From A Barber, On Bad Haircuts, How To Avoid Them.

[David2775]

FROM A BARBER


I would just like to say that bad haircut's ruin my day too..

I would just like to say that I am a hair cutter, barber actually, meaning that I cut men's hair. I've worked 60hrs a week for 14yrs now.. . .I hate my job. I always have. But of course if you were to ask me in person I am (required) to answer (its great). I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning ,not on purpose of course, but sheer lack of skill . Some people have rare types of hair, and it took along long time to learn how to cut all of them. Years, but I did learn, and I quit making mistakes in cutting hair after 3 years into it. .



Now Allllll of my problems are from peoples that are incapable of communicating or there personality. By now the hair that I cut of is exactly what I meant to cut off. The problem has happened in communication, exclusively for the past 10 years.

What happens is that they sit down in my chair, they run their fingers through their hair which only communicates that he likes to touch his hair look back at me with direct eye contact, Which is unwanted, and very awkward being that I am 12 inches from them. He will say something like I want a little off, but not too much which I am know thinking what is a little? it could be anything. . . I want brush it, and my wife likes it like that.

If I am lucky, he will say that much, most of the time, less.

(I need specifics),what is a little? Its like telling someone there date is a little fat, what is a little? is it 15 pounds over weight? or 100? I need to know how many Inches they want me to take off of there hair. (YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO SPECIFIC AT THE START OF A HAIRCUT.) We will always stand back and listen to you. We cant read your mind, and we can't remember 3000 people, and it is somewhat egotistical to expect us to remember you. Pictures are great too, They say 1000 words. If you are a man, chances are good that your hair gets cut uses clippers, and that means clipper guards, know your guard # 0 is skin, 1 is 1/2, 2 is 1/4, 3 is 3/8, 4 is 1/2, 5 is 5/8, 6 is 3/4, 7 is 7/8, and 8 is one full inch. or scissors at that point.



I remember one guy told me he wanted an inch. so when I left him with an inch , he then told me, O' no no I wanted an inch taken off. I had just taken off 5 inches. So just think about all the ways someone can interpret what you are telling them. They want you to tell them, what you want.

If you don't vocalize it, then the barber doesn't know it. It does not matter what you think or thought in your mind, or meant, if it was not said then it is not real, and did not actually happen.

1. When you go get a haircut, and sit down in the chair, tell the barber what you want, there are all ears, be picky, be long winded . . . use pictures, use inches, etc. Be specific it is a kindness to us You are doing us a favor.

2. Do not tell them what to think of the haircut, it in the middle of the haircut, they don't care. YES it looks funny, because ( you are in the middle of the haircut) If you are turning your head every time I take a snip we are no longer friends. You are making my job a lot harder, and it is very easy to take a gash out of your hair, because you are jerking around. you are undoubtedly making the hair-cutter emotional and upset, and therefor they are now unable, or no longer care, to give you the best cut that they can.

Also in the middle of the haircut, try not to talk to your barber excessively, the more talking you do requires us to entertaining you, and the less attention your hair is getting. You are actually distracting us. We wont tell you that because its offensive, but true.

3. Do not talk to them about the haircut after the haircut. It is not the time.

I remember a guy telling me that his haircut was good, and he was done, Which is very common I had not yet cut the back of his hair, he was not done. at that point in time it looked awful. I of course fixed it.


For people that have been cutting hair for years and years.
(They already know that you were given a good haircut at the end.) Even if there was some misunderstanding along the way, I could have 100 other people I cut the same on them, and are happy with it. it was not necessarily a bad haircut, it was just not what they wanted.

Honestly
You the costumer, might think that your giving us a compliment, or an insult (your not) your not qualified to cut hair, and therefore you are not qualified to compliment us . . . .I do not feel complimented or insulted at the end of a cut. It simply either is, or it is not what you asked for. (If you could adequately articulate the haircut you wanted in the begging or if anything that was said was discernible.. . ) It is not worth getting emotional about. We want to help you, But you have to tell us. You have to tell us what you want, Not so much how to do it. but what you want.


Again step one is where you tell them about your hair. Even if they cut it great the first, second or third time, tell them. If you are not logged in a computer system, they can not remember you.

We might care a little bit, about what you think of the hair, at the end of the haircut, but not as much as you think we would.

We care a lot about what you said in the beginning.
We care if we ourselves approve of it. If we believe that we have done the very best job that we can do.
We care if other people will like it. After all it is our name, that is on your haircut.
We care a great deal what other professionals will think about your hair cut. We have a lot of professional pride, and rivalry. I cant have Miss Betty Jones making fun of me.. Therefore on some people I care about there hair even more then they themselves do.

I hope this helps.

[Paulie]

1. I order a regular mans with side burns

But it only works with those who actually went to a barber college. Everywhere else I come out looking like I'm wearing a helmet.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. "I'll have a regular man with sideburns"

[ReRe]

8. I'll take one of those too...

[donco]

2. Now for the

important part.Whats the proper tip on a $15.00 dollar haircut that my barber has been giving me for the last 20 years?

bytheway I've been giving him $2.00 dollars for the last couple of years.

[TeamPooka]

4. I pay 15 too and give my person $5 as a tip, but I like to try to tip very well to everyone.

[TeamPooka]

3. I have a drivers license taken after a perfect haircut and show it to any new stylist or barber

It works every time.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

19. I took a picture right after a good cut and often show it to the stylist. It's still a crap shoot.

[laundry_queen]

5. I think there's a communication problem alright.

And it's not necessarily with the customer here. They don't understand the issue, but the barber does. So why doesn't he quiz his clients?

The last hairdresser I went to had it right. I told her what I wanted, and she physically held up her fingers and said, "This much?" When I nodded, she took my hair and SHOWED ME exactly how short that would be on my hair (with me facing the mirror so I could see). Then she asked me if I was sure this was what I wanted. She told me some of the issues people may run into with this style of haircut. She asked me to go through a hair magazine and point out the cuts I liked (not necessarily the one I asked for). In the end, she knew exactly how to get out of me exactly what I wanted, and that's exactly what I ended up with, and I was very happy (and I tipped very generously).

And that was her job. It's not up to the customer to do the communicating - some people plain suck at it. It's up to the person cutting the hair to be able to get at what their customers want, imo.

Also, sometimes you end up with a bad cut because no matter how well you do communicate, the hairstylist plain sucks. Once I asked for a shoulder length cut, shorter in the back, light brown with caramel and blond highlights. I ended up with an earlobe-length, longer in the back, bleached-to-the-point-of-breakage cut & color. Numerous times DURING the cut I told her that I didn't like what she was doing and she INSISTED that I would love it. WTF? She didn't get a tip (there were other issues about how she treated me during the whole ordeal) and no way in hell was I going back to her to 'fix' it. It took me a year (And weekly conditioning treatments) to grow that frizzy mess out. Sometimes people are just beyond communicating with.

[Orrex]

16. ^That

And that was her job. It's not up to the customer to do the communicating - some people plain suck at it. It's up to the person cutting the hair to be able to get at what their customers want, imo.

Yes indeed.

Similarly, I've worked in various forms of customer service for almost two decades. If I waited for the customers to articulate their needs clearly and precisely, I'd still be dealing with my very first customer.

[David2775]

25. Reply

I appreciate your comment.
It has a lot of good ideas, I generally agree with you in so far as I need to ask more questions on how they want they want it.

I am sorry about your last visit.
I sounds like she used a razor to cut your hair, ( it can take a lot off fast.) Stylist that I know use it more to accent the haircut at the end. Sounds like it was a Salon that probably took more than an hour to do. It probably cost up-wards of $100.00

My situation is different in that I live, in a mostly republican town, of 150k. people, I take walk-ins, and not appointments, a haircut is 12.00, its short hair and I have a fraction of the time to do it in. I normally have the added pressure of other people waiting on me. I do not have a lot of time to figure it out.

I don't mean to complain, I just feel like they are never happy with me.
I think what you suggest works on your personality and my personality. Female clients probably enjoy talking about what they want a little more, which is a good and helpful thing.

My clients seem very reluctant to participate.
I have had men tell me that they don't want to answer my questions. When I ask beyond 2 or 3 things. I can hear suspicion raise in there voice, ( like may be Ive never held a pair of scissors before). I had one old guy about 45 yrs old rise up out of the chair, turn and look at me and say ( Well you are the barber, don't you know?) Like I am an all knowing, supreme, mind reading, being.

Or Ive had them say something like I was in here a once before, two months ago, ( do you remember me?) and they act hurt and offended that I can not remember them. ( which is not humanly possible)

I have attempted to solve this problem, my taking there contact information and having them tell me there phone number every time that come in, ( I paid money for a computer system) to store it, and pull up there details of the last cut, so I would know what I did for them last time. I got about half of the people to do it. They were convinced that I was going to ( sell there information to other people, or the government.) whatever that means. They are white, born here, so I have no idea why there hiding form the government, republicans I guess.

So, I don't know, I have never been good with people, I am not good at reading them. In my mind I equate it with placing an order at burger king. If I wanted a Milkshake, I would tell them, I wanted a Milkshake, they really cant anticipate me wanting one. .

And then there are other times, I don't think that its about the hair at all. Sometimes I think that they just want me to flatter them with compliments, honeyed words and invite them to a backyard BBQ, and that they want to me to make them a local celebrity, and will be a pain to me until they get what they want.
I don't know if there is always logic for what they are doing.

[laundry_queen]

35. Thanks for your reply

I can see how there could be a difference between the customers of a barber and a hairstylist. As for not being good with people - that comes with practice. Seriously. I'm not good with people either and I suck at reading them too (I went out and bought a ton of books about reading people after my ex turned out to be a sociopath -how could I have missed that?!?), but I am a very observant person and I emulate what I see in people who I admire that are really good communicating with people. And I've found being up front and honest helps too. If someone looks at you like you must be a novice to ask so many questions, you simply tell them, "I'm asking all these questions to make sure I know exactly what you want and that your happy - that is my number one goal, that you are happy with your haircut." I understand though, how pressed for time you are. Could you perhaps have a book of photos of the most popular cuts and ask them to point to one?

It sounds like you are pretty frustrated with your situation. It's not easy to deal with customers constantly (I get it - I went from a job at a bank in customer service to an accountant with my face in a computer all day and I'm so much happier). I've had bank customers before who thought they were my friend, or that I should remember that they got a mortgage in April of last year with a $900 a month payment without looking it up ( ) There are a ton of narcissists in this world, or simply very thoughtless people and I've found the best way to deal with those types is to tell them what they want to hear (ignore previous 'honest' advice, lol, narcissists break those rules). You're right - it's not about the hair or logic, it's about gaining narcissistic supply. And those people who are fearful of you selling their information - people like that are so frustrating - they have no idea how much of their info is already out there. I guess you have to sell it to them - let them know the system is in their best interest. No matter what you do though, there will always be annoying people to deal with in any job. Some people are just like that. By the way, welcome to DU.

[Warren DeMontague]

7. Thanks.

This is some good advice.

[secondvariety]

9. Back in the day

of the two man barber shops, my Dad said to go with the guy with the worst looking hair since they probably gave each other hair cuts.

[baldguy]

10. This is a problem I do not have.

[Little Star]

11. Nice write up! k&r

[Scuba]

12. I cut my own, but it's so short it's easy.

[tanyev]

13. I would love to take a Haircutting 101 class-not because I want to cut hair,

but because I think I could communicate better with my stylist. Every time the new rec center course catalog comes out, I look through it hoping that some enterprising person has come up with the same idea.

[MrScorpio]

14. Cut all of my hair off with a 1 and I'm perfectly happy

I gave up being coiffed years ago.

[Orrex]

15. 90% of the time, it is a problem of communication

100% of the time, it is the responsibility of the professional to overcome this.

You offer good suggestions, but in the same way that customers aren't qualified to compliment you, they are not--strictly speaking--qualified to tell you exactly what they want.

[mercuryblues]

17. My kid has it down pat

my little man has know since he was 2 years old how to communicate with a barber.

#2 on the top and #1 on the sides. He asks the barber to stop, grabs a mirror and checks it out when the barber is about 3/4 of the way done. "Yup this is what I asked for" You can finish now.

One hair cutter did not follow his directions this year. My now 13 year old son told me, They were nice, but didn't listen to me. I don't want to go back there.

[MineralMan]

20. I have a regular barber who is expert at

beards. My haircut is designed to last about three months, by me. The first time I went to his shop, I explained how I wanted my hair cut, in detail, and he did exactly that. The next time, I explained it again, since he hadn't had enough visits to remember it. The third time I came to his shop, he remembered me and my simple, but detailed haircut, and told me what I had told him. After that, I come in and he tells me he should charge me three times the regular rate, since I only come in every three months. He's joking. He cuts my hair, and we have a conversation about other things.

He gets a great tip for my hair and beard cut.

[hifiguy]

28. For some reason I had always pictured you as a beard-wearer.

[Arugula Latte]

33. You too. That's you in your avatar, right?

I like your contrasting mustache.

[hifiguy]

34. Nope. Can't grow a decent beard or mustache.

The avatar is a virtual beard.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

18. You hate your job? I never would have guessed.

I'm sure none of your costumers sense it from you, either.

[Snotcicles]

21. When I hate what I'm doing, I don't do it well. nt

[UTUSN]

22. R#13 & K n/t

[mulsh]

23. Years ago I told my regular barber "I want it short, please" He proceeded to cut my hair.

We chatted, mostly neighborhood gossip, like we normally do. In a while he handed me a mirror, swiveled my chair around and said " What do you think?" I said, kind of shocked, " I look like I'm in boot camp". He got defensive " you said you wanted it short" I said, "so I did and so it is. It's hair, it'll grow back" We still laugh about that and when I want a buzz cut I just tell him " I want it short."

communication like the above barber says is crucial.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

24. "On Bad Haircuts"

Wait a week and you won't know the difference!

[tridim]

26. I had bad haircuts most of my life without even knowing it... Because I went cheap.

Super Cuts are far from super, or even acceptable. I don't want a haircut with a time limit set by corporate shareholders.

I pay double the Super Cuts price now at an indy shop and am so happy.

[SomethingFishy]

27. Being bald has it's advantages.

[alphafemale]

29. Absolute WORST haircut I have ever seen

Was on years ago ex by a friend of ours.

Howling bad. And she knew it too.

Let's just say there are ethnic skills in cosmetology.

And he went back!!!!

She actually got quite good at cutting his weird ass hair. lmao

[whatthehey]

30. Jesus Christ where are you that 2 is a problem that way round?

I'm a #2 all round do it yourselfer these days but when I had more corporate cut styles I couldn't find a fricking barber in 5 states who would just cut my hair without giving me 20 fucking questions about my job, hobbies, sports, weekend plans during the whole shebang, no matter how many noncommmittal monosyllables they got in reply.

[jmowreader]

31. Best way to get a GOOD haircut

Go to the same person every time.

[riderinthestorm]

32. Welcome to DU! K&R for your excellent OP