The Gilded Crow: October 2010

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Perils of Finding a New Hairdresser

Having your hair done does not come cheap these days. Even as a brunette, I'm finding that upkeep of a certain style and/or colour is super exxy, and must be retouched often.
And worse - I'm not happy with my current hairdresser. They charge through the roof, which would be OK if they did an amazing job...but they don't. I constantly have to request them to thin out my hair more because it's super thick, and they have issues with colour shade requests. You would think that having a client who knows exactly what they want would make their job easier, but I must be speaking a different language. "Violet-brown with a side-swept fringe and layering just above the jawline" is not rocket science, though.

I spent an hour last night trawling local Vogue Forum posts tallying up hairdresser recommendations and I've come to realise that it doesn't matter what anyone says - hairdressing is such an individual taste and for me at least, it's as much about the experience while you're there as the end result. I can handle hair issues a couple of weeks after the appointment if they always serve a glass of wine and have the sweetest nature around (and not too much gabbing, I like to read my magazine thankyouverymuch). And if they're snobby or can't take direction, it taints the experience for me even if my hair turns out amazing. People who post on such style forums and provide recommendations are usually people who have been with the salon for years and have forgotten what fresh talent/skills are, so of course they're going to recommend the only thing they know. Even worse, they're the hairdressers themselves posing as clients and getting free advertising by writing a super-positive review.

I've realised that I'm just going to have to try out the hairdressers myself and weed the bad from the good. It's a costly, dissatisfying, possibly very lengthy process, but what can you do? I've booked my first appointment with the first new cab off the rank, Shi Hairdressing in Kingston. Stay tuned for results/review/copious weeping and shaved head.