Just wondering if anyone has run into problems getting their hair done professionally . I'm letting my hair grow down to my a$$ , but in the mean time I really want a very feminine hair style. My hair is just beyond shoulder length, I want very little cut . I just wanted styled elegantly . What type of salon would be a good place to start where you wouldn't get too much annoying looks. some place like Steven Papageorge

I went to the hair salon around the corner from my home in NE Philly.  I deliberately went at a time when they had few customers and was rewarded with a long conversation which ended with me getting my hair cut & styled exactly as I wanted. 

I did tell them that I am trans & not out yet.  It turned out that the girl who did my hair has a cousin who is also a transwoman. 

Bottom line:  Any salon is going to want business.  No business is likely to want to turn away potential repeat customers.  Find a salon you get a good vibe from when you enter, & start a conversation.

there is one across the street from where I live that has a girl that rides a Harley to work doing the summer. I think that's where I'll go

I approve of that notion !   

Quote from: stephaniec on July 05, 2014, 03:54:43 PM
there is one across the street from where I live that has a girl that rides a Harley to work doing the summer. I think that's where I'll go

I wouldn't rely on that as a reliable indicator that she is either trans friendly or can style hair correctly. I would join a Queer FB group based in Chicago and ask them for opinions of what has worked for them. It's your best option rather relying on asumptions, which I do too, so don't take offense.

Quote from: TessaMarie on July 05, 2014, 03:47:32 PM
I went to the hair salon around the corner from my home in NE Philly.  I deliberately went at a time when they had few customers and was rewarded with a long conversation which ended with me getting my hair cut & styled exactly as I wanted. 

I did tell them that I am trans & not out yet.  It turned out that the girl who did my hair has a cousin who is also a transwoman. 

Bottom line:  Any salon is going to want business.  No business is likely to want to turn away potential repeat customers.  Find a salon you get a good vibe from when you enter, & start a conversation.

NE Philly? Ugh. (I'm originally from Lawncrest hence the Ugh...) I'm glad it worked out for ya but I went to a place in Kensington, but wanted a very complicated, very short hair cut that is also femme and they messed it up. Nothing to do with the salon but the style I wanted. I live near there, kinda, so I just did it. Horrible mistake.

Now, I belong to Queer PhillyXchange and other Queer Philly groups and the best places to get a good cut is in Cedar Park, apparently. There is a large and burgeoning population on queer women there and I'm a queer woman, well I like men, but dress like a queer woman. Or sometimes a pre-T FTM. So people say. I got called a ->-bleeped-<- once and was dressed to the nines...in men's clothes. Yeah I'm a weirdo.

Quote from: Joanna Dark on July 05, 2014, 04:18:36 PM
I wouldn't rely on that as a reliable indicator that she is either trans friendly or can style hair correctly. I would join a Queer FB group based in Chicago and ask them for opinions of what has worked for them. It's your best option rather relying on asumptions, which I do too, so don't take offense.

NE Philly? Ugh. (I'm originally from Lawncrest hence the Ugh...) I'm glad it worked out for ya but I went to a place in Kensington, but wanted a very complicated, very short hair cut that is also femme and they messed it up. Nothing to do with the salon but the style I wanted. I live near there, kinda, so I just did it. Horrible mistake.

Now, I belong to Queer PhillyXchange and other Queer Philly groups and the best places to get a good cut is in Cedar Park, apparently. There is a large and burgeoning population on queer women there and I'm a queer woman, well I like men, but dress like a queer woman. Or sometimes a pre-T FTM. So people say. I got called a ->-bleeped-<- once and was dressed to the nines...in men's clothes. Yeah I'm a weirdo.

thanks for the info , I'll look into it. I definitely don't want my hair messed up

What you want to do is concentrate on finding yourself a good stylist rather than a good salon. Most salons have different stylists of different skill levels and many have a stream of transient stylists coming through. Taking a stylist at random is playing Russian roulette with your head. The best thing is to ask around your community about someone who's good. If  you see someone with great hair, compliment them and ask where they had it done. Once you find someone you like, stick with her/him wherever they are. As for the feminine styling thing, all stylists are trained at this, so if you tell the stylist in detail what you want, they should give it to you. It can help to bring along a picture or two of a style close to what you'd like and show it to them.

~ Lyric ~

From what I have seen from others (I cut and style my own hair) the best thing you can do is know exactly what you want, know what it is called, and have example photos.... Most of the horrible things I have seen from salons was the result of miscommunications on what the customer actually wanted. Short for example to one person might mean buzz cut but to another above the shoulder.

I just got mine styled last friday. Getting a stylist to give me a girl hair style wasn't particularly a problem, he didn't even bat an eye when I told him I was trans, so much as the fact that my forehead is like... huge. X___X *was starting to recede a bit before getting on HRT* which sucks, because since it's so hot here I really wanted to go from like... mid back-length to something like a pixie cut. I got shoulder length instead, and it's kinda cute, but it's not really my style... although I suppose I do look much more like a girl now.