Finding a hairstylist with whom you ‘click’ is like any other relationship - although it’s unlikely you’d ask a friend to make you look and feel like a groovier version of your favourite actress. You need chemistry, you need trust and you need to be able to convey your ideas in such a way that they can be easily interpreted. If you are considering a radical cut but don’t have a hairdresser you trust, book in a few blow drys at different salons. Mention your ideas to the stylist looking after you and decide with whom you feel most at ease. All good salons offer a free consultation, but having a blow dry will allow you to experience how a stylist works, rather than just listen to their suggestions. Apart from anything else, visiting a salon should be a pleasurable experience. You want to feel pampered and relaxed; confident in the knowledge that when you walk out you are going to look and feel like a million dollars, not nervous and edgy, wishing you would bring a paper bag with you.

Recommendations from friends are a good way of finding a reputable hairstylist, but we are all subjective in our choices, and one person’s dream stylist could be another’s idea of hell. If you see someone with a haircut you like, ask them who did it. After all, you wouldn’t hesitate to question where someone got their stunning kitten heels that you liked the look of, now would you?

Consultation with Hairdresser

Taking along a picture of a cut or colour you like is a good starting point and avoids confusion. Compile a ‘look book’ - a scrap book or folder where you keep tear sheets from magazines of styles you like, as well as photographs of yourself when you had a particularly good cut or colour. It is also useful to show your stylist pictures of looks that you really dislike. A picture is a good way of understanding one another’s vocabulary - for you, titian may mean coppery golden tints; for your stylist it may mean gingery red tones.

If you are happy with the stylist’s work, but don’t feel uneasy if you can’t afford to tip heftily. Ask any hairdresser and they are thrilled if they receive a thank-you card or see a customer leave the salon looking genuinely happy. Equally, if you buy a bottle of the shampoo, conditioner or styling product that your hairstylist has used, this indicates that you want to re-create the look again at home.

Filed under: Hairstyles Gallery