Is the person cutting your hair qualified?

Until recently I had always been reasonably satisfied with hairdressers I used. When my hairdresser retired I went elsewhere and was disappointed by the workmanship of another hairdresser. Then I found a young man who did a very good job but was very aggressive, waving his arms around for some reason I could not understand. It felt like he was pulling the hair out rather than cutting it. One of his colleagues manages to do as good a job without this nonsense.

Sorry, but I’m not keen on the Hair Council’s website. I cannot see anything warning consumers about the potential dangers of chemicals used in hairdressing. I appreciate that like other trade bodies it is mainly there to support those working in the industry but having advertising links does little to impress me.

I will continue to take my chances and if someone does a poor job they will not see me again. If the worst happens, my hair will grow again, and I’m far more concerned about having a good dentist and doctor.

Is there actual harm being done by feral unregulated hairdressers? The dental hygienists, chiropractors, podiatrists, taxi drivers and plumbers who are regulated are people who can do substantial harm to people or property, so regulation is reasonable.

A bad haircut is not a threat to people, property, or society. It’s not permanent. There is nothing stopping customers who are interested in qualifications from asking hairdressers what qualifications they have. It has never occurred to me to ask, because it makes no difference to me whether someone learned their skill from going to a college or watching Great-Aunt Susie cut hair in her kitchen and then practicing on their little brother.

If the various chemical treatments hairdressers do are causing actual harm, say, severe scalp burns that leave customers disfigured, or diseases being spread through combs, then I would be open to discussion of regulation. I believe hairdressing has been unregulated for hundreds of years. Where is the evidence of harm?

There is no point in regulating for the sake of regulating. Useless regulation makes it more difficult to run a business without providing benefit to the public.

The last thing we want in the hair styling business is the heavy hand of government. I would not be in favour of statutory regulation or even a compulsory registration scheme. It implies a bureaucracy that would become a burden on the industry reflected in the prices charged to customers for very little obvious benefit. If local authorities were empowered to do it, and to charge a fee to ensure it was not subsidised by council tax-payers, I could imagine the annual fee for inspection, verification of qualifications, enforcement, certification, and administration could be in the hundreds of pounds. The government has reduced the non-domestic rates for small businesses because they claimed to be suffering badly in the recession and our high streets were losing many of heir traditional shops; I cannot believe hairdressers would welcome another overhead of this kind and all its attendant impositions. Sally Styles says that hairdressers and barbers are the backbone of our high streets so she should be careful what she wishes for.

If such an idea gained momentum, should barbers who generally only do men’s haircuts and the occasional wet shave have to be regulated to the same extent as hairdressing salons that carry out dyeing, bleaching and colouring procedures? In any case, are the products used for such treatments not the same as those available to buy over the counter for people to use at home? Indeed there is probably more risk of a mishap by somebody doing their own hair treatment through a misuse or over-use of the product. People blow-dry their own hair everyday in their own homes and I suspect there are very few accidents.

The real skill in hairdressing is in cutting to a style; regulation won’t improve the results. Salons that employ fully-trained hairdressers with good cutting skills can advertise the fact on their front windows [I am surprised they don’t]. One salon in Norwich calls itself the ‘Crop Shop’ – low prices, no appointments, always busy; there’s a market for that, so why try to disrupt it? I believe customers, especially women, are pretty good at sussing out the best places to get their hair done at the price level and to the style they desire.

The hairdressing trade already has to comply with the Health & Safety at Work etc Act [and all its derivatives], and with a general duty of care and the use of reasonable skill and competence [due to become enshrined in the new Consumer Rights Act from October 2015]. I cannot see what regulation would add to consumer protection. Sally believes it is necessary “to drive out cowboys” from the industry. I am not convinced there are many or that it wouldn’t actually stop the dedicated, mature and highly-experienced hairdressers from earning a decent living and giving customers the kind of supportive service that they want.

I hope this idea falls to the floor and is swept up with all the other clippings

Is this eleven days late in publication?

At my age a quick razor blade comb suffices to trim my few remaining greys.

Here is advice from Which? for anyone who is unhappy with the services of a hairdresser: http://local.which.co.uk/advice/haircut_hairdressing_bad_how_to_complain_hairdresser

It would be useful to have this advice on the website of the Hair Council.

Does anyone know a private hairdresser in the Penryn/Falmouth in Cornwall That they could recommend?
Many thanks.

Adele

A lot of these comments back my blood boil!!! You all want to try being a hairdresser!!!!! You wouldn’t last one day . Clients get a skin test in my salon always before a chemical service but if the client had a reaction and did not tell me how is that my fault, you would not believe the lenghs that customers would go to for a colour. I’ve even been asked to apply shop bought colours on before obviously this would invalidate my salon insurance , so does applying chemicals to client with out an incompatibility test or consensus form. Just one thing about getting a bad haircut what do people expect if they just go any old where to get there hair cut, a good hairdresser is worth there weight in gold and it’s about time clients treat us skilled ones with more respect! I.e. Booking appointments in advance , and loyalty. And if u can get fitted in at the drop of a hat that should say it all if a hairdresser has availability!!!!!!!!!

I have had problems with my hair after the last two haircuts, which were bad to say the least, I got my money back from the so called professionals, finding a good hairdresser is getting to be harder than ever the reviews on quite a few of my local salons are far from inspiring, and I am not alone, the hair council gives the public no constructive help on anything anyway.

Having read these comments, I felt I needed to share my experience. I live in London where there are hundreds if not thousands of salons. I have yet to find one I’d be willing to go back to if I don’t want to pay over £100 for a cut. The fact that hairdressers in the UK don’t need any qualification is something I have suspected for a long time. I can tell in the first few seconds if the hairdresser has had training or not, just by the way they approach the job and then the time they take to complete it. The way they divide the hair for cutting or when they just randomly grab strands of your hair and start cutting etc. I always end up with a style I did not ask for, even when I brought pictures. I find it hard to believe that “the vast majority of hairdressers and barbers in the UK possess the skills and training to undertake these tasks professionally”. I used to travel abroad for work and had my haircuts done in Brussels. The experience could not be more different . I never needed appontments, went to high-street salons and never paid more than £25-30 for a perfect, stylish, professional haircut done very efficiently in less than 20 minutes. These hairdressers simply knew what they were doing unlike the ones in London. I now cut my own hair (yes, it can be done, look on Youtube) and only occasionally have the back sorted out or trimmed. It’s saved me hundreds of pounds with the result not much worse than visiting a salon. I also used to be overcharged. E.g. when booking a discounted standby appointment, I was charged 50% , but of a senior stylist’s price which she clearly wasn’t. When they make a mistake cutting your hair, they can always style it so you don’t notice until you wash your hair again and try to style it yourself. And this is one of the reasons why I hadn’t complained. We are all too shy and polite to complain and I was always so frustrated and disappointed that I couldn’t wait to leave and never come back again.

The qualified hairdressers are crap…plain and simple.

Hairdressing is a born talent Not a brought skill

I would agree Latoya, hairdressing is a talent you are either born with or you try hard to develop . I am lucky I have an excellent mens hairdressing shop using all the old methods and puts complete concentration and style into every cut, even shaving your eyebrows, shaving your ear hair , a first class job . One apprentice male lasted a year but packed up because he wasnt being paid what his wife thought he should be paid , never realizing that its a long term apprenticeship . The owner runs a college of hairdressing and just to show I am even handed in my criticism of males/females the colleges top apprentice was a female and so she got a job at his shop . I have to say she is EXCELLENT not cutting hair from a female point of view -ie-get it done quick and then onto REAL hair cutting for women which I found in many “unisex hairdressers ” . No this female thinks like a male and understands how men think and is very easy to talk to , feel at ease with and best of all her hair cutting is about as good as her boss . so there ! I am praising a female to the sky,s .
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