Let's get one thing straight right out of the gates here: as the person sitting in the chair, it is not my responsibility to monitor every move a stylist makes with hawk-like precision, correcting each potential misstep, nor is it incumbent upon me to know enough about cutting hair to know whether a stylist is even making a mistake in the first place.
I came in to Static with about 10" of hair (chin-length). I do not dress the part of the yuppie soccer dad. It cannot be assumed from just looking at me that I would want to have the suburban special haircut. I brought pictures. Yes, pictures with an S, meaning more than one, showing multiple angles of the haircut I wanted. The haircut I wanted was not particularly complicated, but it was particularly awesome. I described, in detail, exactly what features of that haircut I liked the most, especially the length of it. The haircut I was after was much shorter than what I had, but it still had some body on the top and probably topped out around 4" long.
After going through the motions of explaining what I liked, discussing the pictures and so on, I was taken back to be shampooed. This part of the experience was completely unremarkable, though also completely fine. About 5 minutes later, I was taken back to my stylist, who discussed with me, again, what I wanted and then set to work.
As I watched her cut, I had no idea what was, specifically, going on with my hair. It was getting shorter, and it was taking on a generic sort of short-hair shape. A few minutes of cutting went by, and finally, I spoke up, and I reminded her, "I don't want it terribly short. Please don't go any shorter." She nodded, said "OK" and carried on with the cut.
When she neared the end, I could tell that she had cut it into a different shape than I asked for and had cut it MUCH shorter than I wanted. At this point, I reminded her again about the length and told her it was too short as is, so she should absolutely not take ANY more length of at all.
And then, she pulled out some sort of razor-comb device, which she said was to "texture" and "feather" my hair and definitely not make it shorter. Oddly enough, the razor-comb also had the distinct effect of "shortening" my hair.
Finally, when she asked me if it was ok, I said something like, "It's not what I asked for but it's fine. Thanks." And I stood up and left for the counter after a brief inspection of the cut. I paid and left.
Upon getting home, I had the opportunity to inspect my haircut again, and after a closer look, I absolutely hate it.
Static offers a "10-day satisfaction guarantee," but I don't think I'll be taking them up on it, as unless they have some super secret tech I'm unaware of, they can't make my hair longer so that it looks like the cut I asked for.
What I have is, I suppose, a technically proficient haircut. It appears to have been cut skillfully and with a steady hand, but it is NOT the haircut I wanted. It is the same boring haircut that every other dude in the world has and it blows.
I will not be returning to Static for any future services. Their prices are steep, the location isn't particularly convenient and the stylist I had couldn't even reproduce the LENGTH of a haircut I had pictures of, much less the style. She kept making comments like, "Just wait, in a month you'll be back in here wanting to go shorter." Guess what, lady, if I wanted a buzz cut, I'd have saved myself $55 and done it at home.
Hair really is one of those things that can make you extraordinarily happy or positively furious. Avoid this place and steer clear of one of those, "Why did I cut my hair?!" moments. read more