Photo Diary: My Hair Immediately Following Salon Appointments

ABOUT A MONTH ago, I wrote about my many misadventures at the hair salon. That article resonated with so many of you that I thought I’d share the funny habit I have of documenting the exact way my hair looks following these salon appointments. For some reason, I never tell a new stylist how I normally style my hair after a cut or colour, preferring instead, to leave it up to her (or him) as a test of sorts, an audition perhaps. While I don’t always manage to capture all of the visits, these are the ones that I did, and they are a sort of photographic diary of the various ways my hair was cut, coloured and highlighted, and more interestingly, how it was styled, immediately following these appointments, which span a few different countries, depending on where we happened to be living at the time.

Stylist: Denise
Appointment: Highlights

As you know, the last time I tried to get highlights was in August 2020. You can have a look below to see that I definitely did not get what I wanted, but I was still bizarrely optimistic that someone would be able to help me achieve my dream hair. That someone turned out to be Denise. After the cut she gave me in April, she told me that her salon used a new line of all-natural hair colouring products, and I was intrigued. Three months after the cut, I finally decided to book an appointment with her for highlights and the result was astonishing. As you can see, the previous cut she gave me has grown out now and the length is rather lovely. The colour, well that turned out better than I could have ever imagined. (Wait for the slide to change above to see the same result styled by me.)

Stylist: Denise
Appointment: Cut

It was P who found Denise’s salon and told me that it looked okay, so I made the first appointment last April. She seemed to understand what I was after (long layers at the back, face-framing layers at the front), so things were off to a good start. She was also easygoing and attentive, and coffee and chocolate truffles were offered, so it was all trendng in the right direction. I ended up not being crazy about the styling (she offered mermaid waves), but she did fix the mistakes I’d made when I cut it myself, and it did grow out really nicely. (Wait for the slide above to change to see the same cut, two months later, styled by me.)

Stylist: Allison
Appointment: Cut

May have spoken too soon after the first appointment with Allison. This time, while the styling doesn’t show it, the cut was good until it wasn’t. She gave me my usual request⏤long textured layers⏤but just when I thought she was finishing up, she decided to do an awkward twisty cut on top of her previous cut, leaving strange jagged pieces everywhere. She meant well, but the result was very uneven layers that stuck out everywhere which I later attempted to fix at home to disastrous results. The ultra-smooth and straight blowout didn’t look too bad though.

Stylist: Allison
Appointment: Cut

This visit was the first time I had visited Allison. The cut was actually pretty good (considering I’d cut it myself during all the lockdowns, and P even had a go), and better yet, the styling was really lovely. I thought I had finally found the perfect salon.

Stylist: Michael
Appointment: Cut, colour & highlights

This appointment was by far the most disappointing. We had been in lockdown for a very long time, and the country had just opened up for the month of August. Masks were required everywhere, so I wore mine for the entire duration of the appointment, which was over three and a half hours. It was hot and I was concerned, as Michael didn’t seem very interested in the photos I had saved to my phone to show him what I was hoping for by way of colour. We had been cooped up for so long that what I really wanted was a very dramatic change⏤I wanted to feel like a completely different person. I didn’t get what I wanted. Instead, I got an adequate trim, and highlights that were barely visible and did not look like the trouble I’d gone through. It was frustrating.

Stylist: Ariane
Appointment: Cut

This cut was actually pretty good and the styling was okay. Every stylist has her version of “mermaid waves” and this was hers. I’m not sure why I didn’t go back to Ariane⏤she was nice.

In the nearly four years we lived in Spain, I can’t even remember how many times I switched salons. This cut wasn’t actually too bad, and the styling wasn’t either. This photo was taken by P in a favourite bar of ours shortly after the appointment, as a drink after a stressful haircut seemed like a good idea.

I didn’t seem to have much luck with hair appointments in Spain when we first arrived. Perhaps it was the language barrier, or perhaps it was my usual inability to assertively express what I wanted. Whatever the reason, the cut seemed okay, but the styling was probably the weirdest I’ve ever experienced⏤I left the hair salon feeling a little like a newscaster, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing or bad.