Hair Confrontation...er, Consultation

For the second time in three months, I've been to a new hairdresser. I mentioned a while back that I am very particular about my hair - call me shameful, but I'm vain about it. My hair is thick & heavy & makes me feel beautiful.

I went to a new hairdresser in February and I was happy with the color. She was uber chatty, however, when all I wanted was to sit in peace. She also "thinned" my hair. Now, I'm not sure about you, but I have a specific idea of what thinning out is & it isn't to give me a jagged layer on top that flips out & a layer on the bottom that flips in. I could deal with it - it involved wearing my hair curly & bouncy. Which is pretty, but there are times when I'd like to wear it straight.

I made another appointment and went back this past Saturday. I told her I was happy with the highlights, so she proceeded to foil me up. Now, I only do partial foils, but have to book the time for a full foil appointment. After she completed my foils, she sent me to sit on a couch while it finished processing. So I sat...and sat...and sat....for almost an hour. By this time I was antsy and irritated. She had been scheduled for a cut and blowdry with another client.

She finally pulled the foils out, roughly washed my hair (which was a HUGE disappointment - I mean, who doesn't love a good head massage?) and sat me back down in the chair. Sitting there as she combed my hair, I told her what I didn't like and what I wanted.

Me: I don't want you to thin it this time.
HD: No?
Me: No. I don't like the obvious layer that was left. Where I had one layer on top and one layer on bottom. The top layer flipped out and the bottom layer curled under.
HD: Ok, so no thinning.
Me: Right. I want my hair closer to one length with some fine, invisible layering. Really light, so it doesn't show, but enough to give me movement. I really don't like that really obvious top & bottom layer. Especially since I'm growing my hair out so it is a bit longer.
Thinking we were on the same page, I envisioned my hair like this since it was getting longer What did I walk out with? 2 layers. One on top, one on bottom. Yep, she did exactly what I told her I didn't want. So I called back on Monday - I gave myself a time to wash, dry & style it to see if I could "make it work". Not a chance.

So last night I went back. To a different stylist. Who immediately saw the problem and really worked with me to get it back in order. I walked away last night with hair looking more like this. See the difference in length? Now, I'm happy with it, don't read that I'm not, but the original cut was not what I asked for.

Since Saturday I have lost about 3 inches of hair, gained 2 definite layers, gotten another cut to even it out some, had a little texturizing done to lift some of the weight so I wouldn't have to go an inch above my shoulders and learned a valuable lesson.
Lesson learned: A great hairdresser is sometimes harder to find & hold onto than a good man.