Head Case: Salon Consults That Make the Cut

• MAY 28, 2009

By MARY PILON

There's no guarantee against a bad-hair day, but you can hedge your bets.

For those seeking a style change, most salons offer hair consultations -- essentially a meet-and-greet with a stylist. While some hairdressers charge for the service, in this limp economy, many are offering free or lower-cost advice.

Ingo Fast

We took our unruly mop of long hair to four different consultants, both in-person and online, to evaluate the quality of advice on offer. Since we've had the same dull 'do for several years, we were seeking a change and some tips on how to deal with our thick, curly mane in the humid city this summer.

First stop, the Sassoon salon chain, which offers free hair consultations at all locations nationwide. Appointments are available, but we walked into a New York City location near Union Square on a Saturday afternoon and saw a stylist within five minutes.

The stylist asked detailed and practical questions about how much time we wanted to spend doing our hair each morning, (less than 10 minutes a day) and how often we straightened our hair. When discussing length, she cautioned that summer humidity might be perilous for a shorter cut. She also gave us feedback about how specific haircuts might not be complimentary to our face shape.

Though her consult was short, she patiently answered>>>