My Bad Pixie Haircut: What's the Difference Between a Razor and a Machete in a Beauty Salon?

I want to put all the blame on the stylist, but I think my bad hair cut has as much to do with me as it does to do with the woman who cut my hair. I came into the salon asking for a really short pixie hair cut. I saw a really nice picture on the web of a short pixie haircut, but since my printer isn't working, I didn't print it out. Still, beauticians know what a pixie is, don't they?

I wanted a hair cut like Jamie Lee Curtis. It looks really nice on her, and I had pixies when I was a kid. Yesterday, I paid $14 to have a stylist rip up and gouge my hair with a machete'"well, it was a razor, but to look at my hair it looks like I did it with a machete. My daughter took some photos of my bad pixie haircut so I can show what a haircut with a machete looks like.

Why is it partly my fault that I received a bad pixie haircut? I sat there waiting, and a middle-aged woman who clearly had a bad looking hairstyle, with what looked like Kool-Aid staining in her bangs led me to a chair to get my cut. She was very nice, and she asked me how I wanted my hair. I explained that I found a really nice short pixie hairstyle, but I didn't have a picture of it. I told her it looked like it was a razor cut. She nodded, and said we would give me a nice haircut.

I was watching her in the mirror and I noticed that she worked primarily from one side. I didn't say anything, because I figured she had her own way of doing things. She didn't move my chair to reposition me to do the cutting, she just stayed in one position, which was on my right side and she also spent a little time on my back, but she never went to my left side. She was looking more into the mirror to guide her cutting than by actually looking at my head and going around my head.

She already had my bangs short, but she wanted to tweak them a little more, so she held up a piece and while looking in the mirror she cut off some of my bang from underneath. She then kind of messed it up with her fingers and I was none the wiser, until I got home.

When she was finished, she put some styling cream on my hair and used her fingers to arrange my pieces of hair. I thought I had more forehead showing on one side than the other side, but I figured it was just how it was styled. I didn't really know how bad the haircut was until I got home. I took my brush and just started to comb out my hair to look at it and it was chopped and gouged.

I vowed I wasn't going out of the house for 3 months, so that haircut had time to grow out so I could get it fixed. Instead of becoming a recluse, I called the salon and talked to the manager and explained the situation. She wants to make it right with me. She offered for me to come back to the salon, so she could look at it. She said that she would rather I came back and let them make it right than for me to go somewhere else.

Now, to be fair, I might have been a little bit at fault. What should I have done?

First, I should have declined the offer of that particular beauty operator, since she didn't look like she could take care of her own hair.

Next, I should have told her I have a little bald place under my hair where I lost some hair as a child. Most beauty operators look at my hair before they start cutting, and know how to proceed, but I should have told her anyway.

I probably shouldn't have asked for a razor cut. Maybe I should have just left it up to her. Maybe she is better with scissors than she is a razor.

Maybe I should have asked her to check my left side, that it didn't look symmetrical to the other side. (So much for holding my tongue; my mom always taught me to never complain when your hair doesn't turn out like you want it, because hair will grow).

The final thing I did wrong was to not react when I thought my forehead looked lopsided. I didn't want to insult her, and I figured that I could go home and fix it. I didn't realize that my hair was gouged.

The good thing is I am going to go back to let the manager look at it, but I wanted to wait until that operator was off. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, and I didn't want to embarrass her, but '" I vow I will never let this beauty operator ever touch my hair again.