“The woman who cut my hair complained the entire time about the tangles, the length, how it hurt her arms, and how hard it was to cut,” says Cossman, of Tamarac, Fla. “I was horrified, and embarrassed by it. She also tried to thin out my hair, which has never been good for me.” With her curly tendrils in tatters, Cossman was devastated, but didn’t complain to the stylist. She just never went back.
Lesson Learned: Cossman is much more cautious now when choosing a salon. She conducts research and asks a lot of questions. “I have learned a lot about caring for my hair at NaturallyCurly.com, and that’s where I get my information,” she says.
Silver Lining: After perusing the stylist reviews on NaturallyCurly.com, Cossman finally found a curl-centric stylist in her area that she likes. “She was very easy-going and didn’t flip out when she saw all of the curls, and very thick hair, so I knew she was a patient stylist,” Cossman says.
Salon Snafu: You ask a new stylist to duplicate a previous cut.
At home for her college summer break a few years ago, Nina Mulder got a great curly cut. But when she returned to school in the fall, she wanted to find a salon nearby to maintain it.
After corralling a few recommendations, she took a chance on a stylist, who Mulder says did “an acceptable job.” So, when it was time for another cut, right before graduation, she went back to the stylist. This time, though, it was for more than just a little maintenance.
“Big mistake,” says Mulder, who wanted the same “super cute” cut that she originally received from her hometown stylist. The problem? It was a style that hairdresser had “sort of made up as she went along.” (Read: impossible to duplicate!) “It was kind of an inverted bob with a wedge in the back,” says Mulder of Denver, Colo.. “But when my new stylist tried to give me the same cut, she didn’t really understand what I wanted.” The result was a wedge that it resembled a buzz cut. “I told her that I thought the back was too short,” Mulder says. “She did offer to trim up the rest to blend it, but I was afraid it would look worse.”
Lesson Learned: “Just because I get a good cut from a stylist once, it doesn’t mean they’ll deliver every time,” Mulder says. “You need to be specific about what you do and don’t want EVERY time you get it cut.”
