I did schedule my next appointment when I left the previous one – but it didn’t do me any good – I just got cancelled on over and over. Sometimes 2 weeks out they’d need to reschedule but too many times that morning I’d get cancelled.
And yes, I do a single process color, plus highlights every 3 months. I am going to be 60 this year, have almost no grey, and strangers think I am 40-something. Always amazed that I have 20-something kids!
Good hair cuts/color and lots of sunscreen and hats as a child!
Multiple cancellations on short notice is completely unacceptable. I have been rescheduled twice with my current stylist. One was the day before, due to a death in the family. The other time it was a couple of weeks before, and they were able to reschedule a few days later.
I almost never have to wait. Often if I’m there a few minutes early she’s ready for me. I did once have a 15-20 minute wait and they discounted the price.
I’ve cut my own hair for many years. Last year I started coloring it at home. Much easier than I thought. I’m happy with it. My hair is forgiving. I also cut my sons’ and H’s hair for many years, until the boys got older and wanted different styles that I wasn’t able to do. Now they go to Great Clips. Every holiday season you can buy gift cards for 9.99 haircuts (instead of the usual $14). So I put enough on the cards to get them through the year.
For those whose (pricey) stylists treat them with disrespect, just go elsewhere. They don’t deserve your business. Obviously they don’t care enough to give good customer service, so you shouldn’t worry about offending them by walking away.
I just switched, at my girlfriends’ request, actually to one of friend’s hairdressers. She gave me angles, not just blunt. Second time, she darkened color and added bangs. She spent time showing me charts of colors and explaining her goals. That is an advantage of starting new. My gym friends were complimentary.
My g/ f has used this woman for years, and follows her to different salons.
I am loyal to my physicians and dentist. I find I procrastinate even making an appointment with a specialist, someone I don’t know. I’m much more scared of having a colonoscopy by a stranger than I am a haircut.
Abasket: I have the exact same problem. Curly hair that I like curly and every stylist in the world wants to blow dry it straight. Just want you to be prepared that the next one you go to will want to do the same. You just have to very firmly let them know what you want and if they won’t do it, find another until you get to one that listens.
I color my hair all year and at hair cut time go to a salon. They don’t do any better job than I do and I have to listen to the “you’re not doing it right and you should let me straighten” it talk. I have a stylist now that will at least listen after she lectures on how much better I’d look if she could blow dry it straight. I’m not trying to look like I’m in my teens but I also don’t want an old lady cut.
I’ve never had a hairdresser cancel or change my appointment. I suppose it could happen for a good reason, but it sounds like it happens often for the OP and if it were me, I’d change for that annoyance alone. Same with those who are going to someone who really doesn’t listen and do what they ask to have done. In some ways, making a change may be a pleasant experience and getting a new perspective from a new stylist. Loyalty only makes sense when you are truly pleased with a service.
I was in a similar situation with a long-time stylist who always did the same thing with my curly hair. The last straw was when I asked her not to straight-iron it and her response was, “If I don’t do that then I don’t know what to do with your hair.” That was kind of obvious to me, but hearing her say it finally convinced me to change stylists. It took me awhile of researching for stylists who know how to handle curly hair to find someone else.
@abasket I also have short curly hair and I cringed when I read your post. She actually brushes your hair? I can’t even imagine what I would look like if my stylist tried to brush my dry hair.
I have a decent stylist that I have been going to for years but she tends to want to cut my hair in a certain way that doesn’t grow out well. I have to be very specific each time I go in but she is very accommodating.
I read somewhere that you should call a big salon and ask the receptionist which stylist does the best job with curly hair. The receptionist usually has the scoop.
Edited to add - My stylist recently had appendicitis. She had to cancel on me but made sure to let me know that another stylist could take me.
I think it’s a good idea to change hairstylists. Those of you with stylists for 25 years - have you changed your haircut and style and kept it up to date? (if not, here’s your friendly reminder you don’t want to look like your last update was before your kids were born) Sometimes a change in stylists updates the hair or gives a new look.
I was with one guy for about 7 years. He ran late a lot. It was annoying to drive 45 minutes to sit for another 45 minutes. I’d even call ahead before leaving and asking if he was on time to be told he was and to arrive and wait.
My current stylist is on time, and is much faster. It used to take 3 hours to do my hair, now it gets done in 2. I get foiled - using 4 different colors. It’s also a better cut. It took me a few stylists and salons to settle on her.
Honestly, there’s not much to “update.” I have straight hair, I part it on the side, and wear it in between my chin and shoulders depending on how much I decide to get cut at any one time. (Last night I got over 2" cut off.) As long as I have it long enough to be able to pull back in a ponytail for working out. Sometimes I get some layers in. Sometimes I don’t. Sometimes they angle more towards my face, sometimes they don’t. It is pretty much the same basic cut I have worn for the past 25 years and really don’t see any reason I’d change anything dramatically. It’s low maintenance - for going out, I’ll use a curling iron on the ends and every now and then on the bangs. I go wherever - Great Clips, etc - and on an erratic schedule.
For me, hair color is the area that makes a difference - I get it highlighted (helps cover gray) and for that, I’m loyal to one person / salon. I’ll pay the $ for the highlighting, but I don’t pay the $ for the cut.
OP - I have to wonder if they even know that you have been going there so long. To me it sounds like you are being treated like someone who wanders in off the street. I would go somewhere else.
I feel the same about updating my hairstyle as I do my furniture. Unless you’re really trendy, some looks are timeless and hair only does so much. I also have no trouble wearing “last year’s” styles.
I’ve changed my style (and color) several times. I have extremely curly and very frizzy hair but I like to wear it straight so my stylist needs to understand that not every cut works on me. What I usually do when I’m ready for a change is just tell my stylist to do whatever she wants. It’s worked very well for me.
OP–it’s time for a change. Agree with the above advice on finding someone who can work with your hair–ask the receptionist when you find a salon. Also, ask your friends/kids for salon recommendations.
I go a salon where two different people do coloring and cutting. I always get the same stylist for coloring–she’s really good–I do a two-step process. First, coloring the gray and then a process called bayalage, which is a method of adding highlights so that they look quite natural. My daughter found the stylist and persuaded me to go.
Yep, I’d walk, too. I pay $125 for a cut and highlight/lowlight every 5 weeks, and for that price, plus tip, I expect excellent service. You should tell them why you have decided to leave. If they start losing longtime customers, they may decide to fix their scheduling issues or risk going under.
I do think you get what you pay for sometimes, and unless your haircut only takes ten minutes, and you are a long time client, I can’t imagine only charging $10.
When I did hair, which was 35 years ago, we charged $40.
That included a consultation, a shampoo, the cut and a blow out. It took an hour.
But we never had to cancel an appt because the stylist wasn’t there.
We didn’t even have no shows, because they knew if they didn’t show up, they would never be able to show their face at the salon.
We did have leeway for one client who had agoraphobia. She would call the morning of, and say that she just wouldn’t be able to make it in, poor thing
Absolutely you should change if the shop isn’t responsive to your needs and gives poor customer service.
I often do my own hair now to save time. I still occasionally cut my Ds hair for the same reason.
Bookworm, I just had a colonoscopy by a dr I had never met before & it went great.
Somethings you just can’t do at home.
Yes, I’ve been anywhere between very, very short (think Demi Moore in Ghost), to a few inches past my shoulders, without bangs, and with, angled or not, layered and not. Every time I’m ready for a change, I will tell her and we will talk about it and how a length change can be done to look current.
I’m boring, I guess, but I have had the same hair style for years and years and I don’t care about being “up to date.” I don’t have highly styled hair or layers and it is easy to cut.
If I could change my hair, it wouldn’t be the style but I’d want more hair. Unfortunately, I can’t control that.
You aren’t wrong, I know that hair salons are notorious for attitude, the stereotypes you see in movies and tv shows are not all that much exaggerated, where you should be grateful that “Mr Roger” condescended to cut your hair…what that sounds like is they take you for granted, and one of the first rules of business is not to take good customers for granted, the person who is a pain in the tail who always cancels, complains about everything, you let walk, but a good customer?
We (my family and I) have been going to the same woman in NYC since my S was about 3 (he will be 20 this year!!!), and she is like family (she has her own business, which makes a difference), and she has just been incredible with all of us, and we trust her, she uses products that she feels are better and safer than most commercial products, and with my wife (me, I am simple, other than keeping the gray at bay, my haircuts have been pretty standard, other than the period when I let it grow out long and had it in a pony tail, when I still could lol) she is always suggesting new ways to do her hair and such. I she needs to cancel an appointment on us, we know there is a reason for it because it has happened so rarely, and if we have an emergency and need to cancel last moment, she won’t charge us for the missed appointment because she knows we are always very responsible with appointments.
I would find someone else, I would also tell the Salon manager (or the owner(s), if you know them) why you are leaving, and I also would use Yelp and other online review sites to let people know what you think, too.