How to Get the Most Out of Your Hairstylist

How to Choose the Right Hairstylist

Don’t pick a stylist out of the online Yellow Pages. Look for one who has given a friend a look you like (but if all your friends look as if they were cloned from the same picture, keep looking).

Read the women’s page of your local paper- hairstylists as well as other beauty/fashion experts are often interviewed, and their creations are photographed for the press.

The first time your new stylist sees you, don’t greet him clad in one of those shapeless salon wraps with your head dripping wet from shampoo. He should get a look at the way you look in “real life”; otherwise he can’t tell whether you need a styling to go with a free-flowing gypsy personality or a more controlled junior executive look. The stylist isn’t clairvoyant, either. You have to express any definite likes and dislikes you have, tell him problems you’ve had with different styles in the past and give him a good idea of the look you want. A picture may be helpful, but if the competent stylist says “It’s not for you,” respect his judgements.

The worst thing you can say to your hair cutter is, “Do with me what you will.” Given such, he will let his creativity (not to mention his scissors) fly and you may not be pleased with the results. So don’t go for a haircut until you have thought about you want.

Tell him just how much effort you intend to devote to upkeep. If you’ve got yardstick-straight hair, and don’t ever want to bother with electric rollers or a permanent, a curly or wavy look is not for you.

If the minimum upkeep of your hair is your goal, go in the direction of hair growth. Respecting natural parts, cowlicks, curliness, fine-hairness, and other quirks, rather than trying to plaster them into an unnatural shape, will mean an infinitely easier care job for you.

Watch your haircutter work:

1. Hair is usually best cut while wet.

2. Make sure your stylist gives you precision cut. Whether you’re getting a layered look or an all-one-length blunt cut, the competent stylist will follow a system, sectioning hair before cutting, and keeping hair not being worked on anchored out of the way with clips. The cutter who snips a fistful of hair here, there, and everywhere needs a refresher course.

Discuss the price of each service suggested in advance, so your total bill won’t exceed your total expectations.

While your hair is being cut, study the work of other salon specialists- the colorist, permanent-waver, and manicurist. As part of your total make-over, you may want to use their services at a later date.

Make sure you and the stylist are speaking the same language. You both speak English? That’s just the beginning! You both must define terms the same way. Your idea of a short cut, for example, may be one that comes out chin length; your stylist may think you want a look that just grazes your earlobes.

When you’re trying to decide on a style consider how your hair can be made to emphasize good points and detract attention from the less-than-perfect. On the night you’re washing your hair, step out of the shower, leave a little lather on your head and try molding your hair into different shapes (The lather makes hair pliable.) You’ll notice the following effects:

1. Hair piled on top of the head elongates a round face.

2. A narrow jaw line will look wider with hair massed in curls at either side.

3. A long, unending forehead falls into proportion when covered with bangs.

4. Chubby cheeks will look less rotund if hair is brought forward on the face to camouflage them.

5. The older woman will look younger when her face is surrounded by soft waves (harsh, angular cuts just aren’t as flattering when you reach what the French politely call “un certain age”).

When you do find a style that suits you, keep it up –that means a haircut when your style first starts struggling out of shape.