The Hindrance of Hairdressers

 Afternoon guys,

I hate going to the hairdressers. Which could definitely be the reason why I haven't visited one in around nine months. This is actually quite common for me, and I haven't actually had a regular hairdresser since I left Uni, in 2005.

From the age of ten, up to around 19, I went to one hairdresser, and one hairdresser alone. We started using her pretty much from the day she opened her doors, and we stayed with her until she shut up shop. In those nine years, it never even crossed my mind to use anyone else. In fact, I spent the summer of 1997 sweeping up her floors and making cups of coffee for £15 a day, and coming to the firm conclusion that hairdressing was not where I wanted to be, in life.

For a while, I started using a large national chain, in both my home town and where I was at Uni, but after successive bad experiences:

• The first visit was fine, and the amount charged wasn't too bad.
• The second visit they claimed that they couldn't cut my hair dry, even though they'd done it last time, and of course charged me more for the pleasure of having a wet cut.
• My third visit was the worst. I arrived about ten minutes after they opened, and they weren't particularly busy, but the whole visit took an hour and half for a simple trim.
• I also wasn't impressed with how they put all these products on your hair, that you don't necessarily want, but go along with, only to find out at the end that they've charged you for the pleasure!! I wouldn't mind if they had told me that I would have been charged, so that I could have said no!!

After the third visit, I moved on.

During my final year at Uni, I started using a great independent hairdressers that was just across the road from my shared house, and they even did a fantastic job on my hair for my final year May Ball, which I was very happy with! I was very disappointed to have to stop using them, when I moved back home.

In the six years since then, I have used more independent hairdressers than I can name.

One my brother recommended because they were cheap. And yeah, they did a fab job, but whilst they might have been cheap for him, they certainly weren't for ladies cuts (noting that at that point my brother had his hair styled).

For a while, I used a dirt cheap hairdressers in my hometown (cheap as in £5) and I really should have known better. The girls working there were all more interesting in discussing their private lives with eachother than doing my hair, and I absolutely hated using them, other than the fact that they were cheap, and since I was (at that point) unemployed, I couldn't afford much better!

The best hairdresser I ever visisted, I only visited once before he shut up shop, and strangely, the only male that has done my hair (well, except the barber who used to cut my hair when I was about five!!). He was European (I was never 100% certain where he was from), and he was so passionate about his job, that it was a shame he had to close. But, he was obviously struggling because his prices were too cheap for his talents really. I mean, when I said what I wanted doing, he openly questioned whether it was the right style for my face shape and hair type. And he wasn't afraid to say what he thought would look good. It's a shame that more hairdressers aren't as driven as he was.

When I started working for a Motorhome Manufacturers in 2007, I started going to an up market hair salon, that I loved. It was the type of place where they have different levels of hair dressers, from the trainees to the Top Dogs, with varying price, which was nice. And they had fancy sofas, and brought you cups of tea. And, they actually had a proper conversation with you, not the half-arsed "going on holiday" type conversations that I'd had at the cheap hairdressers. They were a little expensive, but I liked them.

Unfortunately, since I've been working for myself, I haven't really been able to afford to go back to them, so I'd been visiting a nice-ish hairdressers. Nice in the sense that they were moderately cheap, but actually put effort into my hair. Not nice in the sense that I sometimes get the impression that they have somewhere better to be. Needless to say, I don't visit them very often, and now I've moved out of town, I don't have a hairdresser at all.

I can't really be the only person that has so much trouble choosing a hair dressers that feels right, can I? But, it really does seem that if you want a good one, you have to be willing to pay a little more money, or find that hidden gem whose talents really are wasted where they are!

Is anyone else fussy about choosing a hairdresser? I'd love to hear your stories, good and bad :)