When Should You "Break Up" With Your Hairdresser?

Posted 07/18/11 at 11:49AM by Audrey Fine

Whichever planet rules "happy hair days" must be in major retrograde because a bunch of people I know have been having a tough time with their styles lately. First, I went temporarily bonkers and box-colored my blonde, highlighted hair an unimaginably bad red. Then my friend Lynn got extensions that make her look (and feel) like Bozo Barbie. And now, my sister-in-law, Cathy, may have to break up with her longtime stylist because he went all Christina Ricci on her hair and she's stuck with awful, way-too-short bangs.

Poor Cathy. She's one of those perfectly groomed, overall fabulous women that we'd all love to be. She works hard at maintaining all aspects of her life and does a wonderful job of it. That's why she feels so ... what's the word? Let down, betrayed, even deceived by her stylist (let's call him Richard).

She and Richard have been together since 1989. He's become a friend, a confidant, an advisor who helped her arrive at her signature honey-blonde highlights and Jennifer Aniston-worthy layered style about 20 years ago. That's why she feels so blindsided by what happened. Here's the Cliff's Notes version...

It was an average, run of the mill, Tuesday afternoon cut/color appointment like so many others before it. Cathy sat in the chair. Richard unexpectedly said, "How about we mix it up a little -- give you a pretty bang?" and Cathy, who'd never had reason to doubt him before, agreed. An hour later she -- with her way too short bangs -- was crying in the car. (The fact that her youngest daughter burst into tears and repeated "Oh no, I hope Daddy doesn't divorce you now," over and over again, didn't help matters.)

Now, of course, this isn't the end of the world. Cathy's bangs (which truly are terrible) will grow out and that'll be the end of it. But, in the meantime, there's the high school reunion that she was looking forward to (she's not so sure anymore -- a baseball cap at a nighttime function doesn't really cut it) and the bigger issue -- will she break up with Richard and find a new stylist? Was his error so egregious as to warrant a split or does everyone "make mistakes?" What do you think? Would your trust in your stylist be shattered? Would you move on to someone new?

And the survey says...

1-6 of 8 Comments

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Posted by EricaC123 on 12/30/12 at 06:57am

Thanks

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Posted by kimihavens on 12/27/12 at 03:53pm

Dump him!

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Posted by beautybody on 03/26/12 at 09:39am

I guess if I want to cry after an appointment than I might breakup with my hairdresser. But, if I had a long term relationship that always made me feel beautiful then I would overlook it as long as there weren't any repeat incidents.

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Posted by taryn.romero on 10/05/11 at 10:41am

Maybe I'm in the wrong but doesn't everyone one have an off day once in awhile? Sometimes people deserve an opportunity to correct what they did wrong before you walk away and never look back. After all, it's just hair it grows back, just try out different ways to style your hair until it's back to where it was in the first place.

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Posted by bloggingbeauty on 08/18/11 at 08:09am

I had been going to the same salon for almost 3 years, my usual stylist (who is a family friend, hence why I went to her) was unavailable, one of her other hairdresser cut my hair. When I went home I looked at my hair and to my dismay discovered that half of my hair was at least 2 inches shorter then the other side. I have since moved on to a better salon and have not gone back there since.

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Posted by attagirl on 07/24/11 at 12:23pm

I understand the poor thing was in shock, but she should have told him right away. That being said, I know how she feels. My former stylist made the mistake of taking a personal phone call while she was supposed to be trimming my hair and took of waaay too much. We had already discussed how much needed to come off, so that was the last time she saw me.

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