I have to admit I took me a while to find a salon I wanted to return to over and over again. I never seemed 100% happy with my haircut and I thought that’s just ‘how it was’ but no. thank. you.
When I went to Swansea uni a few years ago I went to a salon around the corner from our second year student house. It was great. I finally had a haircut I’d asked for. The problem hit me when I moved back home to Cardiff and didn’t want to travel an hour to get my hair done every few months.
My hair is naturally a very very dark brown, almost black. I used to hate the colour as a child because nobody else had black hair,. In high school started experimenting with colour. Naturally, at 14 I jumped to a purple (temporary) hue, then red then the XXL Live bright red, (poor choice,). At 16 I began working in a local hairdressing salon and at this point my hair was back to a dark chocolate colour. I thought it was a great idea to have streaks of bright red in my then very cool side sweeping fringe… it really wasnt all that cool looking back.
Finally, now at exactly 24 and a half years old I’ve found my hair heaven.
Social Media Shopping
I had nano ring hair extensions for just over a year at the age of 22, I got them done at a really popular salon on Crwys Road in Cardiff called Dollymixers (now Nail Geeks) but after having them taken out, I discovered that my hair had grown a lot in that time. Unfortunately the salon that I was going to no longer had a hairdresser and was just slowly starting to run as a nail salon. When I felt it was time for me to finally break from the extensions, I took to the most trusty place to find me new hair hero to chop my locks, Instagram.
Let’s be honest, we all know that social media can lie, people can paint perfect pictures that aren’t actually true to real life, they create scenes and set ups to gain 1,000 likes but lacking in a little truth. When it comes to business, you can’t really hide. Not when it comes to hairdressing anyway, and a bad haircut can’t be Photoshoped. I started searching ‘hairdressers Cardiff’ and came across Bouff, a place I instantly knew was the right for me. The on trend salon has an Instagrammable vibe, the staff are super friendly and you’ll definitely have a lot to natter about on any visit.
It’s now my go to salon, I try to get my hair cut around every 10 weeks to keep it looking healthy, and it seems to grow pretty well too. Sometimes I have to wait weeks and weeks for an appointment, but it’s worth it with a hairdresser I really trust to deliver exactly what I want.
You have the right to not remain silent…
My best friend has always had thick, long luscious locks and It’s her favourite feature she’s proud to flaunt. Recently, she had her hair bleached in a salon and she felt it had been left on too long, to cut a long story short, her hair started to fall out. Her feeling was right, the bleach was not. Her hair is alright now and on the mend, but to me this just indicates you should suss out a salon before hand. It’s not her fault for having a bad experience, but her main reason for attending the salon was because it was fairly cheap, so my advice was to do extra research next time.
If you’re not happy with a service then you have to right to complain. There’s a reason you pay after your treatment has been completed, and one of those reasons to ensure the client is happy with the service. I’m guilty of not having the confidence to complain, but once, I actually found a hair in my salad in a restaurant and I DID complain because clearly I was not happy. I was proud of myself for that – but it was also my right, and my friend Chloe is my witness.
It’s great to try new places, new services and new products, but sometimes we have to take a gamble. This is why I always think it’s very important to do some serious research before hand. If you’re investing your hard-earned money you want to be happy with whatever you are spending it on. You wouldn’t turn up to a job interview without researching the company and you wouldn’t necessarily eat a piece of cake without knowing the flavour? I wouldn’t anyway. (Cake is important and so are interviews…)
The final say
I really believe it’s important to return to a hair hero you trust, my hair salon isn’t exactly the cheapest around but it’s not extortionate , I go to the senior stylist who is also the salon owner, and that’s my choice. My hair is very important to me, it gives me quite a bit confidence and it’s something I’ve decided to take good care of in recent years.
As you can see I’ve had several variations of the same sort of hairstyle over the years, and there’s a few styles and colours missing from this collage too… right now though I’m sticking with a bit of blonde but watch this space…
What are your thoughts on hair salons? Do you attend one because it’s cheap, you’ve been going to the same place for years or do you religiously attend your favourite salon every few weeks?
I’m interested to know, so comment below!
A blog by Amy 