Y’all know I’m fickle with my hair. I get bored easily and, let’s be honest, it’s just hair. It grows back (usually).
I’d been dreading trying to find a new stylist up here in St. Paul. For years I’d gone to Moda in Des Moines to see Abby, who was a genius when it came to my hair. You may recognize her work from some of the styles I’ve rocked in the last 8 years:
Sadly, I can’t afford to drive to Des Moines every time I want my hair cut. I was past due for a trim.
I’d been doing research but cuts up here are so much more pricey than they are in Des Moines that I was worried about pulling the trigger and trying a new salon. I have a hard time finding a stylist because my hair is naturally curly and I have a lot of it. Not many people know how to cut curly hair properly. What if I ended up with a bad AND expensive cut?
Here’s how I ended up picking a salon.
- I looked for a salon that had good reviews. Yelp, Google, and sometimes local newspaper writeups were helpful.
- Once I narrowed it down, I looked through photos. I looked similar hair and styles to mine. Instagram and Facebook are helpful for this. A lot of the salons I found didn’t do short hair on women and were lacking curly hair photos.
- I looked for photos of styles I liked. This included color and styles I want to try in the future. Was the salon edgy or safe?
- I compared pricing. When it came down to a few salons, I compared pricing.
I ended up going with Root Salon in St. Paul, which coincidentally is within walking distance from my apartment (bonus!). Root had a quiz to find your matching stylist. I took the quiz and ended up going with their reccomendation and booking an appointment (online!).
I got there and explained my hair to my new stylist, Erika. We had a consultation before my cut and I told her about problem areas (that damn chunk in front of my face that grows way too fast) and about my normal styling routine (shower and go, washing once or twice a week). We talked about some of the pictures I brought in, and what my goals for this cut were. I confessed how I like to color at home (except bleaching).
Anywho, it seems like I found a good match! Here’s my latest cut.
I opted for a similar ‘do to the one I’ve had recently because I’m job-hunting and this one is pretty safe and is really easy to style. We added an undercut to this to remove some of my hair because it’s HOT with all this hair.
Since we removed a lot of hair, I can slick back the right side and it STAYS (straight!). I love this!
//
Have you ever had to find a new hair stylist? What are your tips?
