Saturday, March 03, 2007

Frivolousity

I am having a good hair day.

I got my hair cut last week. Why is it that when i get my hair cut the person cutting it feels compelled to style it in a manner that i cannot, and do not want to reproduce? She puts on goo, and blows it dry with round brushes and then, as a finishing touch, puts on more goo. It's all straight and beaten into submission. I like a little curl in my hair. At least i have cured her of using hair spray.

I had to come home and wash my hair to see how it would really look. I wonder if she would freak out if i asked her to let me dry it and then i could see how it really looked.

Anyone a hairdresser out there? What do you think?

29 comments:

Antonia Cornwell said...

The main reason I have had long hair for most of my life is that I genuinely far prefer a visit to the dentist than to the hairdresser.

I have long hair now: no surprise. I never use so much as a blowdryer on it, let alone shining/spritzing crap. Hairdressers don't understand this. I once paid £££!! for a haircut that looked good with a blowdry and weird cylindrical brush thing and spray-on spaff but when I washed it? My hair was just two different lengths. The guy had cut a shelf into it.

Pet peeve. Can you tell? I'll stop now and let someone else get a word in.

jaded said...

Good hair days are Excellent! Missus Chica feels the same way Antonia does. she hasn't had a professional haircut in like five years maybe? The last hair cut she had was about a two years ago, a friend did it. she had about 14 inches cut off and mailed it to Locks of Love. She needs to do it again, and send another donation, preferably when Mister Hombre is out of town (dude likes long hair).

Cool! You got the badge to work.

amusing said...

I have scoured this entire provincial town masquerading as a city for someone who knows how to cut hair. Gave up and went back to NYC where the darling salonista asked me if I'd done this myself. I assured her I hadn't and she was appalled that a salon had.

The blowout is a) something they can charge you for and b) meant to be a treat (they pretend you can recreate it at home, but I could only pull it off if I were able to remove my head).

Last time I got a cut in NYC there was a timing glitch and they didn't charge me for a blowout. It dried into amazing ringlets that they all played with on my way out the door.

So, I'd say feel free to ask to blow it out yourself, or to say you just want it to dry on its own. I'm going to start doing this just to save some $$, I think. Even though I do love to see how glamorous I look when they do it.

Lynn said...

I just got my haircut today. I always say that I need "wash and wear hair." That way no one wastes time "messing" with it. I just had an ephiphany...the reason they call the person who cuts your hair a "hairdresser" is so that they can spend time (any your money) actually dressing your hair with gel, spray, and various other goos. Did you like how your hair cut turned out?

Unknown said...

A bad haircut and perm ruined my life once. It was right before I went off to college. Think Annie on top with long hair extensions.

Now I get it cut every five years or so and send it off to Locks of Love.

(P.S. go talk to Schmoopie. She's making plans for when I'm in Seattle. Woot!)

thailandchani said...

I'm not a hairdresser but I'll betcha they would absolutely not let you do that. LOL


Peace,

~Chani

meno said...

antonia, i'd rather go to the ob-gyn than the dentist. I just look/feel better with short hair. I had long hair as a callow youth, but frankly, i just have shitty hair, so long hair is not really an option.

patches, many dudes like long hair, but mine doesn't care, as long as i still have the other essential parts. :)
I like my badge.

amusing, god, a bad haircut will give you the willies for a long time. I don't think it will save me any money if i ask to dry it myself, but it would save me some grief.

lynn, i do like my hair when i do it, but i don't like the poufy shit she gives me.

nancy, i had that perm once too. It took DECADEs, i swear, to grow out. I don't think locks of love would want my brown hair with natural (grey) highlights. I will contact smoopie. This is exciting.

chani, i think she'll be offended. I don't want an offended person near me with scissors.

Anonymous said...

UGH! It's KILLING me! One of my favorite bloggers (I thought it was Tense Teacher, but I can't find the post) was JUST complaining about this very thing! About how stylists feel the need to turn us into someone we don't recognize (and use enough products that it takes two shampoos to get it all out).

I've managed to get my stylist down to a little scrunching and some hair gel - I don't let her blow dry my hair anymore because - and she agrees - it just turns me to a mass of frizz.

I think it's something they teach them in beauty school.....

Anonymous said...

why is it so difficult to get hairstylists to understand that most of us want a nice looking haircut that's simple to take care of? maybe they have a quota of products they're supposed to use in a certain amount of time or something...

Special K ~Toni said...

I am with you on this one- hubby doesn't understand why I come home and jump into the shower- I want my hair to move and not be stiff with their 'goop'.

Tracy Helgeson said...

I had a girl who did my hair for about 6 years and she actually looked at my hair when I came in and then after the cut/color styled it in a similar manner. I cried when we moved away and still yearn for her...

My current person though is fine though. She pulls it straight with a brush, if I let her style it at all. Usually though I just tell her not to bother, I am going right home and don't care if it is still wet, she is happy to move on to her next client. I have also asked her if I could dry it and she has been fine with that too. We're kinda friends at this point so it's cool either way.

That's what you should do-make friends with her.

Joan said...

I too had my hair cut this week and, as always, I came home and stuck my head under the kitchen faucet to wash out all the goop. Since my hair is unmanageably wavy, my hairdresser uses every product at her disposable to try and make it behave. Me...I try and use nothing except my blowdryer and brush and, if I manage to make it look OK, that's when I decide the cut is a good one.

This cut seems to be acceptable although I usually have to wait a week to really decide. It seems my hairdresser is only capable of giving me a good cut every other time I see her. What's with that???

gary rith said...

I cut my own hair. I have nobody to blame or thank but myself. A satisfying approach. But then I am a guy who could care less about hair, and I have hair that could care less about me. My cat has no opinon.

Gordo said...

I'm with Gary. My wife gave my clippers for Christmas a few years ago and I shear myself whenever it starts to need attention in the morning. Bed head is an indicator of an impending haircut.

It's funny the way people seem to be on similar wavelengths. I posted about my boys' hair yesterday. :-)

Girlplustwo said...

i always ask my hair madame to not put that crap in my hair, because it's false, see..that one drive home where you have completely different hair.

Susanne said...

This is why I just love, love my hairdresser and the salon where she works. That salon won't style your hair. Period. At the end of cutting they give you any brushes, dryers or whatever you want. When you leave you look just like you'd do at home. And to top the woman who cuts my hair actually manages to cut it in a way that it even looks good when I do nothing with it.

I once asked her about changing my look and she said, "Well, but you don't style your hair anyway so it wouldn't look good on you."

(And my husband wonders why I'm traveling 45 minutes to get a haircut and let it grow out when the hairdresser was on maternity leave...)

Oh, and I have a machine for cutting my husband's and son's hair foolproof, cheap and good looking.

amusing said...

Yeah, see, all these comments just prove that there is a paucity of actually good hair people out there. The "beauty schools" are a sham and most haircuts are crap. That's why I gave up and left Provincial Town to go back to NYC to get my hair cut. You can just tell if a person has a clue by the way they hold the scissors, use the comb, where they choose to start cutting.

I'm in agony when I take the Youngest for a cut because his is so straight every mistake shows (and his wretched father takes him to the most awful place -- might as well do it himself...). The Eldest has such curls I cut it myself because all the mistakes are hidden in the ringlets.

I keep trying to get the NYC folk to take the gospel to the 'burbs, but I haven't had any luck so far. It could be a charity right off; they could travel in large RVs like the charity doctors and dentists who go through Appalachia....

meno said...

mrs.chili, i go to kind of a fancy place for a haircut, maybe i'd be better off a Supercuts, where they don't do anything other than cut.

holly, mine has stopped asking me about the products, because i never buy any. The funny thing is that the Mister always comes home from Supercuts with new stuff for his hair.

toni, i think you ladies have given me the courage to ask for what i want. No more goo and fancy styling!

tracy, that is sad. :( I like the lady who cuts my hair, but i haven't been brave enough yet to ask her to please let me do it. I will, and if she won't let me then i will go elsewhere.

joan, mine seems to turn out differently every day. That's okay, it makes it an adventure.

gr, i usually cut my bangs between visits, but she can always tell! I might cut my own hair if i could stand behind myself. Your cat DOES have an opinion, she/he is just not telling.

gordo, eh, you guys always stick together. I saw that about the boy's hair.

jen, Em climbed in the car and looked at my hair and told me that i "looked like a Bellevue housewife." The final insult.

suzanne, an honest hairdresser! Imagine that. So, is your haircutting devive a Flowbee?

SUEB0B said...

I am so with you and Antonia on this one. I have said over and over how I HATE to put goop in my hair and I HATE to use a blow-dryer, but still they insist on turning my head into a confection.

Last time I cut my own bangs. They look like I cut them, but they don't hang in my eyes anymore. I am girding my loins for the next haircut.

Kellyology said...

I've been going to my hairdresser for so long now that she just let's me style it myself. Then she makes sure that the cut is working and only charges me for a wet cut.

Of course I am known for being totally blunt, and she was probably tired of me telling her to quit giving me helmet head!lol

Mother of Invention said...

I hate going to hairdressers and only go 4 times a year to get highlights and a trim. I have shoulder length straight fine hair so I just put it up in clips and scrunchies. Too high maintenance if you have to put all that "Product" on it! They've even stopped trying to sell it to me now!
And I don't want to read about anyone's thick curly hair!!
I went for years dreading Perms!

Carolie said...

God, I miss my hairdresser. Finding a good hairdresser is like finding a good mechanic.

Tammy ROCKED...she understood when I asked for a 1/2" trim, I didn't mean cut off 4" and give me a shag cut while you're at it. She also understood that I don't blowdry my hair. I need all my brain cells, and see no reason to point a gun of hot air at my head. My idea of styling my hair is to leave for work with it wet, and roll down the window to dry it.

Tammy cut it so that it just *did* what it was supposed to do. When I moved away, I used to drive 4 hours round trip four times a year so Tammy could cut it. Now I'm in Japan, and the commute is just a little long.

I miss Tammy.

meno said...

amusing, that is a brilliant idea, like the bloodmobile, only better.

suebob, i've decided to take a stand next time and insist upon no crap and no rolling my hair into a helmet. Be strong.

kelly, that's the advantages of staying in one place. Your hairdresser is all trained.

moi, you know, i used to have really straight hair, but as i've gotten older, it's become slightly wavy. I like it. No think curly hair here. That's the hair my mom has. She always used to say (use a high pitched voice here "You got your dad's awful hair!"

carolie, a moment of silence for the absent Tammy. *sniff* I feel your pain.

Abigail S said...

Soooo true about hair dressers styling it oddly. One time, the hair dresser poofed my hair so much, I looked like I had a fro! Terrible!

There have been several times where I came home and saw they cut it crookedly, so I had to have a roomie fix it for me!

dmmgmfm said...

Once in awhile my hair dresser takes the time to straighten mine, but most of the time she lets me go home with it wet and wild.

I kind of like it when she straightens it, but there's no way I'd ever be able to get it to look like that myself.

heartinsanfrancisco said...

I have had long hair most of my life because of haircuts which made me look like a little boy in drag.

I had it cut recently, and while I don't love it, I can stand it. This is progress.

They ALWAYS try to style it perfectly straight just because they can. It is naturally wavy, and I have no skill with implements. I regard hairspray with the fondness vampires have for garlic. (I have never had a hair style that I cared to preserve, anyway.) When short, it pouffs out, which is why I'll be growing it again.

Orange said...

I had been going to the same stylist in my neighborhood for about 10 years. I got her to give up the goop, and I like getting my hair dried by a professional, but she kept giving me layers and not quite getting the fact that I WILL NOT BE STYLING MY HAIR. I wash my fine, straight hair and blow-dry it so the bangs have a little life, but I only blow-dry about a third of the rest of my hair.

A year ago, I went to an expensive stylist who UNDERSTOOD when I said "I need something that I can basically wash and wear, because I'm not going to use any products and I don't spend much time blow-drying." All he's doing is giving me a regular bob above the shoulders, but he cuts so expertly that a cut lasts longer, and there's never a strand that's too long. (I was always evening little bits out with the previous stylist.) He does use a little bit of product when he dries my hair, but I'm OK with it.

Andrea Frazer said...

I know exactly what you're going through, and have no advice other than the difference between a good, and a bad, haircut is two weeks. More dare, better hair!

Bobealia... said...

A lot of hairdressers here charge extra for the blowdry.
I say do it.