This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Northwestern chapter.
With summer weather finally peeking through, it is the perfect time to experiment with different cuts and colors for your hair. At Her Campus, we want to make sure you get exactly what you want so you can be confident all summer long! Here are our best tips to score the perfect hair transformation – just in time for summer.
Tip #1: Do your research
- Before even stepping foot in a salon, look around to find inspiration. It can be really helpful for a stylist to see a photo of what you want! When searching for ideas, make sure you take into consideration that most photos are heavily styled. This means that if you get the exact same cut, it still might not look like the photo without styling! Ask beforehand what kinds of products you will need or what steps you need to take to achieve the desired look. In addition, many cuts look drastically different for different skin tones and face shapes! Look around for examples that look similar to you.
- Google salons in your area and read reviews! You will very quickly see which salons are the best for cutting or coloring. On the same note, make sure you look specifically at reviews for the kind of styling you want done. A salon with great hairdressers might have terrible colorists! In addition, expensive does not mean higher quality. Reviews are much more reliable than a $10 difference in price!
Tip #2: Communicate
- Once you have found a salon and a stylist, schedule a consultation. This allows you to communicate exactly what you want done and find out what the stylist can do for you. They can also recommend products, give a price estimate and advise you on styles that will look best on you. Make sure to ask them questions! Some good examples are: will this haircut require a lot of upkeep? Do I need certain products to get it to look the way it does in the picture? How long will the process take? Will this damage my hair?
- Speak up during your haircut! If you see that they are maybe doing something you don’t want, it is better to say something than to be unhappy with the results. If you don’t say anything and you are unhappy, it is not the stylist’s fault.
Tip #3: Don’t be afraid
- Ask until you get what you want! It might be scary to speak up, but if it is the difference between disliking how your hair looks and being confident this summer, it’s worth it. Most salons will accommodate and let you come back as many times as you need to be happy. They are a business, and they want loyal, happy customers!
- Go crazy! You’re young, and now is the time when you can experiment with fun cuts and styles. Once you get older, crazy colored hair becomes less acceptable. Not many people will see you over the summer as well, so if things go awry you have a couple months of cushion for you to change your hair again!
- Don’t be stingy when it comes to drastic transformations. Spending money on something like hair may not seem worth it, but dropping cash on a good salon absolutely is.
To kick-start your own transformations some trendy ideas for summer are pixie cut, lob (long bob), ombre, balayage, blonde, pastel colors, gray, and caramel brown.
Gif Courtesy of Giphy
P.S. In my own transformation, I went back a second time to the salon for a total of 8 hours! I wasn’t afraid to ask for what I wanted and tell them when I wasn’t happy, and now I love my hair!