Am I A Bad Client? A Comprehensive Guide To Hair Salon Etiquette

Baseball cap pulled over my face, palms sweating, I circled the neighbourhood twice before finally pushing open the door. Instead of a hair salon, you’d think I was psyching myself up to revisit the scene of a crime. In some ways I am, if you count unexpected bangs as a felony. A year earlier, I’d watched in horror as my hairstylist gave me a set of curtain bangs and chopped off twice as much as I’d requested. It took everything not to have a toddler-like meltdown. Instead, I smiled politely as she spun me around in the chair, paid, and sobbed into a margarita as my best friend stroked my back and whispered, “It doesn’t look that bad”, on a loop. Hair is a big part of our identity and a reflection of our self-expression, so when a cut or color goes wrong, it’s like a stranger is looking back at us in the mirror. But how to handle that situation the right way seems to be equally mystifying. Can I ask for a color correction? Should I just use a box dye