Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about hairdressers.
I rarely, if ever, frequent hairdressers. I just don’t like them and I don’t enjoy the experience. This is for several reasons. One is that – despite several attempts – I have never been able to relax in their chair. Secondly, the cost is fairly prohibitive. Thirdly, and above all, of the half dozen or so ‘professional’ haircuts I have had, there has only been 1 I have been completely happy with. That’s it – 1 out of 6. That means on at least 5 occasions (as there may be times where I have gone to a hairdressers but have blocked the experience from my memory) I have come out feeling unhappy, dissatisfied and, in some instances, on the verge of tears (which is then aggravated by having to pay for the travesty that has been inflicted).
I’ll give you some examples – last year I had my hair cut off for Cancer Research. At the time it reached down to my waist and I asked for it to be cut off and styled in a pixie cut with a sweeping fringe. What I came out with was an asymmetric cut which had neither a sweeping fringe nor was of pixie length. (I had to go to a friend of my mum’s to get something even remotely like what I had asked for).
At my most recent cut – for which I frequented a hairdresser favoured by my mum who was eager for me to ‘neaten’ the straggly parts of my hair (a notion which I did not object to) – I came out with the straggly parts duly trimmed but also with subtle ‘adjustments’ to the front of my hair which included the parts further back being shorter than those in front creating an almost inverted v shape on either side of my head (if that makes sense – it certainly did not make for a satisfied customer).
I think the main cause of this is the fact that the majority of hairdressers have become ‘trendy’ - they focus on styles or cuts which are fashionable (often at the expense of the traditional, plain or downwardly popular). Now for the fashion-obsessed minorities, this is probably ideal (however unfortunate the outcome may be). For the rest of us it is at best inconvenient and at worst a complete nightmare as this means that what they will give you is - not the haircut you want but - the haircut they think you should have.
This Is Wrong.
It is my hair – I know what I do and don’t want done to it. I am the one who has to walk around with the result visible to all. If I ask for my hair to be chopped off and be given a pixie cut, I do not expect to be given an asymmetric trim with considerable length left in it. If what I am asking for is not suitable for me – fine – then I will learn from my mistake but it should be my choice to make.
(There is also of course the connected issue of why their ability to cut hair means they will know what will suit their client. It may be said/thought to go with the job but I know of so many instances when that has proven not to be the case.)
Also, I think another reason is that, as many people frequent hairdressers, the hairdressers themselves have an expectation that any haircut they give does not have to be long-lasting or low maintenance.
This is also wrong.
I am paying for A (singular) Haircut – not signing up for a hairdressing regime on which I am being forced to become dependent based on a) my lack of hairdressing skills or b) the inability of the business to give the customer what they want.
Not only is this unfair it is also infuriating – we should not be forced to repeat our unsuccessful custom especially when we have previously learned that this unlikely to result in us getting what we want or asked for.
(Given the so-called skill of these people) I should be able to get a haircut that is easily managed (or better yet requires little to no maintenance), matches what I asked for and what I want, and does not cost the earth. That is what would encourage me to return.
Also, as stylists are now creating ‘home brands’ which are designed to enable people to get ‘salon quality at home’ we should not be faced with barbers who seem to have the opposite intent.
But maybe I’m alone in this. Maybe I am one of a very few minority rather than those who do regularly frequent hairdressing salons and do come out with a haircut they wanted and/or asked for and therefore do not face this issue. But I can only speak from my experience.
What I struggle to understand is why it is so crazy to expect a hairdresser to dress YOUR hair in the way in which YOU want? It’s as if all hairdressers yearn to take part in elaborate and exotic hairstyling shows and the monotony and banality of the basic requests of their customers leads them to rebel in the only way they know how by attempting to add their own spin on these simple demands.
If this is the case then I feel they should stick to Girl’s World dolls and leave our own tresses blissfully unmolested. (Especially when they then want us to pay for what has been done to us).
I remember recently there was an advert in which restaurant patrons were invited to pay only what they thought their meal had been worth. The idea was to prove how cheap the vendor they were advertising was but oh, how I wish we could do that with hairdressers.
We should not have to put up with (and definitely not have to pay frankly ridiculous sums) for something which we did not and do not want, is irreversible (it is only through time and patience that the travesty inflicted on us can be eradicated), and affects our everyday lives. They see us for 30-40 minutes – everyone else sees us until it eventually grows out.
It is our hair – it should be our decision and our choice.
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