Terrible hair for £160, made me cry
Briefly, I was charged £160 for hair colour which looked terrible (multiple people commented) and not what we agreed and clearly discussed at the beginning and made me cry.
Detailed version: I was heavily pregnant and already have two children and wanted a hairstyle that would be low maintenance, so that I wouldn’t have to go back for touch ups after the baby was born. Both for time and financial reasons. I discussed this clearly with the hairdresser and she agreed to what I said. She did not raise any issues at the start.
I showed her a few photos of what I wanted - an ombré style with my ‘virgin’ brown (and greying) roots changing to blonde at the bottom starting at eyebrow level. Then it would look okay as it grew out. I clearly said I didn’t want it to be streaky or for the blonde colour to start higher up and showed her photos and she appeared to listen and said it would be fine.
Throughout the session I checked on what she was doing a few times and emphasising what I wanted, she was dismissive. I haven’t dyed my hair before so was inexperienced and in her hands.
Basically, she put in one single ashy blond colour in streaks and chunks throughout he lengths of my hair starting between one and two inches from my scalp - much higher than I wanted - and not going to a more solid blonde colour at the bottom, but staying the same streaked brown. It really looked bad and flat and low quality.
So it looked like I had terrible highlights - both because of the streakiness and the fact that they were one, pale and ashy colour. Family and friends have been shocked at it and, politely and kindly, said it’s bad and been horrified at he price.
The hairdresser started saying towards the end, casually, that I would need to have it done a few times for the colour to get really blonde. But she didn’t say this at the beginning when I’d said I didn’t want to need to come back and that it was a one-off treat to myself at the beginning. If she had, I wouldn’t have had it done!
It took four hours sitting there in great discomfort (pregnancy pelvis issue) and I couldn’t fully see what had happened until the end when the dye was rinsed out and then my hair was dried (you can’t fully see the colour with wet hair). Then I was led to the till and charged £160.
I should have kicked up a fuss at the time but I was so tired and upset and shocked (the reveal was so fast) and in pain, that I paid and left before bursting into tears outside. I did question her during the session but the full extent of what she was doing wasn’t clear.
I did contact the salon a couple of times and they ignored me and didn’t get back to me.
£160 is an awful lot of money for me, and it was supposed to be a treat, and a price I was willing to pay as a one-off for a good haircut. And I understand if what I asked for wasn’t possible, but she didn’t tell me beforehand!