Not the Haircut You Asked For? How to Say So, Even Across a Language Gap

There is a particular kind of silence that happens in a salon chair. The stylist holds up the hand mirror, you look at the back of your head, and what you see is not what you pictured when you sat down. At home, you would probably say something. Here, in a city where you and your stylist may only half-share a language, it is tempting to smile, say “great, thank you,” and quietly grieve in the taxi. This article is about the other option: how to say “this is different from what I wanted” clearly, kindly, and in a way your stylist can actually act on.

The chair is the easiest place to say it

If something feels off, the best moment to say so is before the blow-dry, while you are still sitting in the chair. Everything you need is right there: the stylist, the tools, the mirror, and hair that is still being worked on. Shape decisions are still open at that point, and a small adjustment is a natural part of the appointment rather than a separate event.

Ten minutes later, the same sentence becomes much heavier. Now it means standing at the register searching for words, or composing a message from home, or making a second trip across the city. The words themselves are identical (“could we take a little more off here?”), but the cost of saying them goes up every minute after you leave the chair. When in doubt, say it while seated.

“I don’t like it” gives your stylist nothing to work with

Here is the hard truth about feedback in any language: a feeling is not an instruction. “I don’t like it” is honest, but it leaves your stylist guessing at what to change. Across a language gap, guessing gets even harder. So before you speak, sort the problem into one of four boxes:

• Length: “It’s shorter than I wanted” or “Could we go about two centimetres shorter?” Show the amount with your fingers; fingers are fluent in every language.
• Weight: “It still feels heavy here” or “This part feels too thin.” Touch the spot as you say it.
• Shape: “I wanted it rounder around my face” or “straighter at the back.” Trace the line you meant with your hand.
• Colour: “It came out lighter than the photo” or “warmer than I expected.” Hold your reference photo up next to the mirror so you are both comparing the same two things.

Short, concrete sentences plus pointing will carry you further than a long, polite paragraph. One box, one sentence, one gesture.

Know what can change today, and what only time can change

Not every difference has the same fix, and knowing the difference helps you decide what to ask for.

Too long, too heavy, too square: these are usually solvable on the spot, because scissors can always take more off. If the cut simply has not gone far enough for you, saying so in the chair often means a few extra minutes, not a second appointment.

Too short: scissors only work in one direction. Once hair is cut, the honest fix is time, and it helps to make peace with that quickly rather than asking them to keep cutting out of frustration. A practical habit for the future: when you are torn between two lengths, ask for the longer one first. You can always go shorter; the reverse takes weeks.

Colour: colour tends to be more forgiving than a short cut, because it can often be adjusted in a later session — a shade that came out too light can usually be deepened, and tone can be shifted. Going lighter generally takes more steps than going darker, so timelines vary from head to head. Ask your stylist what is realistic for your hair rather than assuming.

A sentence that blames no one

The phrase worth memorising is this: “I think we were picturing different things.”

Notice what it does. It places the miss on the conversation, a thing that belongs to both of you, rather than on the person holding the scissors. In a city where consultations regularly cross two or three languages, misunderstandings are an ordinary hazard of the work; stylists live with this reality every day. Naming it that way turns the moment from a complaint into a joint problem: the two of you against the misunderstanding, instead of you against the stylist.

Other soft openers that travel well: “Can I show you what I meant?” and “Could we look at the photo together again?” Then go back to the four boxes — length, weight, shape, colour — and point.

When you only see it at home

Sometimes the difference only shows up later, in your own mirror, under your own bathroom light. Before you do anything, wash and dry your hair once yourself. Salon styling can sit differently from how you wear your hair day to day, and a cut sometimes looks like a different cut after one home wash. If it still feels wrong after that, get in touch, and bring the same discipline to the message that you would have used in the chair:

• Say which box the problem is in: length, weight, shape, or colour.
• Attach a photo taken in daylight, from the angle where the difference shows.
• Include the original reference photo if you used one, so both sides are looking at the same “before.”

A written message with two photos often crosses a language gap better than a phone call in your second language, and it gives whoever reads it something precise to respond to.

Or save it for next time

Some differences are real but small — not worth a trip back across the bridge. There is a third option between silence and a return visit: write it down and bring it next time. A one-line note in your phone is enough: “sides ended up shorter than I like,” “colour faded warmer than expected.”

Opening your next appointment with that note does two useful things. It gives you a much better shot at the result you wanted that day, and it builds a shared vocabulary between you and your stylist. Seeing the same stylist again multiplies this effect: each visit starts from everything the last one taught you both, and there is less to explain every time.

At emo., have the conversation in the language you think in

At emo. Hair Salon in District 7, the part of this article we care about most is the conversation. Both Japanese and Vietnamese stylists work here, and you can request either by name. On the price list, JP and VN simply show which stylist you have chosen. The four Japanese stylists each have at least nineteen years behind the chair, and before the first snip, you are welcome to pin down phrases like “shorter here” and “rounder there” together with your stylist, photo in hand.

We speak English, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean, so you can explain what you want, or what feels different, in the language you actually think in.

To book, call us, message us on Zalo, or use the online booking page. Please note that online booking is available in Japanese only.

• Phone: 0707 177 290
• Zalo: Message us on Zalo
• Online booking (Japanese only): Reserve online

emo. Hair Salon
14 Raymondienne, khu Starhill, phường Tân Mỹ, Quận 7, Ho Chi Minh City (near Crescent Mall, in Phú Mỹ Hưng)
Tue–Fri 9:00–19:00 (last cut 18:00) / Sat–Sun 9:00–18:30 (last cut 17:30) / Closed Mondays