Sunday morning, as I turned the shower knobs, I said a short prayer. "Lord, please let my curls return. Please let my curls return, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease let my curls return."
Why in the world would I say this? Let's rewind back a couple of months.
As much as I love my natural hair, I wanted a big of change. The easiest, dramatic change I knew of besides braids or weaves was coloring. But I wasn't sure if it was good idea as adding color to hair can be quite drying and I struggle with dry natural hair all the time. So I waited it out. Finally after drooling at you tubers with colored hair, and reading about one of my hair crushes dyed her own TWA (teeny weeny afro) I decided to make an appointment this past Monday for not only a color, but also a straightening. As I watched numerous times on YouTube, I thought a deep conditioning, blow out and then flat iron was a standard even in professional salons. So I wasn't that worried, just anxious to see how much my natural hair has grown.
So I make my appointment for 12:30 pm, Saturday.
All week, not only was a worried about imminent damage to my hair, but I was also worried about whether or not I will be able to pay for classes (a whole other story). So the thought of having some alone time at the salon was not so bad.
About 12:10 I call the salon telling "one" of the stylists that I was on my way. She said something I really hope she wouldn't but was definitely in the back of my mind, "Oh take your time, I am running late anyway!"
Shit!
This has been my experience at each and every salon I've ever been to get my hair done here in Germany. I either have to wait an hour to 2 hours to get my hair done, or I while I am getting my hair done, I have to wait in the sink, long after the dryer has stopped while the hairdresser tends to another customer. I have no problem with them doing maybe 1 girl while I wait but 2 or more is ridiculous. I know there are not a lot of black salons in Germany, we don't have much of choice when we want our hair to have a professional touch, but dammit have some time management skills. Call the client in advance to work a different appointment time and most of all, don't do an half assed job on my hair as a result.
I drove off to my appointment at 12:20 and got there at 12:35 thinking/foolishly optimistically hoping that the delay can't be that long. NO. She was alone with 2 clients while I sat and waited. Then after she was finished with the other women, she left for about an half-hour. THEN sat and ate some bread. So I waited 2 and a half hours to get my hair done. Why? Because I wasn't really do much that day and I really wanted the colornd wasn't confident that I'd do a good job on my hair myself.
So finally she starts and nicely offered water and gets started. She's very nice and offered products for dry hair like mine annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd some other clients come in. A ONE woman salon (which I didn't know!). She rushes through, and then had me sit under a steamer while my hair was deep conditioning. Fine. But then she rinses, the client's mother wants a hair cut. So I get stuck under the hair dryer and my hair goes from soft to hair as hard as cement. I am worried. And I get more worried when she busts out the hot comb. I never had my hair hot combed and googled the effects. It's no more worse than a flat iron, and she's a professional she knows what she's doing.....right? She's going through my hard hair and raking the hot comb though. It feels crunchy and it's saying to me, "Soommmmerrrrr whyyyyyyyyyy!" Then I guess the crown of my head is coarser so now she busts out the hair dryer on full blast and brush. Here comes the tears. Not because it hurt, but because I was sitting there watching my hair get murdered. I was just in utter shock. I feel hair being pulled from my head. She asked when I got my last trim; I say last month! After coloring my hair and putting me under a hot dryer, of course my fine strands are sensitive to that. My goodness. So after she finally finishes, with the hot comb and the blow dryer on dry hair, she moves on the the flat iron. I thought I'd never see my curls again. I apologized to my hair so many times.
I did get my eyebrows done at a reduced rate and a coupon for the next time. Uh, right.
I went home and the kids, my husband, and my friend loved my stiff but straight hair. But since I was soooooo late. I was at the salon for 6 hours!!!!!!! I had to rush home, get an outfit for the night, get gas, and food. I was tired, and worried about my long lost curls. I went out that night, and luckily no smoking is allowed where we went to, so I didn't have the smoky stink in my hair. But I wanted to wash my hair so bad and I did.
I let the water drench my hair and hoped the curls would come back. SLOWLY they did. I nearly cried! I put 5 types of conditioner in my hair (yes i have that much!) because my hair felt soooooooooooooooo dry. I never had my hair feel that dry ever. I think it was mostly from the heat styling. After I finally rinsed out all of the conditioner and de-tangled, I added more conditioner in my hair and left it in. I sort of styled and went on with my day. As my hair dried, I noticed a patch that wasn't quite curling up. HEAT DAMAGE. :-(((((( It's wavier than straight, but definitely damaged. I immediately went to the commissary (I think the commissary's hair products are better than px's) and picked up the whole line of NEXXUS's shampoo, conditioners, leave-ins, and frizz spray for color treated/damaged hair. It cost me a pretty penny, but I was desperate.
I was sleep-deprived and even more pissed at the stylist. All she had to do was manage time better and this wouldn't have happened. She could have called and asked that I come in a couple hours later. Rushing through and messing my hair isn't worth losing a potential long time customer. My husband and I agreed that I'd get my hair trimmed and deep conditioned at the salon up the street from me. I did some research and read going to a salon that doesn't specialize in black hair is fine as well. They don't have to style (I am sure there are stylist who can) I just want monthly trims and a goooooood deep conditioning. I did my research with the salon I went to and everyone seemed to like it. I thought there would be more than one stylist there. But I was not happy. I wanted to make a bitchier rant last night, but I was very tired and I was probably crankier, too.
I love my hair color, though and the heat damage is easy to mask. I just don't think I will be going to the same salon again.
Here is me before going to the salon:
Here is after--frizzy from literally running around afterward
went out for drinks with a friend, but you can see the length. After chopping my hair nearly bald 9 months ago, it's grown a lot. It's flipped yes I look like the mom from the Brady bunch, but my hair grew pretty fast although she cut at least an inch off!
All washed out the morning after! you can't see the heat damage here, but there's a small patch on the right side :-(
What would you have done. Anyone else have bad salon experiences! Please share! Thanks for reading this rant.
