WingColors

I'm pretty simple when it comes to my hair. 1 guard and just shave it all. Nothing is more refreshing to me than a haircut so fortunately for me I have the total opposite experience as you. Of course my face doesn't allow me to grow enough facial hair to do anything cool with it and when I did grow my hair out everyone basically told me to cut it.

I always found that most people who go to get their haircut never like what happens unless they bring in pictures explicitly showing what they want done.

I just had my shortest haircut ever... After 18 months without one.

It's... different!

Hahaha. I think I might bring in a snapshot sometime, but usually my parents will spring a surprise haircut on me (because they know I don't want to get it cut), and if I refuse - I get the whole lecture about things totally irrelevant in some sort of attempt to convince me otherwise. They never end up convincing me, rather; I just get sick of the whining so i end up giving in.

I've been getting my hair cut by the same woman for about 10 years so now the hardest part is getting there.

@chris: I know what you mean. I've been going to the same woman for five years, since I started my professional career after college. Now, my issue is that two job changes later, I have to drive out almost half an hour out of my way to see her. This past week was the first time I've had a haircut from someone else when she wasn't out having her baby.

Kinda why I don't like going anymore, although I have no ability to do my own hair. But they always mess up my beard.

Ask thesirdanny about it, he knows how much I rant about my beard in the chatroom.

I too have had my hair cut by the same woman for several years now, so she knows exactly how I like it, right down to my favourite brand of hair wax. Now that's service!

One thing I will say, darkmotion, is that if it is too short, it will grow back, almost guaranteed.

*checks receeding hairline in mirror and panics...*

May I say that this thread is making me feel a little bit better about the haircut my poor 11 year old son got today?

I took him to my haircutter in the city, a guy I like a lot who's never seemed insane to me before. Before today, I mean.

My son's hair was very long and thick and a little out of control. It was so long I'd forgotten what his eyes look like. The instructions were -- clean it up a little. Poor thing, he came home with an 80s punk rock cut that's very cute, but very much not what other boys in his class are sporting. The fact that his brothers have been referring to it as a mullet all day has not helped him feel any better.

We've been practicing the "it's only hair" mantra all day. Tomorrow, he's going to supercuts to get it cut short. I don't think he'll ever forgive me.

But, hey. It's only hair.

:( My hair grows quick, buy only when I dont hope for it to grow a bunch. When it hits the optimum length, it then starts growing out of control and my parents make me get it cut.

I always tell the hairdresser to give me a haircut that fits my head. I've only had a few bad haircuts, and that's only because my parents were involved in it. Usually when I tell them how to cut it, it turns out alright.

I have to get my haircut quite often because it grows about 5 inches a day and they never get it right. The problem is when they say "how would you like it?" How the heck should I know? I'm not the hairdresser. I just want it to look nice! But just saying "nice" can lead to some ghastly results, I've found.

Maybe I should have asked for a crappy short haircut :)

1 guard for me too. I cut my hair weekly and I love it.

I have lots of hair dresser friends, whom all hate that term. They prefer stylists but then again I live in Los Angeles.

I digress, they have always said if a stylist gives you a crappy cut especially for men, it's because they don't know how to cut men's hair. It's not that they didn't hear your instruction. They just don't know how to execute it. Most stylists are trained to cut women's hair with very little instruction on men's.

They also say men are the ones that totally clam up and refuse to voice their opinion about their hair if they see something they don't like. Women are not like that, they stop a haircut as soon as they feel it's not going in the right direction.

So I would do two things, get another stylist and make sure you speak up if you see something you don't like. Remember, if you tell them they're going too short, they'll stop the cutting and just clean up what they've done. They're just as happy to get you out of the chair as you are.

I definitely will keep that in mind!

Best advice is to find a picture of what you want and take it in with you.

It could be a celebrity or even your hair in 2 weeks time.

The next time you get a haircut that you really like, ask the stylist to explain what they did so that you can explain it to the next person who cuts your hair. This includes knowing what tools they used. Most people I know who get their hair cut short know exactly what size of guard is used on the clippers.

Also, there's a disagreement going on in my house about whether 'a few' means three or seven. I think three, but Sam thinks it could be up to seven. Imagine if you had someone who thought like him cutting your hair.

Having just come back from the hairdresser/stylist/insert-appropriate-noun-here, I have to say I've had the opposite experience: it was lovely! The guy wasn't even chatty so I could sit there in silence for the entire time. Bliss as opposed to the usual small-talk you have to endure. I didn't have a picture or even a clear idea of what I wanted - I just sat down and said "I want something funky done with colour, not a lot done with the length, I trust you".

Long experience with crappy hair-cuts has taught me the value of trusting your stylist and, yes, the mantra of "it's only hair". Luckily for me I've had it very short in the past (about an inch) and every length in between till it was so long I could sit on it and I know that v.short suits me just as well as v.long. I'm just so blase about it now, it freaked my old stylist out completely! Now I just tell myself that if it really is that awful I can just shave it off again. Very liberating!

I cut my own hair, have for years. But I have a boring haircut, just take the electric clippers with a certain length set and go to town. It looks good, just nothing fancy.

I agree with Johny Favourite. When you like what your hair is doing, grab that cam and snap a picture. Front, back and side. That way, you know what it's supposed to look like and makes it much easier for the stylist.

If they still mess up, get a new stylist.

Before I go to a salon, I sometimes save pictures of hairstyles that I like on my mobile phone. I've had the same stylist for almost three years now but I still show him pictures to tell him how I really want it done.

I'm EXACTLY with you on every part of this, man! I'm just about to get my haircut, so I'm getting every precaution I can possibly do.
1) Checking out their lingo (what "cuts" are called online)
2) taking a picture with me (as I saw Johny-Favourite said to do.)
3) Making sure I get my hair cut at a good time--
a) When I don't have to work later (actually, I work tonight so I'm going to have to do it another time, so if it goes wrong I'll have time to figure something out. I don't work for a couple days after tonight.)
b) When I'm in a caffeine-adrenaline mode so I can make the hair stylist feel comfortable and hopefully have more communication so she does a better job.
4) I'm trying to figure out the sizes of these combs. I don't know what the hell the sizes are, either. haha

It's amazing how many things I have to go through just to avoid awkward moments. The haircut costs like, what, $15 with a tip? This much work, if it were a job, would probably be like $30-$40 without the actual pay and tip! (Meaning if it were recon. 'project summary' work.)

Last Fall I got a huge amount cut off; 14 inches! I was trying to meet my goal of becoming a little old lady with flowing white hair. Then I read about this organization (Locks of Love) that makes wigs out of real hair for people that medically need wigs. At the same time, I was having to wash my hair the night before, instead of the morning, because it took so long to dry. It also took huge amounts of shampo and conditioner. So I got it all cut off. It was scarey and I was anxious.
I like it now.

1 on sides and back
2 on top
==============
Makes me feel like a Space Monkey ready to shoot out into space.

Yea, I've had some bad experiences with hair cuts. Some of them because I'm an idiot and I don't think things through completely. But once it grows out a bit, things are back to normal.

Why hairdressers and a bad haircut always remind me of this children's story (cannot remember exactly)?,

"Okay, let me divide this equally for you two," so the fox broke the cake into half, "Oops, one is bigger than the other", "Well, let me give a bite to make the bigger one smaller," "Oops, now it's too small", ..."Oops, I trimmed too much here", "let me cut more from there", "Oops, too much again", oh, well, just make it short, mayber shorter...

Maybe, instead of having hair cut short, try to have it permed, curls make hair shorter too, and probably looks nicer (than a bad haircut)