Bounce Back from a Bad Cut

As I wrote earlier this week, I got a horrendous hair cut that seriously put me in a tail spin. I know a lot of people would not think it a bad haircut worth getting into a tizz about, but trust me if you saw it you would understand. The worst part, I feel about the horrendous cut, is the betrayal.

I mean if you are like me: you do your research on a site like yelp, do a drive by preview of the salon, and then spend time deciding how to describe what you want. Exhausting yes, but I and like many of you out there take my hair maintenance perhaps a bit too seriously. Then again, how many mistakes besides the odd tattoo that can not be covered do you have to show to the world on a daily basis?

So, having done all that I decide to take the plunge at a highly rated salon with only a few bad reviews. I figured "I have done my due diligence there is no way this can go wrong", but I made a fatal mistake. I overlooked the fact that fthe only thing more common in NYC than out of work crappy actors are unskilled "hairstylists". Seriously, it is like the street is littered with them!

Flash forward to the day of my appointment: I leave the salon knowing I paid $90.00 to look like "someone had a seizure cutting your hair and did not bother to finish" as a dear friend put it. As you can imagine, I was sincerely pissed off as the salon owner/stylist complemented me on the cut! I should have known that when I left it was a dud when I stared into the mirror and looked confused. Sometimes, cuts take time to settle with you - I pleaded with myself. A couple of days later, however, I could no longer keep the delusion going. It became clear that this was not an issue of taste but rather an inept hairdresser hacking away at my mane.

The reason I bring all of this up is that we have all had this happen to us, but rarely anyone talks about how to fix it. Well, fret no more as I have some suggestions on just how to do that!

1. Call the salon: This is mostly for the brave of heart who believe that maybe it was just a miscommunication that caused the mistake. I, personally, have never done this as I am the type of person who gives second chances. Some, however, swear if you invest that much in your hair you should for the price tag alone. Others think its best to give a stylist a second chance as they now know what does not work for you.

2. Dye your hair: Sometimes, a color and a cut just do not mesh well at all. In my situation, a dye job helped salvaged the situation. I went from light to dark and presto chango it became less hideous. One important thing to note is that when you can - USE PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTS. It is very easy and inexpensive to do this at home, and the results are normally x10 better than store brands. Just make sure you know what you are doing!

3. Deep Condition: My hair sees a lot of action from blow dryers, flat irons, curling irons, hairbands/ties, and dye jobs. The cut, unfortunately, highlighted the current state of distress of my hair. After dying it to combat the horrendous haircut, I deep conditioned it every week and now its glorificus luster is back.

4. Change styling products/methods: I had to learn a whole new way to style my hair to deal with the change. I went to Ricky's and Bloomingdales to scope out new products and tried them on my hair. Then I found two hours to sit down and try different styles. Time consuming I know, but if I was going to walk around with this mop it was going to have to look somewhat decent. I learned a lot in that span of two hours, and trust me I thank god every morning now that I took the time to do it.

Do you have any horror stories out there that you would like to share? Drop them in the comments!