I saved this interesting article I read in Paula’s Choice January-February 2011 newsletter just to share it with you. It’s about the things your hairstylist shouldn’t be doing to your hair. Unfortunately, other than #1, I get the rest all too often. I used to feel guilty telling my hairstylist to stop doing a certain action to my hair for fear of her disliking me. It took me many years to realise that at the end of the day, it’s MY hair, and I’m the one paying for it (with hair, scalp AND money).
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1. Have an oily scalp? Tell your stylist to skip applying conditioner to the roots of your hair
No matter what the claim on the product or how much menthol or eucalypstus it contains (which has no benefit for hair or scalp) it will just make your oily scalp feel greasy faster. Conditioners contain emollients which are great for hair but a problem for someone with an oily scalp.
2. Ask them to please not be so rough on your hair
Here’s what happens: You’ve just gotten done with a wonderful shampoo and then to dry your hair, the stylist or assistant takes the towel and begins to roughly rub it over your entire head and the length of your hair. This is a BIG no-no. Any kind of friction over your tresses breaks down the hair shaft, eventually causing split ends and breakage. They’re supposed to press, dab. and squeeze to dry the hair, not rub it around. If more stylists (or their assistants) did this, they would spend less time smoothing damaged, unruly hair when it’s time to style it.
3. Only comb wet hair in sections; don’t try to get a brush through tangled hair in one fell swoop.
Combing hair is small sections is far better for the hair and your scalp. The problem? Some stylists just plow through your hair without a thought to what they are doing. Maybe they don’t know how hard it is on the scalp and the hair to try and undo tangles by yanking on your hair. Using fingers to gently separate hair and comb through each section is the healthy way to start the styling process.
4. Stop pulling and tugging during heat-styling
When your hair is being styled, too many hairdressers pull and tug at your hair with no regard for the discomfort they are causing. Once, when I cringed and winced at the forceful blowdry I was getting, the stylist actually said “Boy aren’t you sensitive!” and continued doing just what she was doing. I finally said, “You’re hurting me and boy you are being completely insensitive! Please stop pulling so hard!”
5. Don’t hold the blow dryer so close to the scalp
Blow dryers heat up to almost 400 degrees Fahrenheit. As an idea of how hot that really is, consider that boiling point of water is 212 degrees Fahrenheit. When such intense heat gets too close to your scalp, you can easily get a burn and lose some hair as a result.
6. Stop pushing expensive “special” hair treatments that they tell you everyone swears by (not sure who everyone is, but popularity is a great incentive to believe something must be worthwhile).
You are then put under the hair dryer while being told it will restructure your hair, which it absolutely cannot do! Oh, and they charge $35 for the service. What a waste of money. If you knew how to read the ingredient list, you would see the ingredients do not differ from what almost all conditioners contain. Hair is dead and you cannot feed it, repair it, or restructure it with any ingredient or allegedly special formula. All you can do it make it feel repaired. Although that helps, once you wash your hair again (unless you use a conditioner again), your hair will not feel the way you want. That’s because the product the stylist raved about “everyone loving” absolutely could not repair your hair.
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There you go. It’s a lesson we all have to learn I suppose, to be polite but firm with our hairstylists so that they don’t inadvertently damage our hair and scalp. I can’t remember the number of times I’ve had the hairdryer and styling tools too near my scalp, causing minor burns. Yet, I kept quiet about it. Wuss.
Do you voice your opinions when it comes to getting your hair done? Or would you keep quiet and let the hairstylist do as he/she pleases?
This is the reas0n why I go with Sui. Sally knows exactly how to treat my hair with equal respect as you’d to a person. She doesn’t do any of the sins above!
Agreed on all the above esp #5, I had told them few times already: my scalp would be on fire if u continue!
However, my beautician is always determined to clear the congested pores even when I beg her to stop – _ – I had to endure pain for the post-facial clear skin
I have no idea about hair so I usually leave it up to the ‘experts’. I’d probably be the same as you and keep quiet even after reading this haha. Terrible
How true! I also hate it when the stylist uses finger nails to scrub my scalp and uses hot water to rinse the shampoo. I never keep quiet, I will tell the stylist off straight away if anything damaging is done to my hair because I don’t have a lot of it to start with!
oh, I usually keep quiet too! I will try to keep these tips in mind the next time I visit a salon. Thanks for the tips! 🙂
great post, you should never be worried about talking to your stylist. And never sit there in pain because you are nervous about speaking up!
I guess it’s natural to feel vulnerable while someone is doing things to your hair, like having a facial as well. So far I haven’t had serious problems with my stylist. I can’t believe your stylist actually said ”boy aren’t u sensitive!”!
Actually the 3r happened to me today…. I told him that my scalp is very sensitivy and my hair is kinda fragile.. he said ok, sarcasm was next, he told that I shouldn’t tie my hair up, which I don’t… then he yank the tangles out in my wet hair I even said ouch and continued…. Damn, I hate going to the salon, they always tell me somethin like yours and my scalp still kinda hurts 🙁
Pretty sure hairstylists know what they are doing considering the fact that they spend countless hours in school to get a liscence to do hair, and then countless hours in continuing education.. How about we will leave the journalism to the experts if the journalists will leave the hair to the experts. Go to school before you think you know what you’re doing. If you haven’t, you’re opinion is ignorant.
Thank u!!!
This is why we have countless clients telling us how to do our job. WE are the experts. Not the client.
We are the ones paying to get our hair done. We are the ones who know what works and what doesn’t FOR US. I am sick and tired of some hairdressers acting like they are artists when the only thing they cause is damage. I have very nice hair, long, thick. Get a lot of compliments. But, I am afraid of going to some hairdressers because they do what they want. Today, I said 5 cms and suddenly when I turn, he had taken 15 at least. And left the back totally flat, like cut with a ruler. No movement, no shine, not the feeling you get after a sod blow dry. We should speak up. I researched but it was my fault because I went to this hip new salon, that is supposed to be cool and was empty on a friday. Next time, I will ask if they are experts in long hair or just stick to go to the ones who did a good job. I feel so mad that I paid 175 pounds for this garbage. On top of that, he was rough, he dried it in every direction and the result is that tomorrow I have an event with my husband and friends and look like I had my husband do my hair… drunk… What is the protocol? Do I write and complain? Do I keep quite? Do I just leave a terrible review everywhere possible? My hair feels like straw…
I am in the same boat Maria I also had a very bad experience at sean hanna left my hair in shreds
Forgot to mention the stylist zoe and kirsty both are 17 years old who don’t know a thing about hair handling rough and probably the most rude racist girls I have known
So, im a hair stylist. Im licensed and spent over a thousand hours studying cosmetology. This article makes me laugh so hard. There are SO many things wrong with this…where to start… “hair is dead, it cannot be repaired” FALSE it can be repaired by keratin treatments and conditioning treatments. A majority of salons test the treatments on the stylists themselves, so when they recommend, they are speaking from experience. Also, towel drying hair does not break the hair, this is also a rumor, its better to thoroughly dry the hair as much as possible before applying heat, which is more damaging than a soft towel…. And when heat styling, if it hurts you, deal with it or dont get a professional blow out. Tension is required to achieve the style you want…pain is beauty.
You’re an idiot
Ashley at Eveline Charles in the Core [Calgary] literally yanked out a bunch of my hair whilst combing it when it was wet. My scalp still hurts!
I responded to an ad for complimentary blow dry from an apprentice at an upscale hair salon. I was a “hair model,” as they glamorously and inaccurately call it.
The hair dryer was extremely hot on my head, and she ran the hair dryer over my head for way too long – like 25 minutes. I kept telling her that it was too hot, but she just acted like I was an annoyance. She claimed I was “too sensitive.” Now it’s 3 months later. And my head still hurts whenever my hair gets tugged in the slightest way. It’s even the slightest pressure pulling my hair, like running my fingers through it. It’s definitely not normal. And it’s uncomfortable. I think the very hot hair dryer, used on my head for too long, damaged whatever in my scalp, so the slightest tug makes it hurt and uncomfortable.
The stylist was also very rude and uncaring to me during that visit. She acted like I was an annoyance, she was curt to me, she seemed to look down on me, and she failed to chat with me throughout the visit. But it’s the very hot hair dryer, run over my head too long, that caused the damage and pain that’s still ongoing.
I’m thinking of submitting a complaint to the government agencies that regulates this. I’m in California. What can I do, and what should I write, to ensure that this gets resolved? What kind of compensation can I get from this, if any?