A lot of people had bad experiences with hairdressers/friends, so how does it feel when someone cuts your hair in a bad way? This is the story of my experience with Jenifer, who is a member of DV.

One evening, I read something from her. She wrote about her experience at a salonin October 2008. Here are the two articles:

" Ahoj lidičky, musim se aspoň podělit nebo prasku..doufám že to patří sem. Dneska jsem byla po roce u kadeřice, vlásky mi hezky narostly a já chtěla zastříhnout jen úplné konečky, aby to bylo hezky zarovnané. Domluvili jsme se skadeřnicí asi na 1cm...no a výsledek je že ráno jsme měla vlasy nad zadek, a teď je mám do půli zad. Ten centimetr ustřihla asi 20x!! Vubec jsem tam dozadu neviděla, ona povídala a než jsem se probrala... Měla jsem takovou radost že už je mám tak dlouhé, lidi si začli všímat a chválit, já jim věnovala talik času a péče.. a ona to všechno zničila během pěti minut. Omlovám se za výlev, ale teď je mi fakt na nic"

and :

"Děkuju za slova utěchy. To, že už tam nepůjdu, bylo první, co jsem řekla. Nejhorší na tom ale je, že tohle se mi u ní nikdy nestalo, naopak..vždycky říkala jak je mám pěkné a když jsem chtěla ustřihnout ty konečky musela jsem spíš nutit já ji aby to ještě trošku vzala, proto mě to tolik vyvedlo z míry. No mrzí mě to hodně.."

I wrote an email to her and told her I was sorry that she had such an experience. She lost trust in hairdressers and was really sad. We started to communicate via emails from January 2009 until July 2009, when I travelled to Czechia.

 We discussed how she felt and I tried to understand. I also tried to think about how this poor girl could trust someone, again. I showed her my videos on Youtube, so she could see that not everyone who cuts hair is an unkind and unsympathetic person, even though I am not a professional hairdresser. A wise brain makes a good hairdresser, not the hands. The hands only do what the brain tells it to, so a hairdresser must learn some psychology so they can understand what people want from them. Also, as I always tell people, trust is everything. If someone gives you their trust, it is like gold, so don't abuse it. Value it. The day finally came when we agreed to meet in Prague and Jenifer wanted to try a haircut from me. She had let her hair grow from October 2008 until July 8th 2009 [the day we met]. 

The first hour was spent talking and getting to know each other a little. When I could see that she was relaxed, I took my scissors, comb and brush from my bag, and I let her hold them. She needed to feel that she was in control.  This is a summary of our conversation:

Me: How much do you want me to cut today?

Jenifer: What do you recommend?

Me: Well, you have layered hair, so we have two options. We can cut it at the upper layer, so that all your hair is the same length, or we can cut at the lower layer. If we cut at the upper layer it means to cut 10cms, or more.

Jenifer: Cut 0.5cms please.

Me: Are you sure?

Jenifer: Yes. Only 0.5cms, please.

Me: Certainly.

I combed her hair then asked her to relax. She was still very nervous, so I put my scissors down and we did a little meditation until I could see that she was calm.

Me: Are you ready?

Jenifer: Yes! Just do it!

Me: Ok, here we go.

I cut 0.5cms and showed her what I cut. She smiled. She smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. It was a test. I understood that she wanted to see whether I would really cut 0.5cms, or more. What was the result?Jenifer could trust someone, again. That was the lessson from this experience.

From my perspective, I thought it was fine to cut only 0.5cms. Why cut more? If a hairdresser is good, they will be patient. I know that in 2yrs Jenifer's hair will be the same length, again, so she doesn't need to cut her hair so often. 

If you are reading this, and you cut, or want to cut, someone's hair, think very carefully.