What You Should Do If You Hate Your Hair

It’s always a terrible feeling when you’re not happy with your hair. If our hair doesn’t look good, we don’t feel good. Many of us base our sense of self off of our hair, so if we aren’t happy with it, it can be an incredible blow to your self-esteem. Depending on why you hate your hair will determine what you can do to make it better. In this post I’ll give recommendations for what you should do if you aren’t happy after you visit the hair salon, as well as if you just aren’t happy with it in general.

I remember the worst haircut I’ve ever received. Believe it or not, it was also the most expensive haircut I’ve ever paid for ($205 for just a CUT to be exact). It was in Beverly Hills from a “celebrity stylist” whom I really looked up to.

I gave him a general guideline, but also wanted to give him creative freedom since, ya know, HE’S THE PROFESSIONAL. But instead, I left with a choppy and uneven face frame that I had to use extensions to blend into the rest of my hair.

If you hate your hair after just getting it done

The very first thing to do in this situation is to take a breath and try your best to relax. I know that this may be a traumatizing experience, but your best bet is to approach this situation with a level head so that we can find the best solution ASAP.

When you hate your hair after just getting it done, it’s usually because of one of two things:

1. You did not get what you asked for and discussed during the consultation.

OR

2. Your new hair IS what you asked for, it just isn’t as flattering on you as you expected it to be.

And I’m going to help you navigate both situations below.

My hair didn’t turn out as discussed in our consultation

Having a thorough consultation is KEY to ensuring that you’re not going to hate your hair upon leaving the salon. Now, this SHOULD be on your stylist to ensure the consultation goes smoothly, but not all stylists focus the TLC into a consultation that it truly needs.

It’s important to express what you’re looking for, how you wear your hair regularly, the amount of maintenance you’re willing to commit to, as well as what you DON’T want your hair to look like.

And your stylist should inform you if your goals don’t match your maintenance needs, if it’ll take multiple sessions to get there, as well as any risks of damage your hair may endure. If she didn’t, than this is totally on her.

The best and only way to solve this issue is to express your concerns to your stylist/salon. I know this can be extremely difficult to do, but this is their fault, and they need to fix it. Most of the time they’ll redo the service completely free of charge.

Even if there isn’t anything that can be done to fix it (maybe your hair is already too short), they NEED to know and be informed that you hate your hair. This will show them that they need to work on improving their consultation skills for the future.

For tips on how to have the perfect consultation with your stylist to prevent this from ever happening again, see my post here.

My new hair is not as flattering on me as I expected

Now, let’s say that you had a thorough consultation and everything under the moon was discussed. You wanted to try something vastly different and go totally blonde all over. This is something you’ve never done before, but you’ve always wanted to try it.

You’re aware of all that it takes to get there, as well as the maintenance needs and you’re still in. Your stylist nails the color, and it’s nearly identical to your inspiration photos. But, you still HATE YOUR HAIR.

This actually is not uncommon at all, especially when trying something new.

My first suggestion is to give it a few days. It’s shocking to drastically change your hair, and you may startle yourself when you walk by a mirror. Sometimes we just have to adjust to the change.

If after several days you still aren’t happy, reach out to your stylist and let them know. (Make sure to check their “redo policy”, this timeframe may vary, but most salons will give you 1 week to reach out if you aren’t happy.”)

Sometimes it can take a very simple adjustment to a color or cut so that you feel more like yourself. This could be a deeper root shadow or lowlights added into blonde hair to take the harshness off. This doesn’t mean that you have to go back to brunette, but it’s not uncommon to need some adjusting as you’re getting the hang of your new hair.

If you are honest about your concerns, your stylist won’t be offended. She will likely have several options for how to fix the problem.

**Keep in mind, depending on the salon you may have to pay for any adjustments if it is exactly what you asked for.

Figuring out WHY you hate your hair

Figuring out exactly why you hate your hair will help you to better explain to your stylist what the problem actually is. It will be hard for her to fix it if you can’t properly express what’s wrong with it.

You also need to keep in mind that there is usually styling involved to get your hair to look like your inspiration picture. No ones hair looks like inspiration pictures all day everyday even while we’re sleeping.

And just because the style looks phenomenal on the model, doesn’t mean that you’re going to look just like her when it’s done.

Below are ways to determine why you hate your hair whether you’re unhappy with your haircut or color service.

***Since I’m sharing the products that I love to use with you guys, this page includes affiliate links to these products. If you take action and purchase a product through clicking one of my links, I’ll make some commission money from it at no extra cost to you. This enables me to be able to continue giving you awesome hair tips, so thanks! ***

I hate my new haircut

If it’s your cut that you’re unhappy with, let’s figure out why you don’t like it. No two people are the same, and everyone’s hair and face shape are vastly different from one another.

When you’re selecting a haircut, you’ll want to pick out cuts on models that have similar face shapes and hair types as you. If you’d like to learn more about face shapes and haircuts check out my post here. And if you aren’t quite sure what hair type you have, you can determine that on my post here.

My haircut is too short

If your cut is too short, unfortunately the best thing to do is to just wait it out. Depending on how short, extensions are always an option. As I mentioned earlier, I used extensions to fix a bad haircut and this was a phenomenal solution for me. Hair extensions come in a variety of methods, some being doable yourself (like clip-ins or a halo) and others needing to be put in by a stylist.

Keep in mind that often times when a stylist cuts your hair shorter than you’d like, it may be because it was necessary. If you have damage or breakage on your ends, those need to be cut off. Leaving damage there isn’t doing you any good and will cause the breakage to travel further up your hair strand.

Make sure you are taking proper care of your hair at home, using good products, and trimming it regularly to keep from having to cut off excess length. Hair grows 1/4 to 1/2 an inch per month, so as long as it’s healthy it shouldn’t take too long until it catches up to what you were looking for.

If you’re looking to grow your hair as quickly as possible, see my post here for how to grow your hair long and healthy.

My haircut just doesn’t feel right

If you feel that the cut just isn’t laying right, reach out to your stylist. Often times when we get home and style it ourselves, we’ll find that maybe a few more layers or a little more texture in some spots would be beneficial.

This is totally normal! It can take a few times to get it just right if this is the first time you’ve seen that stylist or the first time you’ve gotten that haircut.

For my clients trying a new style, I like to leave the hair a little longer to begin with because we can always go back in and take more off. You can’t put inches back on. I’d much rather have a client call and come back a week later to go a little shorter than for them to be unhappy with how short it is the first time.

Play with your hair at home and discover what works for you as well as what doesn’t. Sometimes all you need to do is style it differently and wear it for a few days to get used to it!

I hate my hair color

There are a number of reasons why you may be unhappy with your color, each and every situation is different.

When first selecting a hair color or tone, it’s best to be aware of what will work with your skin tone and what won’t. Although they should, many stylists don’t bring this up to you when you ask for a specific color. To learn what hair colors will work well with your skin tone, see my post here.

If you are going lighter, keep in mind that only so much is possible in one session. You need to have patience to get the color you want while maintaining the integrity of your hair at the same time. You unfortunately may have to endure some brassy tones while getting there. To learn how you can correct brassy tones from home, see my post here.

If your color is too dark, try washing it in hot water with (and I know this will sound crazy) Dawn dish soap. Dawn is a strong cleanser and will remove a lot of the pigment from your hair. See my post here for how I remove direct dye with dawn!

And if your color is too light, this is a relatively easy one to fix. You should definitely first reach out to your stylist, but another option is to use a color depositing conditioner at home. These deposit semi-permanent pigment into your hair and can be an easy solution for you to tone down your color.

I didn’t just get my hair done

If you are just feeling blah with your hair, this is typically a sign that you need to make a trip into the salon. Your stylist can give you recommendations for what you can do based on why you’re unhappy with it. Determining what is off is key to finding the solution.

If we go too long without a haircut, our hair can become difficult to style and will lack volume. It may also not hold a curl well and just feels blah.

The same goes for color. Since hair color is chemically changing the composition of the hair, hair color often gives your hair more body and volume. I can always tell that I need to color my hair by the fact that I have to wash it sooner. Virgin hair gets greasy much quicker than chemically treated hair will. This is because once the hair is colored, the cuticle is slightly opened, making it a little easier to get volume.

If you feel stuck in a rut with your hair, check out my post here for recommendations on how to get out of it and feeling better.

Try new hair products

Another option is to switch up the products that you’re using. Our hair can get used to or immune to the same product over and over, and it’s beneficial to switch it up from time to time.

Maybe you need a mousse for volume, a texture spray for that perfect messy look, or a serum to reduce frizz.

For recommendations on my favorite products and brands, check out my post here. I break down all of my favorite products, what they are good for as well as how to use them.

Conclusion

If you hate your hair after getting it done, it’s likely either because the consultation wasn’t thorough enough, or you just don’t like the style on you that you asked for.

If the consultation wasn’t thorough enough, your stylist may have misinterpreted what you wanted. This is not your fault, and you should reach out to your stylist to correct the issue.

If you got exactly what you asked for but hate your new hair on you, you should still reach out to your stylist. Often times we may need to adjust to our new look especially if it’s something drastic. There may also be some minor tweaks that your stylist can make to make you feel more like yourself again.

It’s important to pay attention to your face shape, hair type, as well as skin tone when selecting a new haircut or color to be sure that you can pull it off. Just because something looks phenomenal on the model in the picture doesn’t mean it will look the same on you.

At the end of the day if you hate your hair, my number one recommendation is to reach out to your stylist. If you’ve already tried that and it still didn’t work out the way you’d have liked it to, then it may be time to find a new one.

I hope this was helpful for you! If you have any further questions leave them for me in the comments. And as always, have a good hair day!

Last Updated 08/05/2024