My oh my ! Hairdressers are plentiful in France, their salons adorn many a street and just within a 10 minute walk of my home I can think of no less than 7 places where I could go and get my haircut. Where I used to live in the UK I don’t think there was even 7 places in the whole of town…
Yet, rather than going local, I drive 20 minutes to the other side of town to go to the salon which has been styling my hair for the last year. Why do I bother when I haven’t even tried any of the locals? Well, its because I always end up with a hair disaster whenever I venture away from my comfort zone.
I’ll expand with a few examples:
1. One hairdresser misunderstood my mumblings and hacked so far into my hair that I look as if I had rat tails hanging down all over the place. It was supposed to be layered but she took layering to a whole new extreme. It took a year to grow out.
2. Another cut such a heavy fringe that it took 9 months to grow so that I could style it in another way.
3. Another charged me nearly 150 Euros to do some highlights which couldn’t even be seen, my husband didn’t even notice! The cut was on top of that…
The above are just a few examples and of course, never once did I complain or do anything about it! Its not very British to complain directly, its just not in my nature compared to my French counterparts who have no issues in this area. Also, when my French wasn’t as fluent as now, the very thought of having to try and explain why I was unhappy with the cut or colour was enough to put me off. No doubt they could always see the dismay on my face as I was always rushed through checkout and hurried out the door – probably so I didn’t have time to think what I would say!
French women always looked so immaculately coiffed and frequent their hairdresser as often as I frequent the supermarket, its no wonder that I wanted to join them and have great hair!
A year ago I managed to get the name of a good hairdresser who didn’t charge the earth and the first couple of times I went I was immensely happy. Finally I had great hair which I could style, that was practical and that looked as if I cared! They actually advised me against what I originally wanted as they thought it would be impractical for me and I really valued that advice.
However, yesterday I went and ended up with the hairstyle of the female alien from Mars Attack ! Dare I mention that this is the second time now that a hairdresser has done this to me in France?
I guess I can either hope that they cut it better next time or start the trial and error hunt for a new hairdresser. Why do good things never last?
This illustrates why I’ve been avoiding getting my hair cut for the past year and a half. I know, it’s wrong to wait that long, but it takes me that much time to get my courage back up. The last time I went I walked out looking like I had just spent the last hour with my finger in an electrical socket. I met my husband right afterwards and he didn’t even recognize me. Good luck to both of us in finding a better stylist!
paris is supposed to be full of wonderful coiffeurs. unfortunatley with my limited spending money, i’ve met very few of them…..one actually laughed at my (ok admittedly self–cut) bangs….
a bientot
the paris food blague
Parisimperfect: They’ll be using you as target practice if you tell them you haven’t had your hair done for a year and a half! I was exactly the same as you until I found this hairdresser though and I’ve rather got used to the idea of not worrying about it hence my total dismay now. To be honest, it doesn’t look half as bad now that the bouffant styling has been washed out, thankfully!
Frogsandmen: Great to see you here and thanks for the comment! I’d found your blog a few weeks ago and have been waiting for the next post!
Never, ever tell a hairdresser you did something yourself, at best say it was a student hairdresser or something… If they think there’s any risk that you’ll cut your hair yourself then they’ll make even more of a hash up of it as in their mind you’re only going to ruin it anyway!
[...] even sniggered when I read Hair Horror. What happens when a Brit goes to a French hairdressers. My advice would be to do as I do; always ask for a number 3 on the sides and a number 4 on [...]
At least it’s not just me who is terrified of French hairdressers! I’ll be honest, I’m not good at going to the hairdresser in the UK either, there’s something about people who are professionally competent at girly things like hair and makeup that just scares me. All the more so, having to do it in French.
At some point, I’m just going to have to bite the bullet, aren’t I? Any recommendations for Nice-/Monaco-based hairdressers more than welcome!