Communicating with your hairstylist is a two way street. You need information and understanding from your hairstylist and your hairstylist needs information and direction from you.To assume that your hairstylist knows what you like is a recipe for misunderstanding and unhappiness. To avoid communication failure with your hair stylist it's good to know some hair styling terminology.

We all know how difficult it is to describe a picture and how impossible it is for the other person to visualize it. When your hairstylist talks about changing your hairstyle, cutting it shorter, texturing, layering your hair, adding some highlights or changing your hair color, he/she leaves it up to your imagination to see the picture that he is talking about. If he/she assumes that you understand and have the same picture in your mind, then you and yourstylist are taking a big chance and you run the risk of getting a look you never wanted. You have to be absolutely certain that you understand what the results of your cut or color will be.

So, in order to avoid any misunderstanding ask yourstylist to explain exactly what she has in mind, what the effects on your hair will be and what your hairstyle or hair color will look like. Ask to be shown a picture, or even better have a look at yourself on the computer with Virtual Computer Imaging. A picture is worth a thousand words.

I think the most important aspect about communicating with your hairstylist is that he/she is really listening to you. Your stylist needs to find out what you like and dislike and how you manage your hair at home. An expert hair stylist will always explain the new look so that you can make the decision. Err on the side of giving more information about your hair because nobody knows your hair better than you do. Providing as much information as possible will help your stylist make the proper decision about the right hair cut, hair style or hair color

Here are a few hairstyling terms and what they mean:

Layering: Ask how long those layers are going to be. For example if your hair is one length, you may end up with very short layers on top which would be totally out of proportion with the rest of the style. Even if you are not a hair stylist you will know that such short layers are not going to look right. A good hair cut is really about the art of layering.

Texturizing: Texturizing involves using a razor or thinning scissors. You may not want to have your hair thinned except for some wispy pieces around your face or the sides or neck.

Trimming: Trimming denotes cutting very little or only cutting around the back, top or sides.

Undercutting: The hair around the neck is cut shorter relative to the rest of the hair on the back of the head. This will prevent the hair from sticking out in the neck area because hair in this area most often grows up and easily sticks out.

Blunt cut: Blunt cutting means cutting sections of hair straight across. For most people a "blunt" cut is synonymous with hair which is one-length and anywhere between chin length to below the shoulders. This technique of cutting hair can also be used to cut any short layered hair style. It was first made popular by Vidal Sassoon and revolutionized hair cutting all over the world. Until then razors where used and the cut was finished off with scissors. Razor cuts were very well suited for the use of rollers and teasing.