19 Times Haircuts Turned into Unforgettable Stories

Most people book a haircut expecting a routine visit: they sit in a chair, relax, and leave looking refreshed. But no one anticipates that their time at the salon could turn into an experience so memorable that it leaves them with a nervous tic.

• “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 shit 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.” © LadyoftheWoodlands / Reddit
• “My good friend Mark, a very cool stylist, asked me to model for a hairdressing competition. I said yes. Why would I turn down a free haircut? Mark worked his magic on me, even tinted something. We go to the judges. I see the result, and my jaw drops.
  Mark forgot to tell me that he plans to demonstrate 2 completely different haircuts on my poor head. On the right, the hair was down to my chin and layered — it looked good. But on the left, my hair was about an inch long with a purple streak in the middle. Since there was nothing I could do about it, I just flaunted my unusual haircut until my hair grew back.” © Rachel Fefer / Quora
• “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 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

• “My hair faded in the sun and I decided to go to a beauty salon to get a little trim and freshen up the color. What could possibly go wrong? First, I was cut too short and when it was time to apply the dye, the stylist asked if I wanted a reddish shade. In my mind, reddish was a noble auburn shade, and without a second thought, I said, ‘Let’s do it at your discretion.’
  But I was wrong. It turned out that our understanding of color was very different, and she dyed my hair in a fierce aubergine color. How am I supposed to walk around with my head looking like this? I’m desperate.” © KindlyHousewife / Pikabu
• “My grandmother decided she was going to take me to the salon. I was so excited — my first beauty makeover. It was short-lived. When I looked in the mirror I realized I looked like a younger version of my grandmother...complete with short hair and a tight golden girl style perm. My older siblings had a field day with the insults.” Roo514 / 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 would 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

• “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. 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, and 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
• “I was once sitting in the hairdresser’s chair and suddenly saw a boy about 12–13 years old coming out of another room and sobbing like crazy. His haircut was good and neat. I couldn’t understand why he was crying. He looked good, and his haircut was also good.
  And then his mother ran up to him, tried to console him, and then called the administrator and the hairdresser. They came running and the boy’s mom yelled, ‘How did you cut my daughter’s hair? What does she look like now?’
  At that moment, I realized why she was sobbing that hard. She was wearing a hoodie and wide jeans, so I didn’t realize it was a girl at first.” © Haltijatar / Pikabu

• “A friend of mine has an uncle who flaunted very wide and bushy eyebrows. One day he went to the hairdresser’s. A young girl gave him a haircut, and then, apparently, decided to surprise him and trim his eyebrows a little, because they were too shaggy.
  The uncle didn’t realize it at once because he was sitting with his eyes closed. But when he saw half of his eyebrows on the floor, he yelled in rage, ‘What have you done? Stick them back on!’ It took a long time to calm him down, but he still left angry.” © Chamber 6 / VK
• “I went to a salon, and there the guy cut a bald spot into my head and tried to sell me a product to cover it up.” © LegalAction / Reddit
• “I got a very short fringe. 5 mm short. Like someday it was popular, my hairdresser thought somehow it would be okay looking. I have thick and curly hair. It was awful.
  Good thing it was winter, so I just covered it everywhere with a hat.” © deadmany / 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 Napolean Dynamite. I wore a hat for a few weeks.” Calyxo / Reddit

• “Back when I had a pixie cut, I needed a maintenance trim right before my junior prom. Nothing major, just a little bit off the back and the sides. The hairdresser proceeded to take my bangs and cut them straight across, leaving me with virtually no bangs. She also cut the sides and back super short. She turned my cute, feminine pixie into a boy’s haircut! I was mortified. I had to wear extensions in my bangs for months.” turncver / Reddit
• “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.” sweetmotherofodin / Reddit
• “My wife cuts my hair. It’s just a quick buzz cut. My wife has been out of town for the last month so my hair, for me, was long and shaggy. ’If you are going out in public today I’m giving you a haircut first.’ She sat up on a barstool and called me in. I didn’t argue.
  Things were going along as normal, at least it felt normal. ’Uh-oh.’ ’Uh-oh? What do you mean Uh-oh?’ I hate it when she makes that sound while cutting my hair. ’I forgot to put the guard on the clippers.’ I stuck my hand up there and felt bare skin. Just bare skin. That’s all.
  OK, so I’m bald. Very bald. Cue ball bald. Raindrops hitting me in the head hurt bald.
  ’I won’t see you again for almost two weeks and by then you’ll need another haircut so all is well.’ ’You’ll be fine. Just don’t take any selfies.’” Ron Shipe / Quora

• “Six months before my wedding my hair was almost to my waist but it was in need of a trim and two-tone from growing out from a dye job a few years previously.
  The first thing I said when I sat in the hairdresser’s chair was ’I need a change but I don’t want to take too much off since I’m getting married in six months and want my hair long for the wedding.’
  She died it in a way that was supposed to make it look more ombre than just crazy long roots but then cut it all off and chopped my hair to my shoulders. I trusted her, wasn’t facing a mirror and honestly, I have no idea how I didn’t notice she was taking off so much length.
  I was so upset I threw money at her and ran out the door.
  My hair is curly so after drying it was even shorter and my hair was nowhere near as long as I wanted it for my wedding.
  When I confronted her later about how much hair she took off and how the dye job actually looked exactly the same after her work as it did before, she said that she must have cut off all the dyed hair and that’s why the color looked the same and claimed that I never told her I wanted to leave my hair long. Why would you dye hair only to cut it all off??? She had no answer for that question.” illeatyourgarden / Reddit

• “I had long hair. Like, really long hair. It needed to be trimmed about 3/4” and I needed to have my layers adjusted. My sister gave me the name of a stylist-friend of hers, and since my sister’s hair was awesome, I was like, okay, cool!
  The stylist was really nice and seemed to get exactly what I wanted done. She measured to indicate the length, I confirmed, and removed my glasses, thus rendering myself essentially blind. I kind of zoned out for a bit and let her work but something just didn’t seem right.
  It took me entirely too long to realize she’d somehow gone from cutting off 3/4″ to trimming it down to 3/4″ and that she wasn’t just working that close to my head because she was adjusting layers.
  We both figured out she’d screwed up at about the same time. I started to ask, “Did you just....”
  And she went “Oh no!” and paused. And then her voice kinda went high-pitched, and she went, “I can’t glue it back on now!” and kept going.
  I did not cry. I was crushed. I had come in with long Disney Princess-y hair. You know, bouncy, and full, and beautiful. I left with Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby hair. Maybe even shorter." Unknown author / Reddit

Here’s a collection of stories from those who had an unexpectedly unforgettable time at the beauty salon.