HAIR DISASTERS? We’ve all been there…

In what feels like week 74 of lockdown, many of us are starting to realise that unless we take drastic measures (and by drastic measures I mean letting your husband cut your hair with your kitchen scissors), we might come out the other side looking like Cousin It or a member of Def Leppard, circa 1987.

And if we do bite the bullet and do some DIY self-styling, the outlook doesn’t look much better.

But hey, we’re all in it together right? And we’ve all had at least one hair cut or hair colour disaster in the past haven’t we?

So, whilst most of us have got a bit of extra time on our hands and perhaps need a welcome break from the news, we thought why don’t we all have a bit of a snigger and share our tales of some of the ‘best’, worst hair cuts.

We’ll start…

Jo Morris – Brand Manager

I am a total coward when it comes to my hair so I very rarely do anything exciting with it – my hairdresser often asks why I’m sat in her chair when I’m having half a millimetre taken off the ends. “I fancy a change but I don’t want anything taking off the length, I don’t want to change the colour and I don’t really want to change the style”. You can literally hear her eyes roll.

When I was younger however my Mum used to cut mine and my sister’s fringes – don’t get me wrong she’s a wonderful Mum but a wonderful hairdresser she is not. Thankfully we were young enough that most people found it ‘cute’ that our fringes were cut like castle walls, but it wasn’t long before we both decided to just grow them out and avoid the problem altogether. My sister clearly forgot that having a fringe was fraught with problems and had it put back in a few years later. Which was fine, until she got a perm and the hairdresser decided to perm the fringe too. She still can’t talk about it.

JO PLANT – Logistics Manager

Two words – Sun In.

I was 14 and had decided my hair needed to be blonde immediately. The lemon juice trick didn’t work (why would it?) so like lots of my friends at the time, I reached for the Sun In. And used it liberally. On both me and my brother. Needless to say, the results were less than impressive – my brothers hair went orange and mine just completely broke off at my parting, leaving me with a ‘bristle top’ for several weeks.

My Mum went mad (my brother was only 10, too young to protest) and my brother’s school wasn’t best pleased either.

KERRY CAPEWELL – Customer Support & Technical Advisor

As a former hairdresser I’ve had to try to fix many hair disasters in my time but when I was little (and a long time before I trained as a hairdresser!) I was responsible for quite a few hair disasters too. I once cut my cousin’s hair from a shoulder length bob to a pixie cut using paper scissors – not my best work. The same cousin also got a perming treatment using my Nanna’s tiny curlers and a perming solution from the chemist. Her already naturally curly hair quickly resembled a poodle’s. I didn’t go unscathed either though – I tried to lighten my hair to a ‘sunkissed’ look and ended up looking like Worzel Gummidge, so I used a brown shade over the top to try and fix it, which of course went to a lovely, muddy khaki colour. And yes, my Mum still made me go to school looking like that.

CAROLYN BOINTON – PR & Media Manager

Hair disasters? Blimey, which to pick! My fascination with changing hair colour started in my teens, during the New Romantic era. Yep, I really am that old. My hair is naturally a mousy blonde, well, it was. Now it’s naturally grey, but let’s not tell everyone, eh?

So, throughout the years I have tried several different hues and cuts, including a buzz cut and super bleached hair, down-to-my-waist, very expensive blonde highlights, lemon juice streaks and even a phase where I did nothing to it colour-wise for ten years.

But my absolute worst was in my late 20s, when I decided I needed a ‘power boost’ as I had started in my first senior management role for a firm of international lawyers. That was my burgundy phase and even though I LOVED it at the time, I look back at the photos and groan inwardly. I mean, don’t even get me started on the horrible, corporate, cliched pose, what was I thinking with that colour? And trying to get it out after a few weeks and return to my normal colour was an absolute nightmare. I had some kind of ginger streaks in it for months afterwards and in the end gave up, and went for another pixie chop. Thankfully, that was bang on-trend then so I didn’t have to explain why I’d cut off my gorgeous long hair!!

But, did I learn? Nah….don’t be daft. I’ve now experimented with all the latest colours. Pink? LOVED it. Purple? Nah, not that hot. Blue? Just a couple of streaks to see what I thought. And greys? Well, the irony is, despite now having naturally grey hair, I spent a fortune over the last 18 months having light and dark grey highlights put in.

For now, though, I am back to blonde and loving it. Thank goodness I work for Naturtint and will be able to sort my own colour out, even though all the salons are closed and I am working from home…​

So, over to you. We think you have some great stories to share and we’d love to hear them! Leave them in the comments below or get in touch on our Facebook and Instagram pages.