Why Taking Pics To Your Stylist Is Essential

You know that feeling of excitement you get when you come across a picture of a hairstyle that speaks to you? Screams to you! Right away, you start imagining yourself wearing the style. Everything about it feels like it’s perfect.

In the days that follow you call your stylist and make an appointment to get your hair done. The style you saw is still on your mind and you’re overly excited to get in that chair at the salon and walk out slaying everyone in your path.

Then what happens? You get to the salon for your appointment and hop into the chair. When your stylist asks what you want done, you go into a 5-minute dissertation about the style you saw the other day in a magazine or on a billboard. You’re doing your best to describe it to her, but when you make eye contact it is clear that the two of you are not on the same page.

Now you’re wondering if your stylist is secretly a hater, when in fact, she simply can’t follow what it is you’re trying to describe. The terms you’re using, along with your animated hand motions, are not giving her what she needs to bring this fantasy style of yours to life.

So what are you to do? Take a picture.

Stylists near and far will tell you the unmatched benefits of bringing a picture in when trying to achieve a new hairstyle. Whenever you’re trying to verbally convey the details of an image that you hold in your head to another person, there is going to be room for misinterpretation.

You may use the term feathered, and the listener, in this case, your stylist, may interpret that to mean layered or vice versa. An image that you both can see and analyze is going to eliminate a great deal of ambiguity that may be a factor when you’re only working with words.

Take pictures whenever you can. And yes, that’s plural. You want more than just one front facing picture. Different angles are what the goal should be. However, if you can’t get an image of every single angle of a particular cut or style, try to at least get images of the front and the back.

If the image you originally saw isn’t the result of an internet search, you can usually still find it by simply searching exactly what the picture is. For instance, “Halle Berry Oscars red carpet hairstyle.”

If you’re searching for additional images to use, you can sometimes dig deeper into the internet and add the words “back” or “sides” to your search. This will bring up pictures that may not appear on the first few pages of a typical image search.

Searching for multiple pictures and angles isn’t just for the sake of your stylist’s sanity. It is also for your use. When looking at the hairstyle or haircut, take the time to be realistic about what all comes with the style you’ve decided on.

Look at the physical features of the person you saw rocking the style. Examine their face shape and facial features. Things like cheekbones, forehead, and chin are go-to’s in terms of what determines if a style will work on you as it has on the model wearing it in the photograph.

If you notice any differences that stand out to you, make note of those differences. When you consult with your stylist, point out those differences so that the two of you can come up with alternatives that better suit your features, but that are also still in line with the style you’re going for.

Along with all the practical tips, we’ve covered, please also be realistic. Hair type, hair texture, hair length, and hair health all play a part in whether a particular style will work for you. Certain cuts just cannot be achieved on certain types of hair. Other cuts may give you the same look, but maybe with a bit of a tweak.

If you have thin, curly hair, trying to get your hair to perform in the way that a head of thick, bone straight hair performs is a waste of time for both you and your stylist. The same goes for a style that is achieved on ahead of relaxed hair. If you’re natural and unwilling to relax your hair, that may mean that some styles are not going to be within the realm of what your stylist can do. No matter how many pictures you bring to your appointment.

The takeaway is that visual representations will always go over better than a verbal recounting of a style will. Unless the style is something you have imagined in your mind, take the time and make the extra effort to find and bring multiple photos of the style you are asking your stylist to recreate for you.