When looking back on a bad haircut experience, it’s easy to laugh at yourself. But when you walk out of the salon with seven inches of your hair gone when you just wanted a trim, it is no laughing matter. You may even cry uncontrollably in the parking lot and the whole car ride home. Unfortunately, yes, I am speaking from experience.
To encourage healthy hair growth, it’s important to go get your ends trimmed every few months. Since I have wavy, poofy hair, it seems like it takes forever to grow, causing me to dread going to get it cut. I have even waited a year in between trims because parting with my hair has always been very difficult for me, even if it’s only 2-3 inches.
I’ve been trying to do better with going to get my dead ends cut more often. After waiting as long as I could, I decided it was time for a trim. I went to a cheap, chain hair salon because I didn’t want to pay a lot of money for such a simple haircut. I went in and asked for a few inches off. I was a little nervous, of course, but I decided to relax because really, how bad can a person mess up a trim?
Know the warning signs
When I first walked into the salon, the person I checked in with was less than welcoming. She gave me the impression that I was inconveniencing her for some reason, even though I was the only customer waiting. When I sat down in the salon chair, the hairdresser did not wash my hair. It’s hard to tell the length of curly hair when it’s dry, so I asked her if she was going to wash it. She told me that she was going to “wet it”, and she pulled out a spray bottle. I was a little bit confused, but I trusted that she knew what she was doing.
If you have a bad feeling about something the hairstylist is doing or the overall mood of the salon, don’t be afraid to tell them to stop or that you changed your mind. There is nothing wrong with this — it’s better to be safe than sorry. Looking back, I wish I would have questioned her because the final result of my hair ended up not only being much shorter than I had anticipated, but it was also very uneven, and I didn’t notice until I got home. Currently, it is still pretty uneven, but I’m too traumatized from this experience to go somewhere to get it fixed.
Make sure your orders are clear
When you tell the hairdresser what you want them to do with your hair, make sure that you are both on the same page. After all, you’re paying them to do what you want, and you should leave with a haircut you like. Don’t be afraid to speak up. If you aren’t vocal, you’ll regret it later. I never want anyone to go through the haircut situation that I went through, and it’s almost always avoidable if you make sure to give a clear description of what kind of haircut you want. If you aren’t on the same page, your hairdresser may have a completely different idea of 2-3 inches than you do. This should never be the case, but unfortunately, it can happen.
Go to a salon with good reviews
I wanted such a simple haircut, so it never entered my mind that I should go to a nicer, more high-end salon. I thought, “How could someone mess up cutting off two or three inches?” I had even thought about trying to do it myself or letting a friend do it. Now that I look back on my experience, I wish I would have researched some better salons near me. The salon I chose to go to was the first one to show up on Google, so I went with that one. It would have been worth it to pay a little more money and get a haircut that I really liked.
Chopping seven inches of your hair off is the kind of decision that you should get to make for yourself — the hairdresser shouldn’t get to decide for you. As sad as I was after my disastrous haircut, I realized a few days later that I never would have cut my hair short if it wasn’t for this situation. Now that I have gotten used to my short hair, I have to admit that it’s growing on me — literally.
Before my haircut:
After my haircut (and lots of tears):
After styling my new haircut:
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Edited by Madison Greer