16 People Whose Hair Appointments Went Wildly Off Script

Most folks book a hair appointment expecting nothing more thrilling than a quiet trim and some pampering. But imagine this: mid-snip, you find yourself caught in a tale so wild, its memory leaves you twitching long after the scissors stop. Now that’s a haircut to remember, just like these people experienced.

• I am freshly postpartum and have been feeling very blah about the way I look, but I’ve always had great hair. And then, for some reason, I decided to get it all cut off, and the hairdresser totally botched it and ended up giving me basically a borderline bowl cut. I hate it, and this isn’t an attempt to garner compliments. The picture is of me at home afterward, after lots of crying. © Asleep_Sympathy_8987 / Reddit
• I was getting a dye job, and the hairdresser was falling behind and seemed quite stressed. Her next client was already waiting, and she asked if I minded that she ate her lunch in the 20 minutes while my toner was setting. She went in this tiny room in the back to eat and accidentally knocked a box of foils onto a water pipe, which burst and caused the store to start flooding. She was in tears. Luckily, we were in a mall, and there was another hair salon there. Had to walk me to the other salon to rinse my hair out. I felt so bad for her, but it was also not very nice to be paraded around in my cape and foils next to this crying hairdresser in this super busy mall. © universalrefuse / Reddit
• “Son, let me perm your hair; I’m just going to put a little wave in it. It will look so good.”
  My hair went from razor straight to Frizzy Dynamite. I wore a hat for a few weeks. © Calyxo / Reddit
• My brother was going to a sports training camp and decided to have his hair cut a little. His friend advised his own mother, saying that she used to be a hairdresser, and she will do everything right and for free. My brother happily went to shorten his bangs a little so that they didn’t go into his eyes and came back bald as an egg. Our mom was in shock, crying, “What happened?”
  It turned out that the friend’s mother actually wanted to cut his hair in one style, but made a big mistake and decided to make a different style. She messed it up too, freaked out, and shaved off all my brother’s hair. He didn’t care much, and then it turned out that he got a lot of attention from girls at the training camp. Apparently, the baldness gave him a manly appeal. © johnfogerty / Pikabu

• The woman started cutting my hair and then said, “I know what you told me you wanted, but that’s not what I want to do,” then proceeded to give me the most bland, right-out-of-school cut I’ve ever had. I asked for a shaggy bob, and I came out with a flat-ironed, circular, helmet-style bob. © DachshundNursery / Reddit
• Fourth grade. My hair was gorgeously long. Mom was sick of brushing it for me, so she convinced me Tina Turner’s mullet was the coolest. I agreed. She hacked off my hair. I hated the party in the back, so she hacked that off too. It ended up being 2 inches of curls all around my head. My classmates thought I was a new student and teased me for looking like a boy. To add to it, I had to get glasses. Big. Pink. Plastic. Glasses. Disney princess transformed into a monster. Thanks Mom. © LadyoftheWoodlands / Reddit
• I went to the first hairdresser I could find and asked for a shorter cut. The hairdresser worked on me for nearly an hour. I was quite happy with the result until I put on my glasses.
  And then I realized that I definitely wouldn’t get a better haircut, at least not in this place. I paid up and ran away. For the 2 following weeks, my wife shied away from me, and my dog barked at me whenever she saw me. © k0t0f0t / Pikabu
• My mom took me to a hairdresser when I was a child, explained the haircut to her, and went shopping. The hairdresser nodded, and I was silent because at 3 years old, I didn’t like to talk to strangers. When my mom came back, she was shocked. I was nearly bald.
  The hairdresser said, satisfied, “Now everything is fine, because your child looked like a girl before.” My mom almost cried, “She is a girl!” The hairdresser mumbled in surprise, “What do you mean, a girl?”
  To make you understand, I was dressed in a red jumpsuit with ladybugs, a white T-shirt, and snow-white sandals with a red flower. But my clothes were covered by the sheet, and the hairdresser decided I was a boy. © tikorotaro / Pikabu

• So I went to a local salon in my town. Everyone online had recommended this chick. I went in for a cut/color. She had to bleach my hair because I wanted 2 different colors. She left the bleach on so long that it fried my hair and hurt my scalp so bad that even brushing it for weeks after was a pain. Then she used this cheap, crappy hair dye that bled all over my pillowcases and turned my face blue. And the cut was nothing like I asked. People still say she’s the best, but I let her know she’s an awful hair stylist and went back to my regular salon, where I’ve been happy ever since. © sweetmotherofodin / Reddit
• I got a haircut from a woman who spoke neither Spanish nor English, without anyone else available there. I figured, I just needed a trim, so it shouldn’t be a big deal. I gestured with my index and pointer finger that I just needed a little off, about half an inch. She smiled and nodded, to which she took out her scissors and started trimming the back. It wasn’t until she was halfway through and started using the clippers that I realized that she was basically giving me a buzz cut. I had her just finish in order to at least have a normal look to it. But that is a rough hairstyle for winter in CO. © Unknown author / Reddit
• I went to the salon once to dye my hair, I wasn’t going to get a haircut. I chose a pretty purple shade. The stylist first burned my hair and then dyed it dirty pink.
  Then she happily pulled out the scissors, I reminded her I didn’t want a haircut. She started drying my hair, and suddenly I heard a startled yelp. It turned out that she had somehow managed to cut off a huge strand of my hair.
  As a result, she gave me a haircut nonetheless (spoiler: it was terrible). I came out of the salon with dried out, crookedly cut hair of indescribable color. And the stylist even offered me to recolor and extend my hair. But, of course, for an extra fee. © Arizonawicca / Reddit
• She shaved my sideburns up to about an inch and a half above my ear. I didn’t say anything, just sat there looking pissed. She goes, “It’ll look good if you put some gel in it.” I went up front to pay, thought about not paying, paid anyway. 4 people got up and left behind me who were waiting.
  I had to wear a beanie for a month during a hot summer until they grew back. A baseball cap wouldn’t cut it. My boss was against me wearing a beanie at work initially until I took it off. © Unknown author / Reddit

• My hair is pretty fine and has a ton of natural wave and some curl. Certain haircuts don’t work for my texture. I’ve had bangs a few times in my life, and it was cute, but this one time a few years ago it just really didn’t work out. I wanted French curtain bangs. I had shoulder-length hair at the time, and I just looked like Diane on Cheers. The way it curled & looked poofy, it was hilarious. My husband decided I looked like my name should be Sandy. I just did my best and mostly wore my hair up until it grew out. Every time I get the itch for some bangs, my husband says “Now, Sandy, we’ve talked about this,” and I’m like, “Yeah, never mind!” © jolly_bien- / Reddit
• I had tailbone-length hair, and I went for a trim, aka just an inch off, at a new place my cousin suggested. They cut it collarbone length and added many layers. It ended up looking great after a month or so, but I was obviously devastated. Backstory: she wasn’t “allowed” to have long hair, and I think she was jealous of mine and asked the lady to cut off my hair as a “sweet surprise” because the hairstylist turned the chair around and just would absolutely not let me see my hair until she was done. I cried and kinda still hold a grudge about that lol, but it’s just hair and eventually grew back beautifully thanks to the layers. © Unknown author / Reddit
• I decided to change my hair and add some streaks. At the salon, my stylist confidently got to work.
  Suddenly, the lights went out. There was complete silence. When I called out, no one answered.
  I freaked out. Then the lights came on, and in walked my boyfriend of 5 years, with a huge bouquet. As I stared, open-mouthed, he went down on one knee and proposed. Of course, I said yes, but my engagement pictures are of me crying down a river of mascara, with tin foil all over my head, because of the color job. We still laugh about it and have been married for 7 years now.
• I went to a small, neighborhood salon, patting myself on the back for supporting local businesses.
  Everything was going fine until my stylist’s pet parrot flew in, and perched on her shoulder. She just carried on. The entire time, the bird stared at me, yelling: “Your hair is ugly; you are so ugly.” The stylist remained undisturbed, and in the end, she did do a good job. I left her a decent tip but never went back. The bird was not good for my ego.

Here’s another bunch of stories from nannies who had an unforgettable work day.