Who else here has waited until their annual trip back home to get your hair done by the same person who has helped you for years? While this act of loyalty is amazing and something that I used to pride myself on, there is something major to be said for transitioning appointments like this over to your new location/duty station to support the local community and really get you plugged in! After I had been at McChord for about a year, I started to notice that I really admired some other WAFs hair and found out that they were all going to the same girl. Kirst and I booked ourselves appointments with her and haven’t looked back! Now, I can say that I have helped introduce her to a wider WAF group but she has also helped me! She has been my quasi-concierge of the local community. She has the best places to go, spots to eat, and has given me an inside look at what its like to live like a local here! So basically, I think she is absolutely amazing but with Kirstin’s recent move this year, I realized I had no idea what to do if I had to PCS and leave Alison! So we got to talking and came up with some questions that we thought would be helpful to have answered before trying to find a new hairdresser!
(Jen) How do I find a quality hair dresser in a new town?
(Alison) The best thing you can do is to find someone’s hair that you love and ask them where they go. The surest way is to find someone with similar hair to you and ask them where they go. Another way is to
look into the products that the salon carries. If you have a brand that you love-find a salon that carries that brand.
I definitely don’t think that google and yelp are the best way because often times those salons pay for that as advertising. Use hashtags on Instagram too! For example, look up #sanantoniohair, peruse through the pictures to find a consistent style you like, and find salons that way.
(J) How do I explain to a hairdresser what I want?
(A) Pinterest can be the best/worst thing that has ever happened. This may be a surprise but a lot of those photos are photoshopped. As long as you are realistic and find someone with a similar skin tone and base hair color-pictures can be so so helpful. Understand that you may not get that look right off the bat and that your hair dresser may need to tell you “No”. Lastly, remember that pictures are great inspiration, but nothing can be exactly duplicated:)
(J) What do I do if I don’t like the hair color/cut?
(A) This is a hard one. It’s hard for the client but any good stylist genuinely wants you to be happy. I can only speak for myself, but I would love for all my clients to be happy with me. If you truly don’t like it after the big reveal, go home, sleep on it, wash it and style it yourself and then if you still don’t like it-text your stylist. Things are so easily fixable. I want the opportunity to fix it rather than to never see you again and wonder what happened.
(J) I’m nervous they will cut off too much, what do I do?
(A) She’s probably cutting off too much because it needs to be. Haha! Just be super clear. Communication is key, express your concerns and goals with length. But really just be realistic and if you feel like they don’t listen to you, continue on the hunt to find someone who does. If you are still nervous at the beginning of each cut, you can have them spin you around and show you the back to really see where they intend to make the cut.
(J) Is there really a difference in drugstore vs higher priced shampoos and conditioner?
(A) God yes. Yes yes YES! I’m so worried all the time because they don’t even tell you what’s in there. The reason your hair feels so soft and luscious from the drugstore conditioner is because they literally put floor wax in there!!!! We care so much now a days about what we put into our mouths but when you pay $100-$200 to get your hair colored, please use good products to keep up that value! Plus, professional products are super concentrated so you actually don’t use nearly as much as the cheaper product so it lasts a lot longer. Be wary of buying off of amazon…there are many nice brands that don’t allow for their products to be sold on there so if you see them, they maybe another product with that brands label slapped on it. Two budget friendly, quality lines that just came out are Eleven and Verb. Everything is under $20!
(J) Are all hair oils created equal?
(A) The biggest difference would be the weight. It all depends on what you need. A lot of the drugstore brands are made for heavy or coarse hair so if everyone uses that same oil-it may make your hair extra greasy if you have more of a fine hair texture. Talk to your hairdresser and ask what they offer or what they suggest that your hair needs because it is probably different from your friend. Kevin Murphy has an awesome website with a quiz to find your hair type and will give you a list of 5 of their products you need based on the results!
Xo, Jen (+ Alison!)
