Boycotting Hairdressers!!

I only go to a hairdresser every 2 years or so. (Mine taught me how to cut it correctly myself. I have long, wavy hair...it's very forgiving.) I spend GOOD money to get a really great haircut. I really think that's the only way I can manage it at home, getting an awesome cut. You get what you pay for, typically. The only nightmare experience I have is a lady who mangled my hair when I was in my early twenties. I had no money and resorted to super cuts. Boy, did I regret that!! I've been seeing the same person since then.

Find a hairstylist that gets really great reviews. Sites like Yelp can help with that.

I am a hairstylist. You are going to the wrong stylists. To having your hair botched by cut and color over and over in such a big way again is really unusual. That haircut is easy (albeit annoying) to grow out, the stylist simply needs to allow the layers to grow out while keeping the bottom a little short, then letting them all grow gracefully together out. It sounds like the stylist keeps relayering it all over again. You need to be very direct in explaining to the stylist that you are growing your hair out and that you are simply needing shape to help the grow out phase. Have pictures of what you are trying to achieve.

A good rule of thumb.... next time you see a woman with a great head of hair, like you would like, ask who her stylist is and make an appointment. It really is the best way to find a stylist.

As for the 6-8 week rule, it is a great rule of thumb for maintaining a shape, and for hair that is processed a lot, to remove those damaged ends. It shouldn't alter overall length. If growing the hair out, then by all means don't trim that often. I'm a stylist and I trim my hair only about 3 times a year b/c that is all it needs. Some styles do need more frequent trims.

Find someone experienced and down to earth, who will listen when you say "I want something very easy to maintain" or whatever your goal is, and ask what they suggest. When I get a new person, I am always clear with them: I don't do much more than comb it and dry it. I do not want a style, I want something very, very simple that doesn't require blowing out or product.

I'm right with you-- I do have a great lady who I see about every 2.5 months or so. She's been cutting hair for twenty years. Stay out of trendy salons; usually they hire young, cute things to cut hair and don't pay them well. Find someplace that the cutters work independently (that is, they pay for their space and set their own prices, etc.) A poor hair-cutter can stay on at some of the chain/trendy places for a while, but a bad hair cutter won't be able to afford to keep her space at an independently operated place. Most of the time, I wear pigtails anyway-- just so I can see what I'm doing.

Wow that is awful!! But I do have to say, why aren't you using the upper hand when you go sit down in the chair???!!! The first thing out of my mouth would be something like I am growing this and that, so DON'T TOUCH IT!!! And then I'd ask about her plan for growing it out, and tell her you only want to come back every few months, or whatever you want. You are the boss. I know some hairdressers might not like that, but if you really find ONE that you really like, and start to develop a relationship with her (or him) then they will definitely take great care of you. I'm with you in that they want to keep their clientele though. Hope your hair starts growing fast!!!!

I don't need to hear hairdresser horror stories right now! I just got my hair cut today by someone new because I had a Groupon for it. The hairdresser was 18 years old, so I'm guessing she didn't have a whole lot of experience. She flat ironed it, and it looks fine, but it always looks good when it's straight. I'm afraid to see how it looks after I wash it and it's curly again.

I find this with a lot of service related things - hair, auto repair, doctor's offices, restaurants, etc. It seems like no one cares anymore & they just want to get you out the door as quick as possible & take your money while they're at it.

The last expensive cut I got, the lady butchered me and didn't give me the cut I wanted at all - I even brought in a picture thinking it would help. She gave me bangs when i didn't want them, which took forever to grow out.

My problem is that it's the luck of the draw, unless you have a recommendation. Just googling a hairdresser & going to the first one you see may or may not get you that dream hair cut you're wanting. I think it's why I continue to deal with my split end, half dead, long arse hair. I just want a hairdresser who listens, gives constructive criticism, and won't screw me on prices.

If I trim my hair every SIX weeks, I get about 18-24inches per YEAR. As in measuring what's on me, not counting what got trimmed off.

((My family has a LOT of Norse blood. We don't just pack on muscle very easily, hair & nails -also protein based- also grow fast. I'm sure it's less dramatic in people whose hair grows less than 1-2 inches a month. But it's reeeeeally dramatic in fast hair.))

Only cutting 2-3 times a year I get 6" if I'm lucky. Most of it frayed and damaged / really should be chopped. It just keeps breaking and fraying to 'perpetual shoulder length'. But trim every 6-8 and I'm sitting on my hair in 2 years.

I hear you! I am also in 'layer hell'. I had finally made progress when a new hairdresser, who I told just a slight trim, went in and relayered everything! I am using the same strategy of just not getting the layers cut until they grow out. I went the other day and just had her trim the very bottom row a little so they wouldn't look as seperate 'carol brady' layers.

I have found that if I use my hot rollers and make kind of a wavy look the layers don't look as layer-y. Lots of ponies and half-ups too. I make them look a little more sophisticated by teasing the crown.

I'm with you. I've couldn't anyone find anyone who did great work in a timely manner so I stopped going. One time I asked for a specific cut and showed the stylist a photo of it. She assured me that she could do it. What she did looked nothing like the pic and it was ugly! It looked like something from way back in the 60s all I needed were some catseye glasses. Her excuse was that my hair was longer than the girl's hair in the pic. I made her wash it out and do the only thing she could do that was flattering on me.

I hope things get better for your hair. Four years is way too long!

Funny - I've done the same things with my hair - Posh to Katie Holmes!!!! Anyway - about 8 weeks ago we had a car repair that left me not only without an car to get to my appointment but a cost which I couldn't justify using money for a haircut (even if I had a way to get there)......so my hair started growing out and, I agree, it's kind of a pain. My hair is very thick so when the layers start growing out it takes much longer to style in order for it not to look weird or like a mushroom head!!! Anyway - last weekend I went for a trim and I was thinking of going back to the original cut - my stylist said, "I do like the cut we did but I really think I like the length right now. How about we just shape it up a little and see what you think?" I decided right then - there's a good reason I've been going back to her - not only does she listen to me but she is good at offering advice, etc.

She also knows, since my hair grows super fast, I tend to cut and then grow out every so often. So she 'gets it'.

So, during the time my hair was in the 'weird' phase I did a lot of ponytail holders, bobby pins, etc. to help the unruliness!!!!!

See mine is grown out - simmilar to yours with in a year. My hairdresser kept the hair longer in the front and gradually trimmed it all even over 4 appointments, now it's all good. I think you just did not have a hairdresser that knew how to grow out this cut and keep your hair stylish. I am working on getting it to my butt again - that took two years last time and I TRIM my hair 3-4 times a year on average because I like healthy looking ends. In addition, I am there anyway getting my hair dyed so ... may as well trim every other visit.

I only ever get my hair cut twice a year when it needs it (loses shape), and my hairdresser says I have "freakishly healthy hair". It grows fine and looks amazing! I get more compliments on my hair than anything else, even from hair stylists!

Honestly, my hair does need to be trimmed and have the gross split ends removed or it won't grow as quickly. I get more tangles when I have split ends, and more hair loss. There's so much more damage when I can't get it trimmed or cut every 6-to-8 weeks. So far this last time, I haven't had it trimmed since the end of March and there's no style, it's so split it's horrible, and I'm losing clumps of hair. But my husband is still out of work so I can't justify the expense right now. I've been wearing my hair up a lot, but that can cause stress loss so I have to be careful with that too. I've also been letting it go curly rather than blowing it out straight since curly hair covers up flaws in style better, but it's getting so bad that even the curls are starting to look like a bad perm.

::sigh::

I've also been moisturizing the heck out of the ends. It's really so bad that the treatments aren't really making a difference any more.

The whole 8 weeks thing IS really bunk, unless you're managing a style like Judy Dench or Ellen Degeneres has (so, short and layered). I'm a former stylist with a long, layered cut. I get my haircut every 3-4 months. I've been known to put it off 5-6 months, too. But I'm also kind to my hair, don't blow it dry or flat iron it every day, so I have minimal split ends. Also, I'm not sure what kind of bad dye job you received, but there is always hope in terms of correcting the bad color. You're going to pay an arm and a leg for someone who REALLY knows what they're doing, but it's better than having to hack it all off and start over in my book.