made me look like a top deck chocolate bar, and decided to do her "own" thing rather than listen to what the customer wanted - that's the first thing I learnt "The customer is always right!" I ended up going to my sister's friend, she rinsed my whole head in a peroxide rinse, and then coloured my head a dark brown, and put blonde foils all throughout my hair and charged me $40!!!!!!! It wasn't what I wanted because my hair was so dark, but if we had reversed the process and done blonde with the brown foils it would have been what I wanted - this would have ruined my hair though. Like another story here - if I put my hair in a pony tail the black and white contrast was terrible because the black was above my ears, it just looked STUPID!!!!!!!!!! Never trust a "Ditz" of a hairdresser!  Adelle

 
Back in college I decided I wanted to be a blonde (I'm naturally light brown with light gold). So I went for highlights 
and I wanted 2 shades lighter-turned out red and with a DARKER tint than my natural color-- Decided never to color my 
hair again. One year later highlights with instructions to hairdresser-NO RED please & NO bleach Loved it-golden blonde! Kept highlighting my hair for 4 yrs until I was totally blonde. Decided that I wanted healthy thick hair again so I dyed my hair permanently ash brown-no problem turned out great. My hair grew out for two years-extremely thick and shiny! Loved it-but got bored had layers and highlights done-highlights turned out platinum and layers didn't lay right. Decided no more change so I let my layers grow. Got bored again-highlighted my finally grown out layered hair-loved it. Highlighted again by new hairdresser but this time I forgot to tell her NO Bleach! My hair lightens enough to suit me with color only. Well, disaster struck she was rinsing me and she had a look of horror. She used too much bleach or whatever and I had PLATINUM highlights with broken frizzy hair with no shine. I'm sure my hair broke off in the sink! My hair is so much thinner!! Anyway I was devastated because I loved my hair before-shiny, thick, healthy and a golden blonde tint. Now, I looked like a skunk! Decided to get toner but it washed out in a week so I went to another hair dresser to dye my hair closer to my natural with a Semi-BIG MISTAKE-she used golden brown but my hair turned out to be a very unnatural looking dark red, plum-almost black!! I almost died! I went back to her but she said my hair was too damaged for bleach or stripper so I
have gone thru dark red-plum, copper and now orange tinted dark brown hair. I'm almost too embarrassed to go anywhere but she says I'll be back to where I started from but I'm not so sure-it's been 7 weeks! MORAL OF THE STORY-DON'T MESS WITH YOUR HAIR COLOR  UNLESS YOU REALLY, REALLY HATE IT. I'M A NATURAL LIGHT BROWN FROM NOW ON...AFTER THIS ORANGE GROWS OUT OR I DYE
IT ONCE MORE.....Billie
I went to a supposely good hairdresser and what she has done to my hair and scalp is just one of the worse experiences in my life. It has been 4 days now and my scalp is still burning and hot.  Here is my story:  I have long black hair to waist and so healthy ( should I say had? ) I went to get some simple highlights I went in at 4pm my appt time.  The Hairdresser began foiling my hair and adding bleach and color all at the sametime.  Just the top portion of my head Thank God for that!  I have plenty of hair so the top was a lot of hair.  Anyways when she finished foiling me she put me under a dryer for 2 hours.  It was a nightmare.  My hair was dripping this whole time all over.  My blouse got damaged my face my skin.  Her co-worker checked my hair once and made a uummmm sound and set the dryer again meantime my hair dresser was doing another girls hair the whole time as if to get 2 girls done at the sametime.  Anyways after 2 hours, she takes me to the back and sits me down to wash the top of my head off, here is where the nightmare began.  As she was removing the foils and washing it, her EYES OPENED SO WIDE that I knew something was wrong.  She kept saying " I don't understand"  "Oh My God"  I freaked out I said what??  What??  She said oh nothing I just don't know what happened.  I said what tell me what????  She then said this sink is clogging up oh my god!!!  I was almost in tears because my hair is very coarse and I take excellent care of it.  I said what is happening?  I stood up dripping wet and OMG Chunks of hair was in the sink and she had been throwing it in the garbage along with the foil.  I mean everything she bleached FELL OFF.  It looked like a mop in the sink with my strands in a yellow color.  It was just horrible.  She then called the other hair dresser and she said I hope you are BALD!  I said what????  I mean How do people like this have licences????  I then gathered myself and I told my hairdresser ok let's work on a solution and not focus on the problem.  How I kept my cool Only God knows.   She then towel dried the little bit that was left, remember I lost everything she bleached and long strands of hair to my waist.  Then she put some red dye to cover up the blonde or yellow small strips that were left.  My hair was elastic and thinner than a thread.  Elastic and stretchy is how I can describe it.  Then to my surprise she puts a piece of foil again over it and sticks me under a dryer AGAIN while she finishes the other girl who was having her intire head with highlights.  She never put her under any dryer.  She blow dried the girls hair straight and I was burning under a dryer this whole time again.  When she finished the other girl she came to me and took me to the back and washed my hair.  It came out horrible I basically had beautiful long hair in the back and all burnt and elastic string hay hair at my scalp, and still falling to the touch.  She did not want to hardly even come it, because it was that bad.  She said I am not charging you , well hello no kidding!!!  Then she said that she would buy me mayor condition treatments for life until my hair was fixed.  I mean the less than an inch hair at my scalp is dead.  The next day I went back as she said to.  She bought me 3 different products to use, she wrote down the instructions on a card in how to do it and how long to leave it and OMG again she made a huge mistake, I followed her instructions, then after I was done, I read the bottle and it said to wash after 8 minutes and she told me on the card 30 minutes.  Then on the other one she said I could leave it in and again she was wrong the bottle said to wash it out.  What is this lady trying to do to me???  I fried like a pig under this dryer.  I am not going to sue her because too many people sue and I don't want to be one of those people.  My brother is getting married this next weekend and I am in the wedding with my husband and I just don't know what to do.  She said she did stars hair, can you believe this????  My scalp is killing me.  If she damaged my scalp this is what I am afraid of because then my hair will never grow there.  I haven't been to work since this incident, it is an emotional thing for me to have to go through this horrible experience.  I don't want her losing her license thats if she has one.  I was highly recommended to her and the girls that walked out of there did look beautiful except for me. :( I was there from 4pm till 9:30pm.  She is grateful that I am not suing her and she seemed somewhat sincere.  She said anyone else would be screaming at her and suing her.  I am just not type of a person.  I am hurting mentally and physically any ideas of  what I can do for the wedding?  The Bride wants the hair down and no up doos.  So, I am really stuck here.  I am keeping this from the bride for now she wants all the girls going to this other place and I just cant do it.  I am having another hair dresser who is a friend of mines come to my home and give me some tips in the products this other hair dresser bought me.  I guess she will be buying me products for a longggg time!   Thanks for listening.  By the way, hope this helps someone.  I should of stood up from the dryer and demaded she takes the products off.  I didn't I thought she knew what she was doing.  Another thing this was in a very Tourist area, so no matter how nice the area is, this doesn't mean a thing!
Florida

My hair is a state right now and I really can't explain how awful it looks. I relaxed, I dyed, I flat- ironed, I hot-curled, I brushed,I combed and I RUINED MY HAIR! I already had some hair loss after having my first baby two months ago but now my fringe is between 1.5 inches-0 inches in places. I cried and cried but the only person the blame can fall upon is myself. I look like I've been in a terrible gas explosion. This website has really made me feel a lot better today. Thanks.  Sarah

My hair was below my shoulders, thin and straight.  I had been wanting to try something different so I bought the hair magazines and started browsing.  Sure enough I find quite a few short styles that I like the look of.  Now I am a realistic person and recognize that I will not walk out of the salon looking like the picture.  For this exact reason I have a policy about changing my hair style.  I go to the salon I show the hairdresser the pictures that I like and ask... Which one will work with my face shape and hair type?  Everything I have read says that a qualified hair dresser will be able to answer this question and then tinker with the cut to make it work with your hair.  Well when I got my hair cut today I did just that.  The stylist advised against one cut and thought that the cut we chose would suit me well.  Now keep in mind I liked the cut in the magazine.  So she cut... and as I am sure that you have guessed by now, I hate it.  The cut should flip out a little bit on the sides.  It seems like she left the top layer of my hair slightly longer with this theory that it would flip out.  Well as we dried it I could see that something was wrong.  One side of my hair is great the other side looks like I have a mushroom growing out of it.  There is this heavy part with no support underneath it... there is a void in my hair.  She played with it a little and could not get it to work.  It seemed that no matter how I tried to calmly explain what I didn't like, she just didn't get it.  At one point she said "I cut it like the picture, I can't predict how your hair is going to lay."  HELLO.. there is a problem on the left side of my head.  How can one side look great and the other side look like a mushroom!  When I got home my husband couldn't get the first word out of his mouth before I said, "I hate it."  Poor guy all night he would come into the bathroom, where I was trying to make "it" work, and say "I like it. you look good."  Anyway, I can't sleep, too busy crying over my horrible hair.  This website has atleast made me laugh a little bit.  I guess we all have to realize that change is probably best when it is not drastic and that it is just hair.  Besides I figured out a certain way to pin it back, I can do that for six weeks or so until I am brave enough to try a new hair salon.  Jennifer.

Talk about a disaster. My stylist/colorist moved away so I had to find a new one. A salon near by ran an ad bragging of their new stylist who was a graduate of the Aveda Institute. So I thought I would give her a try. She did a pretty good job cutting my hair but the color, God help her. She destroyed my hair and my self-esteem all at once. I have long brown hair and just wanted it to look long layered and sexy. I previously had carmel and blonde hightlights throughout my hair which had grown out considerably. I wanted to get away from the carmel and the blondes. I wanted my brown hair to be sexy with different shades of brown in it. I wanted to be the alluring brunette. I thought I was being clear but obviously this girl just did what she wanted to do. My hair is orange on top. I mean ORANGE!!! Even when I colored my own hair years ago I never turned it orange! And she put in blonde highlights up top around my face that she did not tell me she was thinking about and I specifically told her I wanted only warm brown colors and no blondes. The lighting was terrible in that salon so it wasn't until I got home did I see how awful the color really was. Now I don't know what to do.  Dana

 Yesterday i went to the salon and i asked the manager if he could bleach my hair and then dye it blonde. at this time my hair was a bright  red aburn color. he said he could; i informed him that i just finished dying my hair this auburn color last week. i let him dye my hair. it came out to be very white on the roots and a darker whiter blondeish orange on the ends it was terrible. i looked like a freak. the next day i went back to him and i asked him if it was possible to re dye my hair so soon . he said yes and asked me what color i wanted i told him brown. anythimg was better than the way it was. so he dyed my hair. the stuff was on my head for about 15 minutes and he took it off because i told him it was burning. so he washed it off thoroughly. when the water hit a certain part of my scalp it really hurt. it felt like it was burning so he made the water colder. after he finished washing it he combed it and then i went home. and hour later i ran my hands through my hair and noticed something hard it was dried blood. my scalp was bleeding from certain spots and he never said anything to me. i'm scared to ever get my hair dyed again. A Reader


Two days ago, I went to a high-end salon to have my hair colored. I have gone back and forth from being a brunette to being blond for years now, and I have never had any problems until now. I chose a salon that is well known, but I had never been there before. I went in with chocolate glossy locks and I came out 5 1/2 hours later with orange/yellow hair and $220 bucks down the drain. The colorist asked me if I was sure that I wanted to go blonde and I told her that I had done it before, and she said that she needed to consult one of the other hairstylists that had been there for 20 yrs. Together, they mixed my color and to my surprise the other stylist left us there. So, when we took off the color, my hair was bright orange on the top and brown in the middle and on the ends. I asked if there was anyway that we could fix it and she said that she would have to process it again. After the second process, my entire head was orange --which the colorist was now trying to pull off as "gold." Next, she tried a toner, and the orange turned a more pumpkin/yellow color---still very bad. Then, she decided to do highlights. Well, the outcome is pumpkin colored hair w/ yellow to bright blonde highlights. I am very upset and I can't stop thinking about it. Of course the salon is closed today and I have to wait until tomorrow to even speak to anyone. Wish me luck!!  Jill
I wanted to get my hair cut because I was going out of town to visit my dad on his Birthday. I called a friend and asked if he knew a good hairstylist and he said yes. Well we went and I showed her a picture of how I wanted my hair cut. I have naturally curly hair and it was down to my waist. Well she turned me away from the mirror and started cutting and using the razor I guess to make it look thinner. When she was done my hair looked NOTHING like the picture I showed her. I asked her to cut off 2 inches and she cut it up to my ears. I had thick brown curly hair and now I barely have any hair. This was last year in May and since then I wear my hair up in a bun. It's grown back a little bit, but how long it will take to grow my hair back I don't know. But I do know I will NEVER EVER go back to that lady again. Rocio

It seems as soon as I grow my hair out to get the cut I want, the stylist gives me exactly what I DON"T want and I end up paying $50-$60 for it! Today I went with 12 pictures of the same girl. I said I want a very CLEAN line on the bottom... just like the picture, reminded him several times and even put the pics up so he could see. He said don't worry, relax, it's gonna look better than the picture. Well, Instead of the layered cut in the picture, now I have a short mushroom bob... hideous and the line is sooooo messed up. He didn't at all cut it straight and clean. I mean what else can I do to communicate than what I did!? I am just so angry that I pay so much money to be miserable every time. And why don't they listen to what I say and if they cannot do what is in the picture, just tell me so I don't want to kill when I leave. Even worse, I paid, and even gave a $10 tip because he was nice and I felt bad. Although I did make a big stink and told him it was not even what I wanted and does not look like the pictures. I have found that the cheap salons do a better job of listening and giving what you request. I once went to a $3.99 haircut place to fix the $60 one I just got and it looked way better. I'm so angry that I have to wait another 2-3 months for this lame look to grow out and I shouldn't have paid.... don't be a sucker, if it's not what you wanted and it's clear to both of you, don't pay. You'll never go back anyway.  A Reader
 
i was on holiday in france and as i could speak french i thought would go to the hairdressers to have my hair styled.i told the hairdresser i wanted red highlights in my hair and 2 inches off. The hairdresser cut my hair up to my ears and dyed it electric pink!!!! i was devastated as i had lovely long blond hair before and i had to go to the opening of a posh hotel in PARIS. i was humiliated. The hairdresser managed to convince me it looked stunning.  Chantell

I had very long blond hair which i had been using nice and easy on for years about 16 to be exact. I then decided to have a change and had my hair professionally dyed brown. First result was brown hair with green and grey tones so the stylist redid it (mistake). It turned out jet black on top with ashy brown tones on the bottom. I then went to top stylist and they said the only was to correct the colour was pre lightener in streaks so had that done. It then went very fragile so put on a toner. I am now left with multi coloured hair which is more green, dry and fragile, and cut to shoulder length as well. Not sure how to get back to the old me of blond.  Anonymous

I have always had beautiful, long, layered brunette hair. I would always get compliments on it. I took really great care of it and spent alot of time making it pretty. So, I got a wild hair one day, and decided to go curly. I have liked my hair when I curled it, so I went and spend alot of money on a sprial perm. And then she told me she had to take a little off the bottom to get the damage off. I was thinking about a 1/2 inch or so. She took 4 inches off and the perm took it up another 2. So, im stuck with this florence henderson nightmare for the next few months until it grows out enough to fix it. :( I'm just devastated.  Kayte

I am 15 years old and I have always had dark dark brown hair. I wanted highlights so my mom highlighted my hair with frost and glow. It worked great so I also got it done 2 more times. The fourth time I got it done my hair looked like it was dyed blondish reddish and I loved it. I got so many complements. I still had some dark hair and made a major mistake when I wanted to dye my hair all blonde by using 30% peroxide and bleach powder from Sally's. My hair color ended up being a light reddish color with blonde on the top. It looked horrible so I redyed it back to my natural color. That turned out really dark so I waited 2 weeks and now at this moment it is re-highlighted. I like it a lot but i'm thinking about going back to my reddish blondish color by using frost and glow. In conclusion, I think frost and glow is the only product I should try to dye my hair blonde with. However, always trust professionals before ever trying something yourself at home.  From a reader

This past summer, I made the mistake of going to one of those chain salons that cut your hair for under 20 bucks. I originally had chin-length hair that I was growing out, and all I wanted was a few layers in the back to enhance the cut. I brought four pictures with me, and told the lady THREE times to NOT cut any length off and to just do a few layers in the back to add volume. Well, the dumb broad didn't listen  and had me turned away from the mirror and I ended up with a mushroom-style do, with one side an inch shorter than the other. I was so upset that when she told me what I owed I snatched up the pictures that I had brought with me and screamed, "Does my hair look anything like these pictures? NO!" And then I stormed out while flipping her the bird.
       Well, I was so upset that I went on a mad rampage looking for someone who could put in hair extensions. After a TON of research on the in's/out's of hair extensions, I finally ended up at a place that did them for considerably cheaper than other places, AND was recommended to me by the people at the expensive salons. So far, I've gotten about $400 worth of human hair put in, and it looks so natural that it even fools me sometimes. No one can tell, and when I tell people that I have them, they're totally stunned at how good they look.
       I've dyed the hair, cut it, curled it, flat-ironed it, you name it. Now that my hair has grown out, I am going to take them out and go back to my short hair. Long hair is fun, but I miss being unique :)  -Emily

I love this site. I am a hairdresser in Scotland. Many problems arise through bad communication.  Somedays, I feel more like a social worker.
It's simple--not listening produces bad cuts.  From a website visitor

I am 15 years old and I have always had dark dark brown hair. I wanted highlights so my mom highlighted my hair with frost and glow. It worked great so I also got it done 2 more times. The fourth time I got it done my hair looked like it was dyed blondish reddish and I loved it. I got so many complements. I still had some dark hair and made a major mistake when I wanted to dye my hair all blonde by using 30% peroxide and bleach powder from Sally's. My hair color ended up being a light reddish color with blonde on the top. It looked horrible so I redyed it back to my natural color. That turned out really dark so I waited 2 weeks and now at this moment it is re-highlighted. I like it a lot but i'm thinking about going back to my reddish blondish color by using frost and glow. In conclusion, I think frost and glow is the only product I should try to dye my hair blonde with. However, always trust professionals before ever trying something yourself at home.  Anonymous

I have naturally dirty blonde hair but have been dying it brown for years. My new boyfriend had a thing for blonde hair and suggested I try it again. I had it done in a salon and it looked great, only it was too gold for me, I prefer more ashy blonde. Anyway, I began touching up my own roots at home, using a bleaching cream then a color on top that I purchased at the drug store. We were planning on attending a wedding and I didn’t want any visible roots. Even though I had just bleached it two weeks before I figured it would be fine. After coloring it, I went straight to bed without drying it, so I didn’t notice anything was wrong. The next morning, I quickly blow dried my hair. When I looked down at my shirt after,(which was black) it looked like a cat had slept on me. Only thing, I didn’t have a cat. After realizing what might have happened I assumed a good wash would fix it up. As I shampooed my hair began breaking off, and I mean in clumps. Four inches all over my head was gone and what was left was mush. That was two years ago and I’m still paying for it. And I’m now once again a glowing brunette.  Jen

i too like many wanted a slight change in my looks i.e. my hair...so i decided to lighten it a little..i have short hair naturally a dark blonde that i have highlighted for years with great success... i decided i wanted lighter hair all over because the gray was filling in and i dont like looking like a skunk. i decided on a medium ash blonde.. a little lighter than my own hair. what i got was a reddish cast over the dark blonde.. not at all what i was going for.. anyway called clairol.. hot line.. was told that i had two choices.. redo it and chance it going orange or go to a salon and have it lifted?
called the salon where i get my hair cut and went in...she told me it would be a beige blonde and after a few minutes it kept getting yellower and Yellower, and she lifted it all right, almost right off my head.. when i first saw it, it was easter egg yellow. she put a toner on it to bring it down???
it has been a week and almost all the blisters are healed and i am now sporting bright blonde hair.. again not at all what i was looking for. now i am daring but looking like marilynn is not what i am after... how in the world do you find a decent hair dresser??? thought mine was...
im sticking with my own chances at home from now on and not paying some one 70 bucks to ruin my hair which is like straw now...From A Reader

My hair was below my shoulders after growing it out for 4 years after the evil cow of a woman my dad dated decided I would look better with a pixie cut.I went to the $10 shop down the street, and asked for a trim.Now I wear glasses and have to take them off durring haircuts, so I asked my mother to watch the stylist for me. I walked out of there looking like Leo DeCaprio circa 1998. It looks good on the bottom, like if I'm wearing a hat,but on top she gave me layers that make my hair look so poofy. It's so short, that I can't even put it up in a ponytail. And to make things worse, a so-called 'friend' came over and chopped off the bangs so that I have a 1/2 inch fringe where the bangs used to be!  Lexy

Last week me and my friend decided that I wanted to dye the underneath of my hair darker because that is in now. So we decided to go with a 8 wash in chocolate brown it turned out red which I wasnt very happy about so I madly washed my hair for the next week. Yesterday me and my friend went to the shops and loooked at all different colours and decided to go on black and it was permanent. They lady we were talkin to told us to but half of the colour and half of conditioner which will make it like a semi permanent but last longer so we thought that was a good idea. We got home and marked out the line where we thought it should be black we put the colour in and waited. We dryed the hair and I bursted into tears I looked like a goth. I had know idea what I had done to my hair and why I did it. When I put my hair in a ponytail you can see this big line of black and  its higher than my ears which looks stupid. To make matters worse the next day all of my family are coming over and I'm trying to hide it. All day I've been looking up ways to get the colour taken out but my mum said I cannot get it stripped. A word of advice to anyone who wants go dark use a semi perminant colour and go like brown not black because when its in it aint COMING OUT!   Gem

Here's a little story of what happened to me recently. I go to have my hair colored from brown to blonde and spend over 4 hours in the chair and the results are pumpkin orange with yellow blonde roots. I put up with it for a week or two by using eye shadow on the roots showing (depending on how I did my hair). With my wedding being here in 5 weeks I knew I needed to get this fixed. So I went to a high scale salon that a few friends go to. Another words a salon that I figured everyone knew what they were doing there. I am told bleach will get me to the blonde I want to be and she'll do it even though my hair was bleached less than 2 weeks ago. She felt my hair was in cood condition and she woul d have no problem reaching the level blonde I wanted. WELL!!!!! She left me under the dryer too long and singed my neck and my hair fell out in the sink. ALL 8 inches of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now my hair is a half inch long and white, yellow, with rusty highlights. I have gone wig shopping alot this past week and thankfully they will hopefully do the trick until my hair grows back out. The dermatologist says my scalp and hair was severly burned and will be curly when it grows back. I had straight here before. What a nice thing to happen before a wedding, huh?   Melissa

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 walked into a local $10 haircut place the other day with hair about two inches from my waist and told the woman I wanted a trim.  "I'm growing it out" I told her.  "Growing it out to WHAT?" she answered, holding my long beautiful red hair straight out.  I gave her a nervous laugh, assuming she was joking, and asked for long layers all over to give me some body.  I also told her that it was "OK" to trim the dead ends as long as it wasn't more than an inch.  To specify, I held my fingers an inch apart.  (Interestingly enough, I thought all hair was "dead ends."  Hair IS dead, but I didn't feel like getting into an argment with a woman holding the scissors.)  So she started cutting.  And cutting.  "Just a trim" I reminded her. I looked at the ground and saw lots of hair lying there but figured it was all hair from the top layer.  When she was finished I shook my head and realized it's just shy of my bra strap, length wise.  She took hair I was growing to my butt and cut it almost to my shoulder blades.  How is this an inch??? She said "I know I cut a lot more than you asked but those were all dead ends and it looks a LOT better."  Better than what?  It was fine before!  Then I realized what she had done:  She had cut my hair to look EXACTLY like hers.  Oh, and she was about 19. Now I do things myself. 
 Oh, and a note about dyeing your hair yourself:  I've never had a problem dying my own hair DARKER.  It's pretty easy to do an all over, darker color.  The only hair disasters I've ever had have come when I've tried to BLEACH my hair.  With a darker color you can always wash it out with a toner or with Prell concentrate or something.   Stephanie
I got tired of my red hair (it's naturally dark brown), and my roots are coming in silvery grey so I wanted 
a neutral all over hue to help blend them in. No store product could do it; even the ash shades didn't
remove the horrid pumpkin cast. As you can see it was just FRIED, too. Yuck. BUT. I came up with a solution 
that actually worked! Not that I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a good basic knowledge of the 
colour wheel, but this is much easier, cheaper and faster than hair dye. I used navy blue fabric dye. Mixed 
with a cup of Noxzema, a pinch of salt and 2 tbsp of peroxide, I slathered it through my hair and then washed 
it out after just a couple of minutes. It removed the brassiness and looks just like the light ash brown I've 
wanted but couldn't get from hair colour.  LOL!!!!!!  I also went into a salon to say hi to my friend the hairdresser. 
My question was 'what would you call this colour?' 'Brown', she says. She told me it looks really pretty, and doesn't 
feel dry or wrecked. (this from a hairdresser)... then I told her how I did it, and her jaw gaped at me. She
couldn't believe it. One more thing: To keep it nice and non-frizzy, I give it a little coating of olive oil 
and comb it through. Kim
I have naturally dirty blonde hair, but I started dyeing it beige blonde since I was 15. Very pretty color, then I got bored and decided to dye it medium brown, turned black, so it was a long road of reds, oranges, yellows and looking like a flame goddess to get it back to the beautiful blonde it was. Just to get bored again with it a few years later. My husband talked me into dyeing it fire-engine red. I am into being dramatic, so I was like what the heck! It turned out to be a nice orangey-blonde color. I was horrified, so much money spent on dyeing it slowly back to ash-blonde, and just when I am about to acheive the perfect blonde color I want, I dye it natural light blonde, and it turned brassy blonde. Then I ran to the store to get medium ash-blonde, wait one day to dye it, and now I have goldish-gray hair. Did I mention that my hair is about 2 feet long from root, so I have lovely long gray hair with gold tones. My advice is if you get bored with the way your hair looks, leave it alone and experiment with new make-up colors. At least you can wash it off with soap.    Jessica

The worst day that I ever had at the hairdresser's was when I was ten years old.  I had hair that went down over my shoulders, with a center part.  My mother took me in for a haircut, and unbeknownst to me, she told the hairdresser, "Cut it short." The hairdresser cut it really short, and since I had a round face my haircut made me look like a pumpkin face.  I cried when I saw what she had done, and I refused to leave the house for three days.  I have never forgiven her--my mother, that is.  I have had so many bad haircuts that I now cut my own hair.  I part it in the middle down the back, bring the two halves around front, and snip off about an inch.  Since my hair is naturally wavy, you can't tell how even or uneven it is anyway.  I am far happier with my haircuts then I would be with the hair butchery that I have experienced.  I save the twenty bucks, and I don't come out in tears.  Isadora

In response to what Francine went through when getting her hair "carameled." [see below] That is a popular color these days.  There are many ways to get the same results.  Unfortunately, if her hair level is 5 or lower, naturally, you would have to use a product that filters out the red color because red is the dominant color on those levels.  If she had her colored to what she didn't like, Effasol (from Salley's Beauty Supply or other retail outlet) would have removed the unwanted color as long as it is done within 24 hours.  After the hair sits awhile, it oxidiizes and it's like putting gel into the hair and it sticks to it.    Color doesn't lift color anyway, only bleach or highlight products (that is, unless you have a high lift color and use 40 vol. peroxide, which does more damage as it stays on the hair a lot longer.  What I've seen before many clients use store bought color wanting the desired color only to make a mistake.  They then proceed to put color over it to tone or remove the other color.  This worked for Francine, but she was lucky, not seeing her hair, but the length tells me she probably had hair that was in good condition before she colored it.  To get what we call "lowlights" or the caramel color, that has two or three shades, costs a little more, but you first lighten the hair all ove (one or two levels, usual, natural light brown shade), then pull through cap or foil the lighter shade (pale blonde).  There are many good colors out there, but speaking as a professional that has had to fix hair that had more than three shades in it, it's best to seek professional advice.  Color correction can be expensive to fix something that could have been avoided.  I would much rather educate my client so they can keep their hair healthy.  Find a hairdresser who will listen first, then act.   Sylvia, the Hair de-TERMINATOR

Do you know how hard it is to be a hairstylist?  Many days I come home almost in tears because people just don’t know how they want their hair or they are just in a bad mood and take it out on me.  I would  never have become one because the money is terrible; the only way to make a living in this career is to own your own salon.  It's really stressful.  --from a professional
Ladies, I went to a "professional" hairdresser yesterday, I have waist length hair, naturally brown with warm tones. I had been getting foil highlights for 2 years, when I wanted to change the overall color to a creamy golden blonde, similar to Jennifer Anniston's. So I asked the "Master Stylist" (this is what it said on her business card) for a caramel color. She dyed me, and it became a flat, mousy dark brown. I was very upset, and she indignatly showed me that the name of the Redkin color she used was indeed "caramel..." I told her that I used that word to refer to the color I wanted my hair to be, not the color of the chemical she was to use, and that I wasn't a beautician. She insisted she could fix it after I told her I wanted to leave...and I stupidly let her. She used a Level 7 Redkin permanent dye called "Mango," which made my hair dark red/ auburn (think Naomi Judd in the early 90's). I left very upset, but today, I took matters into my own hands. I gave up on getting the color I wanted, now I just wanted to get a color in the natural human spectrum. After reading this and other boards last night, I went and got myself some Clairol Nice 'N Easy Light Natural Ash Browm (#114)-- two boxes due to the length of my hair. It looks very light on pictute the box, but I knew that since my hair just got colored, it would come out darker. After doing a strand test, I left it on for 20 minutes (the box says 25 for normal dyeing). My hair came out a dark brown, with some very toned down red tones. Ladies, if you are having red trauma,go for a permanent in an ash tone, a shade or two lighter than you think you want. I can tell you that I'll never go back to the "Master stylist" again. And I didn't use metalax, or any other harsh stripping agent, I just used that ash tone permanent color over the blazing red, and it came out fine!  Francine

Before i begin, i jus want to say that wow..i dont feel as alone with my bad hair story..reading everyone else's...anyhow..the good ole days...i have naturally dark brown hair..(im african american)..so i wanted to go for the extreme..i wanted it to b bright blonde..i figured since i have bright clear skin ..im lightskin..wow it should look great...so i went to the salon to have it done ...and walla!..it was beautiful..jus gorgeous..so obviously i knew that i had to continually go to the stylist if i wanted it to stay that gorgeous!!!...right WRONG!!!..i said to myself ..well if she can do it then i can...so stupid me bought all kinds of reconstructors..and bleach..to keep it that gorgeous color..ooh boy was i really ready to go through what i was about to go through..absolutely not...anyway the color started to fade so i would add bleach after bleach to keep it the desired color...worked veeeeeery nicely for a while then kept doing it a little to often..and BAM!!...that day i cried screamed yelled !!! out all my heart..not only did my hair get horribly dry...but i could neeeva get the shine back like my hairstylist once had it...so i shaved my head in agony..wearing wigs ...very uncomfortable especially in the summer time..when the new growth came back ...did it again ..then shaved it once again....then again ...and AGAIN....then after shavin my head.."3"..times..i finally got the message not to ever think u know what your doing...and ive also learned that..salons have very exclusive conditioners and reconstructors...that the stores would neva have!!...always go to a stylist for a "service"...forget the boxes...all those woman on there didnt use those boxes to achieve their hair color...."They Went To The Salon"....so paleeeeeeeeze take it from me it's not worth it to experiment....at all...and ive also experienced...hair loss and a damaged scalp from "Experimenting"....thank god it's been 1 year and i treat my hair right..now it's growing again...it's now very thick..and healthy..but the drama i went through no woman should ever have to experience....and of course im going to go to the salon to get it blonde once again...however the difference will b ....i will keep it up every week or 2 i will return for a deep conditioner....and i wont stop this time!!!..not ever...jus take care of your hair it's a reflection of u...if u cant  afford it..then dont start it..it's all about the maintenence...of it..dont start what u cant continue!

I wanted to change my style a bit...and I mean a BIT, so I went to the mall of all places. My naturally blonde hair, long thick glossy hair was just like Jennifer Anistons hair, which was great! But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo, I had to change it just a little bit. So, I asked for long, heavy sexy bangs. The woman gave me bangs alright...that went clear back to my ears. I  paid fifty bucks for bangs. Two days later, I went somewhere else to get this "fixed", and this woman attacked me with thinning shears, so that now I look like a shredded wheat with a face. DId I cry? NAaah. I am used to this bad haircut thing...the first one happened when I was 13, and I allowed my brother to convince me to go get my hair permed....at the local beauty school. Mistake.Over processed frizzball with a face. A pimply face, if memory serves.  This sucks. I want my awesome hair back.   Shannon    

Sandy says:  Today I woke up with shoulder length brown hair with blonde highlights. Tonight I am going to bed with over my ears short dark reddish brown.  I have always put my own streaks in with no problem however, my mother convinced me today  I should let a "professional" color my hair. I called my stylist that has cut my hair for the past three years to ask if he did color. Of course- no problem- come on in. I did. I told him I wanted highlights with foil not a cap. He brought a cap. Said he didn't want to get the dye on my scalp and of course I thought Well, he is the PROFESSIONAL. My hair had huge gaps between the color and the roots not to mention a lovely polka dot on the crown  that he said he would fill in. He painted on the bleach with a brush and still didn't use any foil. It burned and now my hair was white at the bottom with an orange-yellow and brown splotched top. He then put a dark blonde dye to try and cover all of this up. I could tell by the look on his face  this hadn't worked. I was now reddish orange all over. GREAT. So he decides to put a dark brown on for a few minutes to correct. I now have reddish brown on the top and dark(not reddish) brown on the bottom. Afraid my hair and blood pressure couldn't take anymore I asked him to stop and cut off as much as he could without me looking mannish. It is horrible. I have cried all evening. I will never let anyone PROFESSIONAL or not color my hair again. If you want it done right do it yourself. 

Patrick's story:  I naturally have fine, medium-thickness, curly hair so I wash my hair almost everyday. I decided to brush it down because the curls did no grow to their Max size yet and it looks wavy. but then one day I decide to push my hair back into smaller curls using got2b blue thunder colorheads. I did and wore it like that all Saturday. then on Sunday I tried to wash it out and it would not. My hair was very hard and had little curls. So I begin to comb my hair. BIG MISTAKE! My hair was wet & soft on the surface and I have always been able to get a fine tooth comb through it but this time, it hurt so bad my scalp was red in parts and I continuously washed it. So Monday morning comes and my hair was brushed down again. I thought my hair was OK but when I looked in the mirror, it looked nappy (it's not nappy I have the good hair) and was still curly in parts. I went home, but, annoyed with me, my mother did not let me wash it for a week. Every girl in school was telling me that i needed to cut my hair and that what happened to your hair? i thought you had nice hair? so then Friday comes and i get home from school i try to comb my hair out and it hurts. i got a true afro that day. so then i cut it off and am now have two weeks of new growth. now instead of coming in just straight at first, it comes in wavy. Now I have hair like I've always wanted. and it all came after a horrible week of torture.

Sabrina reports: Today I woke up with shoulder length brown hair with blonde highlights. Tonight I am going to bed with over my ears short dark reddish brown.  I have always put my own streaks in with no problem however, my mother convinced me today  I should let a "professional" color my hair. I called my stylist that has cut my hair for the past three years to ask if he did color. Of course- no problem- come on in. I did. I told him I wanted highlights with foil not a cap. He brought a cap. Said he didn't want to get the dye on my scalp and of course I thought Well, he is the PROFESSIONAL. My hair had huge gaps between the color and the roots not to mention a lovely polka dot on the crown  that he said he would fill in. He painted on the bleach with a brush and still didn't use any foil. It burned and now my hair was white at the bottom with an orange-yellow and brown splotched top. He then put a dark blonde dye to try and cover all of this up. I could tell by the look on his face  this hadn't worked. I was now reddish orange all over. GREAT. So he decides to put a dark brown on for a few minutes to correct. I now have reddish brown on the top and dark(not reddish) brown on the bottom. Afraid my hair and blood pressure couldn't take anymore I asked him to stop and cut off as much as he could without me looking mannish. It is horrible. I have cried all evening. I will never let anyone PROFESSIONAL or not color my hair again. If you want it done right do it yourself.  

From Windy:  I got this streaking kit from the drug store, I let my 13 yr old streak my hair at home. She did a good job but I thought it was not enough so I put more of the streaks in my hair. My hair was dark brown. After the "copper highlights" my hair was reddish blonde with large brown patches on the underside. I thought I could fix that too. I bought another hair dye that was my natural dark brown color. Which turned my hair Raggedy Anne Red.. with brown patches on the underside. I called my husband and asked him to bring me a brown hair dye home of a different brand. While waiting for him, I decided to give myself a trim, which I have done with success several times. But the comb would not go though my hair. After cutting chunck after chunck of my hair off, my lovely 13 yr old daughter asked if she could help. Well it can't get any worse I thought. Bad decision #6. My hair was above my ear on one side and to my shoulder on the other. I got so impatient, I shaved my hair off.. Yes, Compeletly Gone! I am not bald with stubble.. RED and DARK BROWN stubble.  I wear do rags at home and have since invested in 2 wigs. I regret ever letting myself get so angry that I shaved my head. But the best thing I have learned that I will never forget.. for every problem in life, there is always a solution!! I laugh at myself evertime I look in the mirror. Except when I put on my favorite wig... then I break out in song, " I feel pretty, oh so pretty.." LOL Anyone know how long it will take to have at least an inch of hair on my head?

Bev says: I had long hair, up until Saturday anyway.  On Thursday I went in to the hairdresser that I usually get to trim my hair and said I wanted it styled a bit as I only have bangs and the rest was almost half way down my back.  I found a style in one of the books that would work perfectly with my hair, with just a bit of layering in it, which she was excited about doing and booked an appointment for Saturday.  When I come out I had pieces that were about 2" longer than the rest in about 3 places in the back, around my face my hair is about an inch long and tapers out.  The left side of my hair is about 1 1/2" shorter than the right and there are no layers in my hair.  The back is now up to my shoulders at the longest spot.  I called on Sunday and another stylist there asked me to come in so they could see it.  I showed them the picture as well and they said it would have been perfect for me. The manager was there and she looked at it as well.  Both of them were very angry as they had seen my hair prior to it being cut.  I was told there was nothing they could do for my hair other then even it out a bit and cut off the straggly ends and let it grow.  They suggested head bands and clips to hold it back and using straightening gel (I have wavy hair) to make it look longer.  The one said I could have done a better job cutting it myself with a butcher knife it was and is such a mess.  They never did offer my money back but have offered me childrens haircut prices till my hair grows back.  I am still crying when I look in the mirror, never has my hair looked so terrible.  I am even going out looking at wigs to wear till it grows back since will take at least a couple years to happen.  I spent over 6 years growing my hair all out to one long length and one stupid hairdresser took it all away in one hour.

 
Amanda's story: When I was with friends one day in Ferndale, we came across a wig store.  I ended up buying a blonde wig, and my hair is natually dark brown.  I liked the blonde so much, I stupidly thought I could replicate the look at home. I bought a box of Clairol Born Blonde and did two separate strand tests to make sure the color would come out the way I wanted.  When I put it on my hair, the roots ended up blonde, and the rest was orange.  I figured I needed another application, so the next day I put another box on.  It still wasn't blonde after this, so I thought I'd go back to brown with a box of Natural Instincts reddish brown.  When I was done, my hair was neon orange. In a panic, I called one of the few hairdressers I could find that was open on Mondays.  I explained my situation, and they took me in immediately. They had to call the Redken hotline for advice so they didn't make things worse.  They said that for some reason, none of the brown in the semi-permanent color had stuck.  So they gave me a protein treatment and applied a reddish-brown semi-permanent, leaving it on for forty minutes, twenty under the dryer, twenty outside of it.  When they washed it away, my hair was a beautiful auburn.  However, it was very dry, but not breaking. They said I was lucky that it didn't become mushy or start breaking and warned me not to use heating appliances on it.  They also told me I could come back free of charge if the auburn fades away right away.  They were my saviors that day, and they've earned a lifelong customer thanks to their help and professionalism.

She made the wrong choice: Well it comforts me to find out that im not the only one with a bad hair day. well last month i went in for an appointment she said i was her first customer. i got a little suspicious but i thought that since i was her first customer she would at least make the best of it. well that was the wrong decision i asked her to cut my split ends but dont cut my hair short but she didnt listen my hair is not even up to my ear.i was so fustrated that i didnt even pay her. the lesson i learned was always stick with a professional no matter what.

A reader shares: Well this is so wrong, i went in for a hair appointment the other day. it comes to find out my hair stylist forgot my appointment so she locked me out. so i had to cut my hair all by myself. BAD CHOICE i tried to cut it so it could look sexy but not so sexy that u would look like a bot. anyways it turned out atrotious my hair came up to my forehead and i had to cut it bald because it started to fall out. Well i cried for a month well come to find out my hair grows fast so that's the last time ill ever cut my hair again without professional supervision. matter fact NEVER am i going to make that mistake again

From an unhappy reader:  I have naturally very light blonde hair but at the age of 12 I decided I wanted to make it lighter blonde...not realising my hair was fine as it was I went off and ruined it. Ever since that day I have continually died my hair trying to get it a nice blonde. In the end I got sick of getting the same old goldy/yellowy look so I decided a change was in order. I went down to the chemist and picked the darkest red/purply colour I could find...BURGUNDY...BIG MISTAKE!!! At the age of 15 you don't listen to what your parents tell you, because what do they know, they've only been around for 40 odd years, what could they possibly no that I didn't. My mother told me "don;to dye it will look worse than before" but as stubborn as I am I didn't listen and went off to do it myself. It looked great when it was wet...really different. The next morning I woke up to find my hair had dried a horrible bright purple colour and to make matters worse I had a modelling presentation on that afternoon. So I washed and washed my hair only to find it was not fading at all, but turning a grey colour. My advice to anyone who wants a dramatic change...DON'T DO IT!!! Stick to what you know looks alright, because you will regret it.

Mary says:  I learned early about hair coloring - Back in the early 1970's, in college, I put Summer Blonde on my medium-dark brown hair.  This was to restore the sun created highlights I used to have when I lived in Hawaii.  It was to be on only 5-10 minutes, half the time allotted on the box, but I thought caution would be important the first time.  However, it was late in the evening, and Dick Cavett was on TV interviewing someone fascinating, and I didn't realize it until 30 minutes had gone by!  Way more than the box said!  A radical change, to say the least - my hair was a bright red auburn - actually, a shade I would go for later in life.  But at this time I was under parental control, and if they saw coloring when I went home, the proverbial merde would hit the fan!  Thank god for the lady at the Rexall who helped me, taking my recent hair cuttings (my roommates and I were such slobs that there were some in the bathroom trash from a few days before), doing the test with 2 colors for free, and advising me to use 2 colors and that I would need 4 boxes for my waist long hair!  She was right, and I had my brown hair back, and the dye line didn't even show as it grew out to my natural color.
 
As to cuts - I went for the perms, layers, etc., during the 1980's and part of the 1990's, but went back to long hair when we found out that my hair could not stand being permed and colored.  As my hair would now be 3/4 white, I chose the coloring route.  ALWAYS take MANY pictures of yourself, from a lot of angles, when you have a good haircut you want to keep.  I did this, and watched the hairdresser as she did it.  Then, when her aching knees made her take a desk job, I was not only able to show a new hairdresser what I liked, but also knew the basic motions she should be making when she cuts my hair.  In other words, WATCH WHAT YOUR HAIRDRESSER IS DOING!  You can avoid problems, and might be impressed!  ; )
 
From Peggy: When the gray hairs creep up on us we love to run to the boxed chemical magic cure-all. So as those pesty non-brown hairs sprouted from the front of my oh so lovely forehead I ran to the nearest Wal-Mart for my cure-all coloring box. I gave the front portions of the hair all the glop I could manage to cover it and deftly covered the rest. Little did I realize my magic cure-all was running down my oh so lovely forehead. When did I realize it? After I received a hefty dose of it in my eyes! It not only hurt right when I got the dye in my eye, it stung like mad and I could not see clearly for three days. My husband liked the effects of the magic potion on my hair but he certainly was sore about my eye-sore. Now I have been banned from all isles containing any boxes labeled "coloring", etc. Lesson of the day: Forget saving money...save your eyes, skin and marriage...go to the salon to have a very talented and safe stylist do her or her magic...we amateur magicians can testify to many a bad hair day...and burned scalps.

Elizabeth advises:  After having read many of the stories on this site, I felt the need to send in some information for the readers.  I'll start by saying the YES there are a lot of bad hairstylists out there... find someone that you trust and stick with them.  For all of those people that have given up on hairstylists... your choice, however beware of doing chemical services on yourself... there are A LOT of variables for each hair type, based on your natural colour, whether it's been bleached, permed, coloured, length, etc.  For you 'do-it-at-homers' here are a few tips:
*If you have bleached hair and are trying to return to a darker colour, remember that your hair is now porous and will not hold reds very well.  This can make your hair seem grey or green depending on the product that you use.
*If you have coloured hair and are trying to bleach it, do not use a solution that is too strong - you may shock the hair and end up with orange/red/yellow hair that will not go lighter (it's called locking in the colour - all that you'll be able to do after that is colour it darker or wait for the hair to repair a little)
*If you have long hair remember that the hair closer to your scalp is newer and the hair at the end is older.  On average, if your hair is 12" long the hair at the end is already 2 years old, and will be more porous than the hair at the root: this means that it may take colour faster and/or darker.

IF YOU ARE REALLY PICKY ABOUT YOUR HAIR YOUR BEST BET IS TO EITHER TRY IT YOURSELF SO YOU CAN'T GET MAD AT ANYONE BUT YOURSELF IF YOU MESS IT UP, OR TO FIND A GOOD HAIRDRESSER AND STAY WITH THEM!!!

Beth's story: I dyed my hair blonde for a long time and eventually got bored with it so i was gunna go for a more brownish red color. i should of gone with my first instinct when i wasnt perfectly pleased with the lightness of the color on the box. i was going to go hang out with my best friend the night i dyed my hair and they got there early so i hurried to wash it out. when i blow dried my hair at her house later my hair was a pinkish-orange color. i went to the salon but she said it would be about a week before she could dye my hair again otherwise  my hair would have spots. so i went a week with pinkish-orange hair.

Jenny says:   My husband and I were to attend  a very nice district party with his employees (all 120 of them plus guests).  I, obviously, not being of sound mind, went in for a trim on my then shoulder length hair (or at least it was when I first went in)---just a trim, mind you, the night before the party.  I'd never used this particular hair dresser before (uh and never ever did again either).  I couldn't see what she was doing, but I did think it was taking her a while just for a trim.  She was going on and on  to another stylist and me about something her husband had done. Her voice was getting higher and higher and my hair, apparently, was getting shorter and shorter.  I kid you not, by the time I was turned around to look into the mirror, I looked like a punk rock star.  All I needed was the pink dye. LOL  I can laugh about it now, but I was livid at that time.  The salon was in a large mall and I had to walk the length of the mall to get to where I was to meet my husband.  I was so angry, I just started sobbing my eyes out  (I'm sure that made me even more attractive! LOL) and made my way to the rest room, where another lady who immediately, looked at me sobbing and no doubt noticing my punk do, asked, "Just had your hair cut?"  I nodded. She gave me that sad, all knowing empathetic look that only a woman who has had a really really bad hair cut can give you. That was the last time I ever darkened the door of a salon.  I've been cutting my hair ever since and if I do say so myself, my hair has looked much better since.  It took forever for my hair to grow back out.  I just don't think I've got enough life left to ever go through that kind of a haircut again.  Not to mention that my husband had to hear me cry and scream for months. Whenever I mention going to someone to cut my hair again, he shudders and tells me not to even think of it.

Erin reports:  Hello! I thought I would share my horribly bad hair day with all of you.  I'm in my first year of college, and clearly a little short of cash. Since I was about 16, my mom has being dying my light brown hair, dark brown with blonde highlights. When I moved away for school, I decided to let my roomate do this for me (under my supervision) since I couldn't afford going to a Salon. So we dyed my hair dark and everything turned out fine. Then she pulled my hair through a cap and applied the dye. I left it in for MUCH less then the recommended time, because my hair is very thin, and I worry about it getting too fried. Anyway, when I went to wash it out, I noticed that a lot of blonde peices were falling out, sort of unusual, but everyone sheds hair. Once I looked in the mirror, I started to panic. All the blond pieces were mushy clumps that were just balling up and falling out of my hair. I freaked out! I called my mom right away, and she told me just to calm down and call a salon in the morning.  So this morning I called and asked the receptionist what I should do. She explained that the stylist isn't in until Tuesday, but that she will help me out, probably for free. So that is really good. BUT I have to go to school for the next two days with my hair all weird and frizzy and falling out. It makes me so nervous. I get panicky just thinking about it.

Ashley says:  I had gone bleach blonde for the summer, but now that summer is over I decided to go back to dark red--my hair is naturally dirty blonde.  I didn't know if my hair would hold the color since I had bleached it, so I decided to get a light reddish-brown dye to test if my hair would hold any color.  Well, my hair held a color.......my roots (which had grown out about 1 inch) were medium brown, a little darker than I expected; however, the part of my hair that was bleached blonde is now gray.  Yeah, I'm 21 and I have the hair color of my grandma now.  I wouldn't have minded so much if it turned out purple or blue (I could at least say I was going for a punk look), but gray sucks.  And what's worse is that I don't know how to fix it (I can't afford to go to a beauty salon and pay for a correct dye job).  So I have to go back to school tomorrow and walk around with gray hair.  Yeah, I'm never going to dye my hair blonde again, it's way way way too much trouble and hard to get rid of when you want to go darker.

From another Erin : My naturally dirty blonde hair has grown out into a medium blonde/brown. Therefore my naturally highlights were gone, so I decided I wanted to add some. Needless to say it didn't work out as well as planned. My mother used the brush in kind leaving the highlights in chunks and uneven so now the highlights are YELLOWISH ORANGE and the top has a brown streak going across my head. It is a nightmare, when I pull it into a ponytail the top of it has a big chunk of yellow pulled back and the rest is dark. I really miss my natural color, and I'm going to have to wear it up (which I hate) until I can fix this mess. And the bad thing is I am going to be a junior and school is just around the corner. Bottom line do NOT trust your mother with this project. My mother left the product in for more than an hour when it was supposed to be for 30 to 45 mins, even though I told her to take it out, and she kept adding and she put the mixture all over my head instead of every other strand. It's HORRIBLE!!!!!

From Sherri: I HAVE BEEN A HAIRDRESSER FOR 13 YEARS, AND I HAVE SEEN A LOT, BUT NOTHING COMPARES TO WHAT I SAW THE OTHER DAY. THE OWNER OF THE SHOP I WORK IN PERMED A LADIES HAIR THAT APPEARED TO BE A LITTLE DRY. AFTER THE RODS WERE IN THE SOLUTION AND 15 MINUTES INTO THE PERM THE CUSTOMER SAYS  I HOPE THIS TAKES BECAUSE I HAVE BLEACHED MY HAIR TRYING TO  GET THE RIGHT COLOR. SHE THEN TESTS THE CURLS, AND THE ENDS WERE AT THIS TIME MUSH AND STRAIGHT. EVERYONE WAS SICK, BUT HOPED FOR THE BEST. AFTER THE WHOLE THING WAS OVER  SHE TRIED TO BLOW DRY THE MUSH BUT IT WOULD NOT EVEN DRY. SHE WENT TO EVERY MIRROR IN THE SHOP HOPING THAT IT WOULD LOOK BETTER IN ONE THAN THE OTHER,THEN SHE TURNS TO ONE OF MY CO-WORKERS AND SCREAMS "I LOOK LIKE ROD STEWART" MY CO -WORKER TELLS HER THAT SHE HAS NOTHING ON ROD! TWO DAYS LATER WE CALL TO CHECK ON THE CUSTOMER, I GUESS SHE HAD A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN , BECAUSE SHE TOLD US HER MOTHER TOOK A NASIY RAZOR TO ALL THE SPLIT ENDS. I CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE. IT TAKES ALL KINDS.CUSTOMERS NEED TO TELL EVERYTHING THAT HAS BEEN DONE TO THEIR HAIR IN THE LAST 6 MONTHS TO A YEAR. WHAT A NIGHTMARE.

Christine says: This is my story... I have my reg Hair dresser but One day I went in for a trim to another and she did a good job. We were talking about High lights . So I made and appt and had it done. Turned out really nice . Few months later,I went to get for a TRIM... I wanted to keep my style but just thin the top out and trim it. I have thick hair so I wanted her to thin it out with out any short layers. After she was done it looked nice but when i got home and looked close, side of my right had WAY too many layers! Even the back! SO I called her back and went in and she said she'll fix it. I TOLD her I don't want it any shorter ...Next thing you know she's chopping my hair! The side were up to my ear!!! Mind you I had Med long hair. Left side is still long. So I stopped her and said "What are you doing???" She spoke English but not well so She hardly understood where I was coming from. I was saying "LOOK AT MY HAIR! Look at the left and the right? Why are you cutting it so short? " Then she said i asked for it! I'm like HELLO ??? And We got into it. I told her boss... I told them both I want my $back and the hair dresser had a nerve to say ooooh this what's it's all about ! Then she took the bib thing off of me and said You're not my client and don't ever come here again. I said I CAN COME HERE IF I WANT TOO and said U don't even own this damn place! My poor daughter had to see me fight. Anyway i went back to my stylist that day And she fixed it. Thank god!Shorter but nice. She was a Big help : ) She wouldn't take my $ so that was really nice of her. My Lesson is.... STICK WITH THE SAME Stylist : )

Kim relates: Better Dead Than Red"   I avoid salons like the plague. I am thirty-three years old, and I've had my hair professionally cut or treated fewer than two dozen times in my life.  Yesterday, I was reminded why. I thought I knew diddly-squat about hair, but did know I wanted a radical change from my medium-brown, straight, greying-hippy look.  I took to the salon a photo of a rich brown bob, and another of an ashy-blonde, medium-length cut.  I thought I would try for the latter first, but was perfectly prepared to be told that the blonde "do" would require a two-step process of bleaching and dying.  If that were the case, I was determined that I would go for the single-step, darker colour instead.  Stylist: "So, what colour do you want?"  Me: "That depends.  How light can you go before you actually have to strip colour out of hair before putting colour back in?"  (Stylist looks at me in confusion; opens colour swatch book and shows me a page of blonde samples.)  Me: "Oh! I'm really surprised!" (And I genuinely was.  I was under the impression that a small amount of bleaching turned brown hair red, and that you really had to suck all the dark colour out before the yellow pigments would register.  But it had been ten years since I had a colour, and I thought perhaps the technology had moved on.  And she was a hip young hairstylist in a proper salon... who was out-of-step, deeply-unfashionable me to question her?)  The stylist targeted one dark and one light ash blonde sample to recommend.  The dark was very mousy-grey and the blonde too pale: I wanted to take the book from her and have a thumb-through for myself, but she offered to mix the two shades and try for a happy medium. Like a dolt, I assumed she does that all the time and knew what end result to expect.  Long story short, my hair turned a surprisingly natural shade of what Brits, like my husband, call "ginger". Given my colouring (pale skin, green eyes), you might have thought I was born that way. There were two problems with this: it wasn't what I asked for, and my husband DESPISES red-heads.  Not red hair: red-heads.  He thinks they look like semi-albino  "freaks".  (Apologies to all natural red-heads out there: that isn't my opinion, and my husband is a bit eccentric anyway.)   This was the worst possible case scenario for me.  I was due to attend a wedding two days latter, and there I would be meeting a large number of my husband's old school friends, whom I'd never met before.  I could just imagine his chagrin at having to introduce his ginger-haired-freak wife over and over again.  It also would not have helped the bride if the guests who already knew me spent the ceremony gossiping and wondering what the **** I had done to myself.  (It really wasn't flattering, and despite the mop I started with, not even a marginal improvement, either.)  The teeth-kicking irony of the situation was that I was prepared to accept almost anything BUT red hair colour: long, short, layered, bangs, no bangs, whatever: it didn't have to be picture-perfect, and it could have been any shade ranging from dark brown to medium blonde.   Surely I was the perfect customer, red-aversion aside. I told myself it wasn't too bad.  I called it "strawberry blonde", until I got home and saw it natural daylight.  Then I did the one thing I had never done before in all my life: I called the salon and complained.  And I felt evil doing it!  They asked me to come in today, and the same stylist has just spent two hours putting proper blonde highlights over the uniformly orange mess I had, as she didn't dare dye (or should I say, bleach) the whole so soon after the first treatment.  It has just about appeased me, and I wasn't charged, but I still feel like a shmuck. And I also feel awful for complaining!  Oh, well, give it another ten years and perhaps the trauma will be forgotten...
 
A reader says:  I decided to hi-light my dirty blonde hair myself.  (This should be illegal, by the way).  I used Herbal Essences new brush on hi-lighter.  I went too heavy on the hi-lights.  My whole head was not white, not blonde, not orange but YELLOW!  Awful!  I rushed to the local drugstore and bought a hair coloring kit that was supposed to make ANY hair color look light brown, pretty much my original hair color.  I put it on and waited the 25 minutes.  Okay, can you say ORANGE?  I went from looking like a banana to looking like an orange!  I fretted on what to do.  I was making my way back to the drug store when I decided to end the madness.  I stopped at my friendly hairdresser.  She was waiting for her last appointment of the day but decided she would run a toner thru my hair.  Her appt never showed up so she decided to pull the top of my hair thru a cap and hi-light it.  My hair is no longer orange but blonde with a slight brassiness to it.  I guess I'll have to live with it regardless.  A big time lesson learned, never again will I attempt to do something myself when they make hairdressers go to school to learn how to do it right.  Duh.

From Anna: i was surfing the net and i happened to come across your page and i love it. i've had every possible hair color in my hair, 3 perms and 1 chemical straightener over the past 3 years. so, as you can tell i've had a lot of problems trying to keep my hair healthy. AND recently i've found a product that does miracles on my hair. it really works, i love it! my hair is back to normal now that i have used thermasilk's heat wrap treatment. its great and i'd love for you to let your readers now about this product because it really does solve a lot of dry, split end, frizzy problems! thanks so much.

Denise shares: I was in desperate need of a new look, but hesitant to cut my hair too short. There is a girl on my soap opera who's hair I love, so I finally found some pictures of it and went happily to the salon. My usual hairdresser was off and I was desperate, first mistake. So I showed the stylist the pictures, we talked in detail and she started.I figure, if you show a photo, it's pretty obvious what you want. I had enough hair to work with for any shorter style. She starts out talking about her boyfriend and how his mom does not like her, on and on, bad sign #2.  Well, the look could maybe be close to what I wanted, after I blew it dry again and used velcro rollers AND then a curling iron. But, five minutes later, it was back to a big bush and nothing resembling the photo. So today I went again for a recut with a styist I've had success with before. Again, showed the pictures, the cut was a sort of layered bob, long enough in front, with a FLIP up in the back. I reiterated that to her. I could not see all she was doing as she cut, should never let them turn you away from the mirror, mistake/bad sign #3. Well, it is SHORT. Looks nothing like the picture, not in this world anyway. I cried so hard. I'm butchered! Why do some hairdressers love to do that?! There is no flip, it's up past my ears, way too short, and is not even a cute style. If I'd wanted to go short there a hundred cute styles I'd like, but now I can't even have that. It is more than just hair, I wish people would realize that. Unless her eyes were bad, this is not the picture I showed her and I had enough hair, both times, to achieve that look. I was actually dreaming of how cute that cut would be and how easy, hah, forget it. Now I need pomade and gel and heavy spray just to keep it in some sort of feminine style, it feels like I have a helmet on my head and all I can think about is how cute it could have been! This is not my worst hair experience, but it's just annoying, after I paid, and tipped twice, this is what I get? It's so apparently not what I asked for.

 
Shannon says: 2 days ago I decided that I wanted to go a little darker with my hair color so my roots wouldn't stand out as much.  I went to the grocery store and looked at each box in hopes of finding one close to my natural hair color.  The closest I could get was a medium ash blonde.  I went home and had my friend apply it and waited the 35 mins.  As we were rinsing out my hair my friend said, "Oh my god."  Of course you don't like to hear that after color, so we hurried with the washing and went straight to blow drying it.  The color was applied well... all over.... too bad it was a greyish-green color.  I immediately called my mom and told her what I had done.  Apparently people with really light blonde hair should never touch anything that says ash on the label.  You will get grey results.  We're supposed to be fixing it tomorrow, by putting on a medium golden blonde to neutralize the green/grey.  Hope it works! If not, you might be hearing from me again.

Doneek's tale:  Here is my bad and true story:I am so glad to read of everyone's else's bad experiences -- it makes me feel a little better! I have been growing out a chin-length bob for about a year, and this week it was at my shoulders.  I love long hair, and wanted to maintain mine, but it gets very curly as it gets longer, and yet remains straighter toward the top.  I mentioned this to a friend with curly hair, and she recommended to me a hairdresser who has "skill" with curly hair.  So I made an appointment with the new hairdresser, and told her explicitly that I am growing my hair out so not to cut off the length, just to take away the volume in the bottom at the back. I also showed her three pictures, and in all of the pictures, the model has really long layers!  So she said okay, we'll take out the volume, AND THEN SHE CUT SIX INCHES OFF THE TOP AND SIDES OF MY HEAD BUT LEFT THE BACK LONG!!!!!!  She said the curl would "bounce up" and take away the volume in the back.  WELL IT DIDN"T-- and now I have a MULLET!  I am so disappointed - so I am going back to my regular hairdresser and will ask her to give me a short shag.  My advice to everyone out there: DO NOT LET YOUR HAIRDRESSER "LAYER" THE TOP AND "THIN" THE BOTTOM"!!!! IT IS A NIGHTMARE!!!!

Trina shares:   I have naturally curly hair (already a tragedy haha) I have always worn it around shoulder length with lots of layers and relaxer once a month so my curls aren't completely frizzy... I walk into one of those chains that you get a $10 haircut in three minutes and your done (first mistake) and ask for a TRIM. I express very definitely a TRIM. Well, they wash my hair, they sit me down and the lady walks away... Twenty minutes later she comes back and starts cutting. And Cutting And Cutting And Cutting.  After I look up and notice that she is cutting my top layer at about two inches from my head I say, OH WAIT, hold on a minute, what are you doing? And she says, Oh just giving you the cut that you asked for.  At this point I have no idea what to do. I can fuss at her and make her stop but I still have one layer that is barely two inches long and the rest is hanging past my shoulders, What to do? Endure the bad haircut and then go on a rampage, or cause a ruckus now and upset her so it gets worse? So I stare in awe as she continues cutting, then pulls out the clippers, I'm talking the men's barber shop clippers and she shaves the back of my head. At this point I am so furious it is all I can do to hold my tongue. So she finishes, and she asks if I want it blow-dried. At this point I lose it. I say, "I have naturally curly hair, if you leave it to dry I will look like a freaking cue tip. First of all, you gave me THAT ladies haircut <pointing at the woman who is walking out the door with her "trim">, I asked for a trim and secondly, you didn't even do a good BAD haircut." She was all shocked and felt stupid for cutting my hair in the way that the lady next to me wanted hers and so I get the general manager on the phone he is all apologetic and gives me 10 free haircuts. I walk out, without paying without tipping and while calling the 800 complaints line on my cell phone. UGH. When I got back to work and I am crying uncontrollably, my sensitive boss actually says to me, "Well it's not that bad, that girl in Boys Don't Cry won an Oscar with that haircut" Geez!  haha. Like I already didn't look like a twelve year old boy without telling me that. haha. The moral of the story sweety is this, when you have curly hair and you take it very seriously how it is treated, find a stylist that you can frequently visit and never trust your head to the beauty school drop out.

A reader reports:  I just came from the worst haircut of my life!!!!!!  It is a disaster and cannot believe how horrible it looks.. It seems like all the hairstylists I have gone to so far just screw up on my hair sooooo badly, but I think this is the worst one yet.  I have light brown shoulder length hair and wear it in two layers. I really like this cut because it goes well with the shape of my face, plus it's easy to style.  Well, today I went in to a newly opened salon, for just a "TRIM", well that so-called "TRIM" resulted in my hair being cut up to my ears!!!!!!!  I cannot express how devastated I was. It takes me a very long time to grow my hair up to my shoulders because, first it grows slowly and second my hair is thin so it needs to be at that certain length not to look limp!  For any hairstylists out there, please be considerate of your customers hair and their requests.  It may just be HAIR for you, but it's something us customers need to live with for a long couple of months!!!!!!!!!

Kevin's viewpoint:  In the 1970's, mens perms were all the rage and I was talked into it by my Mother, of all people. It wasn't too bad, I made sure the stylist understood what I wanted-the best perm looks like no perm at all. I looked really good and my social life perked up considerably.  And you say women are vain! Two years out of high school, my dear fiance talked me into doing a anther perm. I felt that she had to look at me every day so I obliged. We had great fun and what came after was even better but that's another story. In the very hot summer just before our October date, my hair grew very fast and my Dearest decide that I really needed to be "touched up". Of.course my hair frizzed, but she liked it and that's what mattered to me. Needless to say, when the pics came back, I got several unpleasent comments about my Frizz. This was in 1980. A year later, on a certain soap opera, a guy named Luke gets married, WITH THE SAME FRIZZY PERM, AND EVERYONE SAYS HOW GOOD HE LOOKS!!!! I just found this out when watching VH-!'s "I love the 80's". To this day, I make it crystal clear to the stylist-the best perm looks like no perm!

Gladys  says: Many, many, years ago I used to frost my hair. It had always turned out pretty good. Since I have never been a swimmer, I never really ran into the problem that I had, the day I went over my brothers house. He was there, as well as his wife and their children. I was going to see my boyfriend later. In the meantime, I was going to have fun in the pool at their apartment. We were in the pool for hours. When I was ready to go into the apartment and change into my clothes, I naturally looked into the bathroom mirror. I freaked out. My hair was the most vivid turquoise I had ever seen. I shampooed my hair and then it was merely green. Emerald green. No one had bothered to mention that my hair was turning colors before their very eyes. I called my boyfriend and explained what happened. We were supposed to go out that night. So when I got home, I re-wet my hair and styled it just as if it wasn't green. We went out as planned. The place was crowded. I got called a few names (in spanish) that weren't complementary. And some thought my boyfriend was my pimp. ( This was before punk hair color). The next day I put a "semi-permanent hair color remover" on my hair. I thought it would just take out the green. It took out all color. I looked almost like a dandelion. I didn't experiment on my hair for a long time. Between then and now, I have had green-tinged red hair with black tips. I wasn't trying for that look. And my hair has been pink. Now my hair is 90 % gray and I pretty well leave it alone color-wise.

From Natalie: I have always had my hair highlighted blonde at the salon ($150.00 with tip and cut).  However, I
recently quit my job to be a stay at home mom :-)  Of course, that meant cutting corners and my husband couldn't justify my spending that kind of money anymore.  So at his request, I let my natural (blah) hair color grow out.  Well I HATED IT!!!!  My hair is a dirty blonde/light brown and medium brown underneath.  BORING, DRAB, DISGUSTING!!!  So I spent a ton of $$ buying every box blonde hair color possible and test stranding with no results at all or pinkish/red/orange tints.
    I went to Sallys Beauty Supply and bought a volume 40 developer and tried the colors with that...no help.
Two days ago, I went back to Sally's and wanted to purchase a high lift blonde toner.  The girl working there convinced me that there would be no way I could get my hair to a light blonde without using bleach.  She loaded me up with powdered bleach and sent me on my way.
    After thinking about it, I did not want to risk trying bleach myself at home.  Then I realized when I was getting my hair highlighted, my stylist would leave the gunk on my hair for 50 minutes.  Well, if she were using bleach, she would not be leaving it on that long!
    SOOOO, yesterday I went back to Sally's and bought the high lift color I originally wanted (the same girl was working there...'it won't work').  Today I just threw it all on my head.  I left it on for 50 minutes.  IT IS AWESOME!!!! IT is a light blonde, just like the color when I was going to a salon!!!!!
    I HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE!!!!  I know I was driving myself and everyone around me CRAZY trying to figure out how to get my hair blonde!!!  I USED CLAIROL PROFESSIONAL HIGH LIFT COOLEST BLONDE TONER mixed 1:2 ratio with volume 40 creme developer.  I hope this will help someone!  I am sooooo happy, at least until my roots start growing in!

Kristen says: I just got my hair cut the other day, and i wanted my hair to look like the girls, from the movie  My
Horrible Year.  Well, the guy who cut my hair wasn't listening to me, when i told him what i wanted, and he cut my hair to my shoulders, and gave me bangs, that start at the back of my head!!! he cut them way too short, and now they stick up, when i dont put gel on it!! im never letting a man cut my hair, unless he's gay, cause they're the only men that know how to cut women's hair right.

From Tammy: My sister, on my advice, being a hairdressor went to get her hair done by someone else (I was too busy at the time), this so called "professional" has three shops and was in the year above me at college. Kirsty phoned me after having her hair "styled" in Selkirk, Scotland. She was in tears, her hair was a mess, I thought it couldn't be that bad, but if she wanted me to redo it then she had to wait two days as I was very busy it being the week before Xmas.  My sister came to my house and when I saw what he had done I just couldn't believe it, I was so disgusted I took photos of it before I corrected it as best I could. She had taken a photo and explained what she wanted doing but he still got it wrong. She had wanted it cut so it would flick up at the back, and the colours she wanted were golden blondes and reds. He had given her patchy reds and patchy orange but the colours were not even through the hair, the cut was very short at back short on crown, but he had left it long at the nape, it was cut around one ear but not the other, and there were long bits left all over the place, her fringe was cut to about 2 inches which Kirsty told him she needed a longish fringe. It was the worst hairdo I have ever seen in all my days as a hairstylist.

Gwen says:  I have been a bleach blonde for about 6 years, and have been growing my hair long as well. It's taken me a few years to get it to just past my shoulders. My boyfriend kept suggesting I should let my hair go back to it's natural color, medium brown, and I think I let it get to me over time.  I was in complete denial that I was going to dye it to make him happy.  I was happy as a blonde.  I convinced myself that I was going to dye my hair brown for me. Well I dyed it, and HATED it imediately.  I have hated it continuously for a week now.  In a panic, I was going to run to the drug store and buy the strongest stripper I could.  I thought I'd take a quick look online to see if anyone had any at home tips, and found your page.  THANK YOU!  After reading the questions and answers, I know I would have made a bad situation worse.  My hair must be about the most porous on the planet, and it would be better to save my money til I can get a pro to help me.  After all... it's hair, it's not me.  If I had taken the time to research my last bold move, I wouldn't even be in this spot.  THank you for all the people you help!

Nichole tells us about her bad hair day...umm couple of days: My natural hair color is dark auburn...with copper highlights.I have been blonde for the past 2 years until probably 2 months ago.I decide I wanted to go darker...black as a matter of fact.Going for dark and mysterious...haha.Well last night I decided that I was sick of it and feeling quite bored...so I go to Walmart and buy one of those highlighting kits.<I've been dying my hair for 2 years w/toner,bleach,etc purchased at a beauty supply store...I have no clue what I was thinking!!!!!>well..I put it on and my hair...I didn't have striking blonde highlights!I had ORANGE/GOLD splotches allll over my head,mixed w/blonde,black,and red!I looked like a cheetah.!!So I decided today that I was gonna fix it.I called my aunts salon and she said that I should just bleach it and tone it.Well...On goes the bleach.my hair is now...a horrible shade of ORANGE and my regrowth has turned WHITE...I look like a tiger now instead of a cheetah!Today...I am somehow...disguising myself and going to buy a brown color and pray to god I don't end up looking like some kind  of exotic animal!!

A reader says:  It was the last day of high school, and I decided that I wanted to show-off by bleaching my hair white-blonde (it was the rage in the fashion mags). I bought 2 frosting kits, because I considered the long length of my hair and figured that I didn't want to run out of bleach half way through the job. The look I wanted to achieve was total blonde, no tips, just white all over. So I applied a whole packet of bleach on top of my head, and massaged it through. After an hour (as it suggested on the box), I washed it out. As you can guess the color was a orange/yellow color, however it did have bits of white-blonde which made me think that if I applied the second packet of bleach, then I would have the colour I wanted. Another hour later, I washed it out. I got the colour I wanted, but my hair was so 'gummy' that it almost fell off into my hands. It took 3 hours too dry, and continued to break off. I spent the last day of school with my brittle hair safely tied back. 4 years later, my hair has now recovered.

Sharon advises: I was going in for sinus surgery and thought a "new hair do" might cheer me up while i was in recovery. The doctor said there was no reason not to get my hair highlighted. So, I went to a friends hairdresser (first mistake) and she foiled my hair. I have never had my hair foiled before (second mistake), so when she was
done I was excited that it looked good. Although it was rather "poofy" in places for my taste. Needless to say I couldn't
shower for several days following my surgery and when I finally did I was shocked. I now know why she styled my hair poofy! She was covering up the orange stripes that are at my roots! You should see my bangs; the top have a 1/2 inch
stripe across them. Very noticeable. the sad thing is I cant go back and get it fixed for several weeks due to recovery!!
Never would I recommend doing anything new to your hair before surgery! p.s. i should have run out of there when the stylist said "oh, you have dirty blonde hair the hardest color to lighten!" but i guess not the hardest to turn orange!

A bad hair week: I was already having a bad week with taking pictures with the digital camera and not looking as okay as I do in the mirror. So I thought, why not go online and chat with a few people. Well, it turns out people usually want to see a PIC of you and it's my bad luck that I am not a photogenic person. I look okay in person, but on a camera, my face does weird things. So I try a little self beautification and decide to highlight my hair to look like a singer on a CD that I bought. My hair is black and has previously been relaxed for about a week and a few days. The highlights were to be a light brown color and of course I could not use the cap to get the effects that the singer on the CD had. So I do a little freestyling with the coloring that was called Sahara Shimmer. My hair was supposed to turn out with beautiful golden blond highlights. On the box it reads "What you see is what you get". I think "Fair enough". Boy, they weren't lying. As I am applying hair color to the front section of my hair, I'm thinking this is going to look good. It's already turning brown. So I start applying to the other sections of my hair. Well, the box did mention that it would be best to have a friend to help and looking at my hair turning blond right before my eyes at the roots in the front section and in that section only, I panic. I start applying all of the highlight coloring to my whole head hoping that it will all turn out one color at least. Fifteen minutes later I wash it out and praying to God I don't look to bad. As I flip my hair from under the running water and look in the mirror, all I can see is a sunburst. I never knew that I could get the color of the sun in my hair. My hair is the color of the rising phoenix. Around the edges and at the root of my hair it is blond fading into a copper color with a blond strand here or there. Throughout the middle of my hair at the roots you can see the remnants of my black hair that use to be healthy and strong after the relaxare straightened it. Now its fried, dyed and laid to the side. Pray that I will have success at the beautician. Hopefully she can give me my original color without my hair falling out as it is already breaking off now.

Anna says: About a year ago I went to a hair salon that I had been to once before and a few people I know had
gone to. I brought a picture with me of a girl with slighty layered hair that was just brushing her sholders. I told the woman that I wanted it and inch or two longer than the picture and very slightly layered.I told her that most days I pulled my hair back so it had to be able to be pulled back at least into a ponytail.  Well, she cut it about a half an inch below my chin and it was very very layered. It looked horrible on me and the worst part was I couldn't  pull it back. I tried washing and blow drying it differently and curling it but nothing made it look better. I was sobbing about it in my
room when a good friend, Abby, called. When she heard me crying she asked what was wrong. When I told her I had gotten a horrible hair cut she burst out laughing. Neither of my parents understood how much what my hair looked like mattered to me, especially at age twelve. I spent the next two weeks sobbing in my room and refusing to leave the house and three weeks after that constantly having my hair pulled back. Word from the wise:  SPEAK UP IF YOU THINK THE HAIRSTYLIST IS CUTTING TOO SHORT, TOO LAYERED, TOO LONG, ECT. OR AT LEAST TELL THEM YOU DON'T LIKE IT BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE SALON, THERE IS USUALLY SOMETHING THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT.

Melissa's story:  I'm a teenager who loves to cut her hair every so often.  I like to keep it short because it goes well
with my face.  I hadn't cut it in a while and decided to cut it.  I try to get different looks every time I go to my stylist.  I have never done my hair at home and I trust her to the fullest.  I never complain and always say do what you think is best.  I have nice wavy hair and always take good care of it.  Well, when I went to cut it, she cut too much from the top, now I look like a mushroom, I can't let my hair loose and it's too short to pick it up completely.  I look horrible, I can't even look at myself in the mirror.  I'm going on vacation in 3 weeks and have no clue what to do with my hair.  So, a word of advice to anyone, always put your two cents in what you want done with your hair.  At the end of your appointment, you're the one walking in the street with your hair.

From Heather:  "My mom went to a woman who had her own at home business to get her hair cut and highlighted. Well the lady ended up cutting my moms hair lop-sided and the highlights were RED instead of blond! My mom and I
called her like 8 times and left messages but never recieved a return phone call. So my mom went to my
aunt (an ex-hairdresser) and got it all fixed. Finally I got a hold of the lady and told her how much we
appreciated the "help" and the return phone calls! So a lesson to be learned: don't go to a hairdresser with
their own at-home business unless you know them personally and have seen some of their prior jobs!"

Lea says: "My friend, Sandi, had a darling short haircut a few years ago.  It curled just slightly around on her head giving her a slightly tousled look.  Her hair never looked bad, while my own limp dirty-blond hair stuck to my head.  So, I visited her hairdresser and got the same haircut which did nothing to change the limp stick-straight hair on my head.  It just left me with less to try to pouf up.  In desperation I decided to give myself a perm, but first I decided to color it.
I knew my hair had a tendancy to go red with color, so I used an ash blonde color on it.....looked fantastic.  The next night I permed it.  Since I only wanted a "little curl" I used the little curlers.  I left the perm solution on the shortest time recommended and when I removed the curlers I had tight little orange worms all over my head.  I immediately went to
the store for more color solution and redyed it.  Bad decision.  It frizzed up and the worms ran amuck on my head.  I called my regular hairdresser the next day and there I sat in her chair with a haircut she didn't do, and a mess of orange furry frizz on my head.  She laughed, she trimmed the worms and conditioned it and told me to live with the orange color for a while.  By this time my hair was an inch long and I had to blow dry it with a round brush the size of a toothbrush to pull the curl out.  I looked like I had an orange cotton candy ball on my head for two months. "

A reader shares: "My sister and decided to lighten our naturally very dark hair, so we used those at home kits...well half way through the hour long process, our hair was very orange and we were scared...so ...stupidly , as all teens do things, I must admit, we tried about 3 different at home kits.  Now , I have unnaturally jet-black, purple hair, and my sister has unnaturally light orange hair...never again, I'll tell ya what."

From Kathleen: I have short to medium length brown hair (with graying) that I wear in a layered, shag style.  My hair is very wavy, so I have learned to just have it cut in the way the hair wants to curl.  I pretty much have a wash and go
hair style and have been happy with it for many years.  When I need a hair cut, every 5 or 6 weeks, it really can look bad.  The wavy areas tend to start looking puffy and bunched up because I have thick hair, especially in the crown area.  I recently changed hairstylists to a lady that used to cut my mother's hair years ago.  She always did a nice job and took a lot of time.  The first cut I got a hair cut from her about 3 months ago, I was pleased.  Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago, I needed a hair cut, I called and set up an appointment.  I really wanted my hair to look good because I
had some important events coming up and didn't want my hair to look out of control.  The day of my appointment, the lady came down with the flu and had to cancel.  I decided to wait and for the next two weeks, I pretty much just
kept trying to calm my hair down with conditioners and using bobby pins to hold in the thick areas.  I did trim my bangs (I usually do trim my bangs - I have for years and know how to do it).  I finally got an appointment and needless to say, my hair really needed a cut. To make a long story short, the lady got carried away and my hair is shorter than it has been in 30 years.  I never like my hair to look like it has "just been cut", I just want it to look nicer.  She really did not cut
off a lot all at once.  In fact, she just took off the normal amount.  Then she said some areas needed evening out and said she would "just take off a little more".  It was a little snip here and a little snip there.  The worst part was I told her not to cut my bangs because I had just cut them and they were fine.  She said they were a little uneven and she would just take off a little to balance them out. My bangs were actually okay, they just looked uneven because of my wave.  Anyhow, she really scalped me.  My bangs are normally about 3 inches long and now they are barely 1 inch.  They
really look short because my face is long and I have a long forehead.  I used to have kind of a wispy look, now it looks like a pixy boy bang.  Everyone is asking "what did you do to your hair?" "you sure got your hair whacked off,
didn't you?"  Then comes the stare.  Well, I took that for about two days, then decided to get a wig.  It was a good decision on my part.  I was lucky to find one in my style and color, it's just not quite as wavy. Several people have said "what did you do to get your hair so straight?"  or "Have you put highlights on your hair?"  I just smile and say, yes I put a straightener on and some highlights.  They think it looks so good.  I guess it will be a long time before my hair grows out long enough to make the switcheroo with the wig.  Although the wig is secure on my head, my worst fear is that it will come off.  It is also very itchy.  I will be glad when I don't have to wear it anymore.  Hopefully, in the future I will only wear it occassionly when I want to, not when I have to.  Needless to say, I will be shopping for another hair cutter.  I will be scared, though, because this lady was the last person I would have thought would get carried away and cut
too much.  It was so disappointing, too, because she kept saying she wanted to give me a good haircut and please me.  If she only knew, she would be devastated at the outcome.  In the meantime, I keep drinking a lot of protein drinks and willing my hair to grow.

From Jill: I have a HUGE problem that I would love to share so that YOU don't make the mistake that I did. A while back, I decided to temporarily dye (level 2 permanance) my naturally medium brown hair a little redder. I got an at home kit, did it, and it looked fabulous. Of course, though, being a teenager who is never happy with her looks, decided I liked the red so much, I wanted to go redder with level 3 permanance dye. I bought a color that looked absolutely gorgeous on the woman on the front of the box. I looked at the little chart on the back, to make sure it looked nice with my hair
color, and, being completely satisfied, I purchased it. I went home that night, and dyed it. After I was done, I went to sleep without blowing out my hair. The next morning I woke up anxious to see the new me. I looked in the
mirror and absolutely flipped out. I DESPISED the color my hair was. It was like a maroon color that was just HIDEOUS. I wanted to cry. When I showed my mother, she and I rushed out to the store to buy a new color; one the color
or my natural hair. I found one, and went home and used it. BIG MISTAKE. I didn't take out the red dye first. When I dried my hair after dying it, my roots were the same maroon color, and then they gradually faded down to a
jet black. I looked like a wanna-be-punk, which I am not at all, otherwise it wouldn't be a problem! Anyways, I showed my mom again, and again, we got another color and used it. After that, my hair was still red at the tips, but then it was immediately black. JUST AWFUL! I sat down and just started to cry. My hair that was once a very beautifully soft, lustrous, thick brown color was now a brittle blackish-red that I could barely get a brush through. The worse part was that it was Sunday night, and I had school tomorrow. Now, I am not the kind of person who is so superficial that I
won't go to school with a zit, but we were talking extremes here. I guess my mom, being the wonderful, caring person that she is, pittied my sobs, and agreed that we would get the first coloring appt. we could get ANYWHERE, and
then I'd go to school. The next morning I snagged a 9:15 appt. with a colorist, who dyed it back to my natural color, and gave me some products that would help re-build my hair and make it healthier. So the moral of my story? Don't use at-home dying kits unless you know EXACTLY how it will turn out; and if anything goes wrong, call your salon A.S.A.P!

From Janine: I have very thick and course hair.  I have a hard time finding hairdressers who can thin my hair enough.  If I ask them to thin it a lot, they freak out.   I have a beautician who has thinned it with the chunk thinners 3 times.  That's how I like it.  If I have it thinned out enough, I can have lots of different styles.  I recently bought my own pair of thinning scissors and now thin my own hair.  A note to all hair dressers, LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS!!!  They know their hair BEST!!!

From MaryJo in Chicago:  I was happy to see that I am not the only one who tries to save a little time and money.  I just recently colored my hair without doing a test patch first.  The dye must have been too harsh for my type hair, or I left it on too long.  The color looked fine, but it fried my hair so bad it was literally breaking off.   I looked awful, I started with relatively short hair as it was, and I looked awful with a bunch of short patches all over my head.  I was too embarrassed to go to my regular hairdresser, so I decided a quick fix was to go the nearest barber shop.  I asked him to even it out, and before I knew what was happening, he had decided the best way was to just give me a crew cut and proceeded to run the clippers up the back of my head.  I sit here now with my very first and I hope last regulation crew haircut, it's less than an inch long on top and the sides and back are literally clipped off.  I am looking up wig shops in my yellow pages.  I don't know how I'll explain this to my hairdresser.

From Kim: I am a hairdresser in Chambersburg, PA  and I have seen a lot of bad hair days.  The first one is:  Right after I started cutting hair, this lady came into the shop where I worked.  She and her friend had just bought one of those floby things for at-home hair cutting.  She needed her hair fixed.  I was very professional about it and didn't laugh,  But her hair looked like a weed wacker got a hold of it.  I fixed it, she ended up with a very short hair cut.  Another one:  One day one of my regular clients called me.  She was trying to save money by coloring her
hair at home. Wrong.  I told her to come in and I would fix it for her. When she came in, I couldn't help myself, I had to laugh.  She was purple, eggplant purple.  The color wasn't too bad, but on her it looked awful. I had to strip the color and apply her natural back.  All the while I was doing this I growled at her, in a teasing manner of course.  She learned her lesson, almost a hundred dollars later.  Another one:  This lady was visiting family and she thought she wanted to get rid of her gray.  So she bought a home color product from the store.  Needless to say it came out orange.  While I was talking to her on the phone, I was telling myself no problem, a toner would fix it right up. Wrong. When she came into the salon she had a hat on. She told me not to laugh at her.  She was laughing at herself.  When she took that hat off I knew as soon as I saw no toner was going to help her.  Two hours later she was ready to visit her family.   I could go forever with bad hair stories, but I will save them for next time.  I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you don't know what you are doing when it comes to color, check with your hairdresser.  Yeah, we might be expensive but in the long run you will save money.  $45 to $50 dollars seems a lot but if you mess up it could cost you a lot more.

From Lori: I used to have long hair that I would often wear as a braid down the back. I was very careful not to let it fly free because my new kitten was forever trying to play in it. One Sunday afternoon while doing several errands around town, I noticed that I kept smelling a sweet fruity odor. It wasn't until late that evening when I was taking out the braid that I discovered the source. There was a huge glob of bubble gum melted into my braid at the back of my neck. I tried all of the remedies (ice, peanut butter, etc) before I decided to wait until the next morning for the help of a professional. I wrapped my head and lay down to get what little rest I could when my kitten jumped on my pillow. I could just imagine going into my hairdresser's the next morning, not only with gum stuck in my hair but a little black kitten as well. I immediately got up and used something I hadn't used in years. The scissors. I ended up with hair four feet, I am not exaggerating) shorter than I had the day before. That is a bad hair day!

From Kris: I have been trying for the last year and a half to get the style that I want.  I've been to 4 different hairdressers and still no luck.  Well today I tried someone new and she ended up taking so much off my hair that I feel (and look) almost completely bald!  She even used "thinning shears", so the little that I have left is very thin.  I think from now on I will do it myself!!!

From Barb:  I once was a beautician, back in the 70's.  I had just sprayed my lady good, meaning real GOOD with hairspray after a back-comb, shampoo and set.  The price was $2.50.  Anyway, after spraying the hair spray which had alcohol in it, she lit a cigarette.  Her bangs started smoking.  Fortunately, she only got a singe job from that.

From Jim: My worst bad hair day occurred after my brother had called me to his home to inspect a pile of what appeared to be soap bubbles in his yard.  We were at a loss to explain this pile of bubbles about 8 feet across and five feet high.  Curiosity got the better of me in wondering if it would burn.  I stuck my lit cigarette lighter into the pile.  The flames went higher than the top of my brother's two story house, I was told.   I lost most of both eyebrows, most eyelashes, and a great deal of hair singed from my head along with some minor burning to the face.   The bubbles had come from a natural gas well and were a waste product of a process they use to prepare the well after drilling.  The holding pond had proven inadequate for the wind we had that evening, and the bubbles were scattered for several miles with the largest pile in my brother's yard.

From Peg:  My worst bad hair day was in Newport Beach, California in the late 1970s.   Suddenly invited to attend a banquet hosted by the TV studio where my cameraman husband was working, I needed a quick "hair fix."  Naturally, there wasn't an appointment to be had and my neighbor reminded me that in the neighboring community there was a beauty college.  Convenience plus the incredibly cheap rates made this sound like a reasonable solution.  I was quickly washed and set and then the comb out began... well, there was a lot of COMB in that comb out.  My particular student beautician seemed to feel the solution to all things that couldn't be fixed with hairspray with the consistency of shellac, was to tease and tease and tease.  By the time I was done, my 5-foot 7-inch self could have passed for 6 feet tall!  I had a wonderous case of Football Helmet Head!!!!  The next day after the banquet, my girlfriend and I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to dismantle this sculpture without removing too much hair!  Looking back... most of the 70s could be considered a Bad Hair Day!!!

From Bev: I suppose you have heard tales of first time hair colorings.  Well, when in my forties, I decided to get my dirty brown hair highlighted.  The colorist where I had my hair cut must have had an off day as she pulled the hair through all those little holes, applied the wrong solution and my hair came out bright red.  I was so disgusted I wouldn't trust any hair dresser for YEARS.  Did it all myself.  Have found out I need to have ash in all colors applied to my hair.  Not that there is any inkling of a mystery there?

From a reader: My hair story has to be the worst of all worst. I always color my hair by myself, but this time I decided I would get highlights. So I got the highlights which turned out great, but it made my hair extemely flat. I waited awhile then went back and had a body wave put on. My hair melted on top and fried on bottom.  Sounds like I went to a cook instead of a barber.

From Beth: "A Bad Hair Week"  My husband and I were off to a long weekend in Disney World, and I looked terrible!  I had so much gray that I looked ninety years old.  I really wanted to look my best since this was also a business convention for my husband.  He was going to be sworn in on an executive level, and we had to sit at a huge raised table looking out over 1000 people.  Having two young children, I knew I would not have the time to go to a salon so I decided to do the [coloring]  job myself.  My hair looked great!  The next day my scalp burned and itched, and my throat was sore.  I thought I was coming down with the flu.  I could not get over how much my head was itching!  I looked in the mirror and discovered on closer examination that I had open sores all over my head!  That night my glands were so swollen that I called my Dr. at her home.  I saw her the next day, and the conclusion was a severe allergic reaction.  Two shots later and doped up with Benadryl, I proceeded home.  The Dr. instructed me to put oatmeal packs on my head.  My face had also swelled to moon-size proportions.  Well, I made it to Disney World.  I sat through the dinner and tried not to scratch my head too much.  I may not have felt good, but I sure did look good!  I am now going gray and have no plans to cover it up.  My tip on beauty secrets: DO THE PATCH TEST!

From Charlene:  I'm fine except for my "day of beauty" at the local spa with my sister. It was okay until I had my eyebrows waxed, and the woman peeled my skin. The skin below my brow is puffy, and there are small scabs.  Edema under the brow has created sagging. Sunday morning I had an ice pack over my eye. Do I sound like a baby? Here's more. I have little scabs too, so I look like I should run, not walk to the nearest plastic surgeon.  I did go back to the spa today, to show the girl her handiwork and advise her to be more careful. She and the asst. manager had no words of apology. That burned more than the waxing job!  I did sic my sister on them. She received profuse apologies, and I will be receiving a free manicure, so I feel vindicated!

From Susan T:  My hair is so unruly that I had my hairdresser come to my wedding and reception, where she kept having to repin it.  Afterward, she suggested that I just cut it all off.  I did, and have lived happily ever after (hairwise), except now it's falling out and turning grey (the part that's NOT falling out).  C'est la vie!

From Cindy T. in Florida:  Talk about your bad hair day!  I colored my hair myself, something I haven't attempted in a long time, but I needed to get rid of the gray by tomorrow.  Boy,  did I!  Turned hair a dark red even tho box said true gold.  Called Clairol and they said I couldn't recolor for a month without damaging hair or achieving any results.  Only choice was to go to salon.  Called my lady, she wasn't in but her daughter said to come in.  I did.  They couldn't recolor so they did highlights - took forever.  Made a little difference, but still much
darker than the usual me.  Can't wash hair for two days.

From Barbara H. in New Jersey:  I had been going to this hairdresser in NJ that would almost monthly do my hair color and a haircut.  This one appointment, I decided to just go for color as I wanted my hair to grow a little longer.  This appointment was a little special because Charles and I had planned to have dinner at the Marriot Marquois and then attend a play, Annie Get Your Gun.  Well, she colored my hair and I told her all about our special date and then after the shampoo girl finished washing out the gook, I sat in the chair for about 15 mins.  The hairstylist looked over and said, Barb, you're done.  I said, What do you mean, my head is all wet and I'm waiting for you to blow out my hair.  She said, well you told me you only wanted hair color so I didn't schedule you for a blow out......I was so blown away and said to her, I didn't realize I had to specifically ask for a blow out, I thought it was automatic.  She just shook her head and said, no it isn't.  So there I was an hour away from home with a wet head completely bewildered.  I rushed home, rewashed my head and blow dried it myself in record time.  Needless to say, I have not returned to her and now do my own hair.

From Donna, a hairdresser's perspective:  #1.  Customer comes in "hot under the collar" because husband left the water turned to shower head and she started her bath water and it "rained" on her "do"...and blamed the hairdresser because it "frizzed"!  "Well, after all, I DIDN'T brush it!" --customer

#2.  Customer comes in with hair wringing wet because of sweating from working in yard in 90+ degree temp...and complains because hairdo did not last a WEEK!

#3.  Customer comes in complaining about a "piece" of hair that is sticking out behind her ear a week after initial shampoo/style...she is poking at it saying, "see this piece?  It has stuck out all week!" Hairdresser smooths piece down with hand and says, "see that?  It's gone!"

These are but a few of the many "hair-raising" tales from the "backside" of the chair.

To be fair, all the above stories are from "weekly" customers who feel that not one hair should move from its original spot that the hairdresser places it in from week to week.  Most customers who take care of their own hair in between cuts, perms & colors know the effects that wind, rain, sun and/or sleep has on hair.  But as a hairdresser, all my customers are important to me. . . it is just easier to remember the "memorable" ones!   LOL

ADD YOUR OWN BAD HAIR DAY TALES!  SEND THEM TO NANCY AT:   Nancy's Mailbox

 

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