STOP MAKING POOR HAIRSTYLE CHOICES!

Face Shape – Face Shape – Face Shape

I can’t say it often enough.  The single biggest reason why a hairstyle from a magazine doesn’t work is because you are looking at a style that was designed for a face shape different from your own.  A hairstyle that looks dazzling on a triangular face may look hideous on someone with a heart shaped face.  A style that is amazing on someone else can make you look 6 inches shorter and 30 pounds heavier.  Not a good plan!

 

A great hair cut is only great if it suits you

The ‘Classic  Bob’  hairstyle loved by so many is a good example, in an effort by the stylist to minimise the severity of the angle they make the cut parallel to the jowl instead of the jaw , which sets up the  accentuation of a double chin. Get an expert opinion on your face shape and raise the question with your stylists. A problem in hairdressing education today is that many of the colleges and advanced hair school training is performed on special dolls heads, which of course all look the same with similar texture hair. So whilst stylists learn sound technical cutting skills they don’t learn to adapt these skills to suit differing faces shapes and solve real guest problems. My belief has always been a great haircut is only great if it suits the wearer.

 

Form and Texture –  Trying to make your hair do things that it just naturally won’t do.  Is your hair thin – fine – medium – or thick – is your hair straight – wavy or curly.

 

You Really Don’t Know Yourself –  Do you remember the first time you heard yourself on an audio recording?  Didn’t sound like you, did it?  A similar distortion happens when you look into a mirror.  You cannot see yourself as others see you.  Your best friend knows what you really look like.  You should give her permission to be honest and depend more on her opinion.

 

 

 

Our Internal Tape Recorder –  Our sensory acuity antenna is constantly alert for reactions about who we are and how we look.  Our memory stores any reaction, good or bad, about what looks good on us.  We pick up the slightest of non-verbal cues.  Over time you will have stored millions of bits of information about how you look.  Much of it contradictory, misread and wrong.  Bad input carries a heavier weight in our memory banks.  That is why we run out of ideas for hairstyle choices as we age.  Is it any wonder we are confused when we arrive at the hair salon?  One reason an outside party can be objective about your hair is that their internal tape recorder is blank.

 

What face shape do I have? – Because we now know we cant trust our own opinion, a useful way to get an accurate measure of your face shape is to tie your hair back with a flat hair band and look in the mirror. Using a water-soluble marker draw around the reflection of your face on the mirror. Then stand back… you may be very surprised.

 

 

Our Hair Biases – That’s right, we all have hairstyle biases.  How often I hear guests tell me that they would never wear a certain hairstyle.  When I ask them why, I get an answer something like “I think that hairstyle looks terrible on me”.  That is almost always a hairstyle bias talking.  Maybe in school she had a run-in with ‘Bertha the Bully’ and Bertha wore a similar hairstyle – from that moment on she is likely to carry around in her brain a bias against that hairstyle.  She will find it very difficult to ever consider it, even if it makes her look fabulous.

You May Have the Wrong Hairstylist –  Maybe it is time to end that long running relationship that has run out of creativity and ideas about your hair.  You have tried out so many styles that don’t work; you are left in a rut.

 

You Are Listening to the Wrong People

 

Mainly yourself …………… remember you do not see the real you in the mirror.  If you are determined to look your best and don’t trust your hairdresser’s style advice for your makeover this Christmas, what should you do?  Seek input on new hairstyles from others, but when you do, keep your own opinions to yourself or you will not get honest feedback.  Don’t prepare others by telling them what you like and dislike before hearing what they like.  Then suppress that part of you that judges and just LISTEN.  You may learn things about your hair that you had never even thought of.

 

Who Should You Listen To?

 

  • Your best girlfriend
  • Your hairstylist
  • Close girlfriends
  • Co-workers you trust
  • Neighbours who know you well
  • Any stylish women

 

Who Should You Not Listen To?

 

  • Yourself
  • Your husband or partner
  • Men (I am told they don’t have a clue) except male hairdressers of course!
  • Your Mother
  • Your Sister
  • Your Children
  • Anyone who lives with you

 

Questions I Suggest You Ask Them

 

  • Will you be honest with me?
  • What do you think my face shape is?
  • What do you think is my strongest facial strength?
  • What is my weakest facial feature?
  • What colour best describes my eyes?
  • What colour best describes my hair?
  • Is my skin tone warm or cool?
  • Should my hairstyle be longer?
  • Should my hairstyle be shorter?
  • Should I colour my hair?
  • Should I perm my hair?
  • If you were me and you were going to make a change ……… what would you do?