Alison Taylor shares her hair horrors and tells you how to get the haircut you want and not the haircut you may well have asked for…
Communication Rules
Along with our superior organisation skills and ability to multi-task, we females are brilliant communicators, right? Er, right – except, it seems when it comes to our hair. A couple of years ago I had a haircut that completely changed my look. It was a brilliantly straight, almost-in-your-eyes, 60s fringe creation – part Francois Hardy, part Jane Birkin. I went, with my hair-do and my best friend, on a road trip to California. It was going to be a trip-of-a-lifetime experience. About five days in, we reached Santa Barbara where I decided I’d get a quick trim. The hairdresser in question was a flamboyant character and I did my best to put things simply – ‘Just very, very straight, skimming my eyes.’ He gave me a confident nod and exclaimed - ‘Yes I totally get it.’
Sitting in the laidback Californian salon, connecting with the locals, I felt calm and cool – until he set about feathering my fringe with an Edward Scissorhands like fervour. Instinctively I knew it wasn’t right, but he was so confident! And despite my impending sense of doom, I reassured myself that by the time he’d done and blow-dried, it would be fine.
By the time I was staring at the final hair horror show in the mirror, I could only wimper, ‘But I just wanted it straight.’
‘It is straight,’ he boomed back, somewhat defensively. And actually it was – along the bottom layer.
‘Communication is everything when it comes to having your hair cut,’ says John Vial, Creative Director of Real Hair, the go-to salon for Laura Bailey, Elle MacPherson and a host of other chic west London honeys. ‘And it goes two ways. Your short will not be the same as my short, and your idea of a straight fringe – believe it or not – may not be the same as mine.’
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Picture It
Vial’s golden rule, especially when dealing with a new client or a restyle is imagery. ‘Visuals are key,’ he insists. ‘If you worked in an advertising agency you wouldn’t dream of going to a client without some kind of mood board. Anyone who says it’s naff taking pictures into a salon is wrong.’
Lee Stafford, award-winning founder of the eponymous salons and hair care range, agrees: ‘People often feel embarrassed bringing in pictures from magazines as they think it makes them appear vain or unrealistic, but stylists are just glad they’ve got an idea of what’s in your mind.’ He’s even invented a hair dictionary full of pictures and corresponding hair terms so clients know exactly what they’re asking for.
‘Taking in a single picture is a bit one-dimensional,’ he says, ‘so make sure you’ve got a few references when you go – or ask the salon if they have any visual references you can use.’ By going through several images, Stafford says his clients are better able to communicate the style they’re going for and can, in effect, build up their own look.
Backstage and session stylist Susanna Peretz, says taking in pictures of yourself when you most liked and disliked your hair is also very useful. Not only does it take into account your preferences – ‘I definitely preferred it when I didn’t have a mushroom shaped bob’ – it also prompts a dialogue about lifestyle. She always factors in time to ask clients key questions: ‘What they do, how they style their hair, what’s the worst style they’ve ever had? If a stylist doesn’t ask these questions, it’s a good idea to offer up the info anyway,’ she says.
When it comes to colour, Head Colourist at Daniel Hersheson Sibi Bolan, advises clients to take in pictures of colours they hate as well as those they love. ‘Everyone sees colour differently and explaining the exact shade of highlights or lowlights you want is notoriously difficult,’ she says.
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Suits You
And here’s a tip: never make colour decisions using the hair samples you get in the salon’s colour books. ‘They’re dyed onto white, nylon and therefore not realistic,’ says Bolan. ‘I always use magazine tears to talk colour.’
But be prepared for compromise. ‘If a client comes to me with a picture of Kate Hudson, say, I work out how close we can get depending on her skin tone and eye colour. Personally, I always advise clients not to veer more than three shades either side of their natural base colour for the most flattering look.’
Managing client expectations is really important, adds Bolan, ‘Which is why the consultation process is so important.’ Stafford agrees. In fact, he feels so strongly about it that before a major re-style he recommends you book an advance appointment when the salon is quiet, ‘so you get enough time to discuss your new look.’
Obviously, pictures can’t do all the talking – but avoid using ‘hairdresser’ speak. ‘Asking for a layered style is pointless as most styles involve some kind of layering,’ says Vial. ‘What you may mean is that you want your hair to have more bounce or movement – the layers are what we use to get there. Similarly, there are many kinds of bobs, fringes and choppy cuts’.
His advice? ‘Use straightforward language when asking for what you want.’ In other words, be clear about length – ‘I don’t want it any shorter than my shoulders’ – and talk maintenance – ‘I don’t want to have to blow-dry my hair every day’. With fringes, he says, use your eyebrows as a guide – ‘I want it just above/below my eyebrows’ – and don’t ever reference decades. After all, when you say ‘60s, do you mean a graphic Sassoon bob or a sexy, tousled Bardot?
When you’ve finished discussing your look, ask your hairdresser to summarise what he or she is going to do. Our experts agreed it’s a reasonable request and your last chance to clarify any misunderstandings.
A final word of advice: leave your gown off till the last minute (you don’t need it during your consultation anyway). ‘What people are wearing is so important,’ says Vial, ‘and your hairdresser needs to see you in it. If you walk in to my salon and you’re wearing head-to-toe Donna Karan, I know you’re not going to want the same hair cut as someone wearing Demeulemeester.’
Which leads me to the wise words of a well-known fashion and beauty editor – ‘Always turn up at the hairdressers looking like the best version of yourself – how are you going to get the best hair cut if you’re not communicating who you really are?
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