Well, the title specifically says “for those of you who only go to high end salons”. We obviously don’t think it’s “insane” or the thread wouldn’t be this long.
I do need to have a “certain look”, it’s called looking good and enjoying what I see when I look in the mirror.
For those of you whose stylist messes up, I tell mine when she does. I’ve actually come back in and said “hey, I’m not happy with what my hair is doing here” and she fixes it. I don’t say it in a mean way-people are human and sometimes they don’t do hair perfectly, but if you don’t tell them, they don’t know. I’ll also say when she does a phenomenal job on my color-like once she experimented and threw a bunch of caramel lowlights in and I said “that’s so awesome! I want this every winter!” They need to know.
My stylist of 30 years just messed up - big time- this last visit. She uses a glaze after hi/low lighting. The glaze primarily strengthens and glosses the hair but it also amplifies the highlighted strands. We’ve been going a bit darker - more towards a honey toned blond.
Well, we decided to add a bit of copper last time around. And for some reason ALL of my hair liked that glaze. I didn’t realize it at the salon - and neither did she - but I was now a red head! Yikes. H stopped in his tracks when I got home and simply said - ‘well that is much different than anything you’ve ever done’. That made me curious…I actually let out a squeak when I looked in my mirror which is surrounded by natural light. Not really a ‘bad’ color - just SO not for my skin tone. That, and it just looked to me like that particular color which looks fake and ages people.
So, on stylist’s advice I washed immediately with a harsher shampoo than normal. Now I looked less red but a bit more orange. Tried for a few more days - still not pretty. On a Sunday I texted her and asked for help. I was her first appointment the next day. Not only did she fix everything, I walked out with a bag full of very expensive products.
I figure one mishap in 30 years, at about 5-6 visits a year are not bad odds. I should be so lucky in Vegas.
" get it cut maybe 5-6 times a year for under $20 each time. It looks great when I get a good stylist, other times it looks ok, but that has happened to me at both high end salons and Great Clips"
I’m someone who goes to Great Clips myself (I get a “good” haircut maybe once or twice a year) but I get sooooo tired of the reverse snobbery on CC about self-care. It goes like this -
Oh, I wouldn’t dream of spending anything on myself - It’s so superficial. I run the lawn clippers over my hair. I haven’t bought new clothes since the Carter administration. If you put me in a 1-inch heel I’d topple and fall over. I never, ever go anyplace where a cat sweatshirt isn’t appropriate. If someone told me to put on lipstick, I wouldn’t have a clue where it would go. Etc.
When D1 was 18 she said, “I am superficial and I am fine with it.”
My 80 year old mom tells me, “You only have one face, take good care of it.” I guess I could say the same about my hair too.
I pay a lot for a cut, but color myself. Some things I am willing to pay a lot for, and some not so much. @oldfort, I once said to my younger son - “so, do you think you are a … snob” and he shook his head up and down. I’m not saying that’s a good thing, but he does recognize he has a pretty nice life and he appreciates it.
My other son really doesn’t care much about money, and he is not at all brand conscious. BUT, when it came to college, he said he wanted to go to a “prestigious” (aka expensive) school.
@jym626, I went to the same salon for probably 12 or more years. But the guy started taking phone calls during my appointment, and other thing that were wasting my time. I drove fairly far to get to the guy, and sometimes hired a sitter. I stopped going to him, and did not let him know why or communicate in any way. I did feel somewhat like I was cheating on him or something.
I drive a ways to my current hair person. I actually tried someone else recently, but they gave me “helmet head” and I decided my gal was worth driving for. Plus, we have become friendly over the many years I’ve seen her. (More than 10).
Checking in. Just came from a salon (it’s an Aveda salon). Partial highlight $130. Cut $40 (but I have no special person for cut, just whoever was available). Eyebrow and eyelash tinting $45. Tips on top of that.
The woman that cut my hair before my current one was fine, but I realized that I got the same cut every time. It was also the same cut as my two daughters and two of my friends that went to her. I asked for something different and she said no, we had reached perfection. I never went back. One of the reasons I have stayed with this one for >10 years is because we have an agreement that she will never cut my hair the same way twice. That’s a lot of creativity. I have not always liked the cut and once I went back and had some oddities fixed. My hair is between short and very short at all times. Right now I’m doing a sort of Claire Underwood look. Without the wardrobe and body to hang it on.
I recently had a fun experience: a celebrity hairstylist who makes house calls! It was “only” $200, including tip - for me, definitely a splurge! My H urged me to do it, so it’s how “we” celebrated our wedding anniversary.
He has done makeovers on TV, and I asked him for advice about a good hair style for me, color, etc.
Due to his recommendations I am now in the painful process of growing out my bangs.
My hair looked really fabulous when he styled it. It still looks pretty good when I do it - it’s a great cut.
This thread reminds me of a friend who’s mom went to the same hairstylist for 35 years and paid her $5 a week for a set and dry till the day she died and when she died, the gal came out and did mom’s hair for the open viewing and mom looked great! Moral of the story, stay true to your stylist, and she’ll stay true to you
: )
Ps I pay $140 in LA for color and hilights and I get lots of compliments and feel great after it’s done. Been with her for 15 years she’s watched the kids grow up. Worth!
I now know how much a full head of color costs at our GJ. $105!!! Niece had to get her wild colored hair redone in an even wilder one. If they had a natural head to start with, it would have been $65.
I go to an Aveda salon in central Florida. Haircut: $80. Color touch-ups: $65. Keratin treatment every four months: $185. Required hair care products: about $30/month. I add a tip for the stylist and/or color specialist AND a gratuity for the assistants who do the washing, conditioning, and arm massages. My hair in Florida needs all the help it can get!
^^I won’t go to salons that farm me off to different people. I loathe that. I feel like I’m being shuttled around like a piece of meat. I pay a lot of money for the same person to stay with me all three hours.
^^^ I don’t agree with that position at all! Why should a highly experienced stylist wash your hair if there is staff that is being trained and is more entry level that can do those tasks that don’t require the level of skill for which you are paying? I happen to go to a “sole practitioner”, so she does it all for me, but when I went to larger salons I didn’t have any problem with more junior staff taking care of the non-skilled tasks.
If they had a natural head to start with, it would have been $65.