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Over the years, I've taken a whole gossip magazine's worth of celebrity pictures to my various hair appointments. Nicole Richie's shoulder-length bob has accompanied me on many a visit, as has Katie Holmes' layered shag; heck, I've even taken pictures of various bloggers--don't worry, I asked first--passing the photos off to my stylist as "....uh, my friend's hair. I mean, my acquaintance's. I mean, well, see, I know her from online. I mean....oh god, never mind. Anyway, do you think this will work for me?"
Most of the time, I've left the salon fairly happy with the results, though there was that one time where I presented my hairdresser with a picture of an America's Next Top Model contestant wearing a wig and ended up with hair that was rather.....well, wig-ish. But the key is--and this sounds simple, though it's easy to forget--you've got to go into these things realizing that nope, you won't magically be transformed into Jennifer Aniston just by sitting down and asking nicely for The Rachel. (You will, however, be magically transformed into a walking advertisement for 1996. So maybe don't do that.)
Old habits die hard, so for my hair appointment on Saturday, I'm taking in as many screenshots as I can save to my iPhone of Zooey Deschanel in 500 Days of Summer, which I happened to see last night, and which had me staring at the screen slack-jawed, obsessively muttering under my breath "must...have....that....hair." See? Isn't it cute?
(I also want everything she wore in that movie, but that's beside the point.)
In the event that you might be due for a hair appointment soon and thinking of taking in a few snaps of someone else to show your stylist, here are a few things I'd advise:
* Don't bring in more than five or six photos, if you can help it. I know it's tempting, but it's likely to just get confusing for your stylist--cuts that you think are similar might actually not be so similar after all, and you don't want her to be unsure of which one you actually want.
* That said, if you've found one haircut that you love and it's on one particular celebrity, the more pictures you can get of the cut from different angles, the better. That totally sounds like a contradiction, I know, but I've had the best success when I've brought in profile shots and head-on shots of the same cut to show exactly what I want from every possible view.
* Talk it through with your stylist before she gets the scissors out. If you want Reese Witherspoon's bangs but juuuuuuuuust a little swoopier--yes, these are the inane things that come out of my mouth when I get into the stylist's chair---be sure to communicate, communicate, communicate.
* And speaking of communicating, I've found it often helps to bring in a picture of what I don't want as well. ("See how this looks kind of like a mullet? Yeah, I don't want that.") This is particularly true of haircuts that hinge on dramatic bangs or layers, as it seems like there might be the largest likelihood of these things going.....well, not exactly according to plan.
* Finally, remember to be reasonable. If your hair is whisp-thin and stick-straight--holla!--don't expect that Angelina's cut is going to give you Angelina's body. (Or Angelina's body, if you know what I'm saying. You might have to hit the gym for that.)
