travelbeach

For me both. Once I got the cutest little cut Nantes and then I am not kidding, a mullet or mulettesque in Amsterdam. Ever since I wait until I get home.

Statia

Only once and I hated it. I was 15 years old with rather long, curly hair. I got talked into cutting it short in Austria at this really nice salon. I didn't realize at the time that short hair and curls don't mix. I never cut it that short again.

buongiorno

I've never needed to get my haircut while on vacation but I saw this wild promotion at place that created such a buzz that was fantastic. An avant garde kind of stylist set up a salon chair in the lobby of a building and used to cut hair for FREE. It was called No Charge, No Choice. You just sat down in the chair and you got whatever cut he felt like doing, maybe even a mohawk. I was amazed at the lines of people willing to take the chance.

Vorkuta

While in Germany I got a perm in Mannheim - the first and only perm I've had. It was pretty good, just not something I wanted to keep doing for ever and ever.

On another trip to Germany, I got a short cut and streaks in Lübeck. Oh Gaaaaaaaaawd. The worst. It was at a hairdressers' training college. Never, never again. Not to suggest that trainees necessarily give bad cuts; on the contrary. But this trainee should not be let loose on the public.

Since that awful experience I've been conservative about haircuts and go always to the same place, just two blocks from my home.

kfusto

I walked into a hair salon in Florence on a whim Christmas of 2000. I had passed by over a period of time and liked what I saw.

Well, it looked good when I walked out the door but that was the last time.

I will be in NYC next weekend and am taking another shot at a brand new stylist. I guess every 4 years or so I can give it a whirl. It does grow back.

Judyrem

I can not imagine the anxiety I would feel trying to tell someone what I want that can not speak English, just "hair". I am a nervous wreck everytime I have to try a new hairdresser, which I have to find when we move to FLL....yikes! You ladies are very brave IMO .

degas

When I go to London, I pop into a hair salon and get a slightly tinted wax coating applied to my huge bald head. It's just the thing to help combat the rain and cut down on reflective glare duing sudden periods of sunshine.

WillTravel

Degas, all this time I've been thinking you were a mullethead.

elle

I had my normally shoulder-length hair clipped into a funky bob in Paris. I thought it was cute until my husband saw it and said, "Who are you supposed to be? Amelie?"

StCirq

On a whim, I had my hair cut and colored in Paris about 10 years ago. The next day when I arrived home at the airport, my husband and two kids walked right past me. I wouldn't say I absolutely hated the "do" but it just wasn't me.

BTilke

It took me a while to find the *right* hair stylist in Brussels. I had some bad experiences at various chains, but now I'm VERY happy with my salon (Zen, on the Avenue Louise). I intend to keep having them do my hair, for a while at least, after we move to the UK in two weeks. If you visit Brussels and want to get your hair cut, they are a good choice (but they don't speak English and appointments required).
I had my hair cut once in Paris, at a non chain shop down the street from the Hotel du Cadran (off the rue Cler). The stylist paid no attention to what I wanted and seemed to be "phoning in" the haircut. It was much shorter than what I wanted and I did NOT like it at all. I've had my hair styled in Paris a couple of times (no cut) and that was ok, but won't get it cut there again unless we move there. Had it styled once at a chic shop in London last year, but yuck, I left with that British flat-head, haven't washed my hair for days look.

My husband has had better luck, getting great haircuts at salons in Bourges and Angers (France). In Germany, we were living in a small town in the Ruhr valley. He went to get his hair cut at a local shop. The experience was so weird, we laughed for weeks, but when he came back everyone gasped. He had been completely transformed into a German! (He's half German and half British--something about that cut made all his German genes spring to the surface.)

dovima

On my first trip to Paris, I stayed at a lovely small hotel, enjoyable in all regards expect that it did NOT have a shower curtain or shower door (old, classic, travel to Paris story). Since even taking a shower got the floor sopping wet, I decided not to risk disaster and had my very long hair shampooed and blow-dried a couple of times at salons in the 6th. At one place, Marianne Gray Salon, no one spoke much English, but there was a Japanese stylist there (I knew she was Japanese from her name, Naoko). So I requested her services and had a good time practicing my Japanese with her. I even let her trim my bangs, which was a huge leap of faith for me!

Judyrem

Btilke, what did your DH look like? Did he have spiked do? Was it blonde?

thomthumb

My girlfriend almost went that crazy red color when we were in Paris. I almost talked her into it!

bobthenavigator

Would you believe! Not Paris, not Brussels, not even Mannheim. My lovely wife Susan decided on a rainy day in LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA to get a new "do".
The girl spoke no English, but they managed to commumicate and she still raves about it. It was in the Grand Union hotel if you happen to be in Ljubjana anytime soon.

Vorkuta

Yes, Btilke, I'm also curious to know what your husband's German haircut looked like! (My husband is Russian, but I'm hard put to imagine what a "typically Russian" haircut would look like!)

michelleNYC

Yikes... went to Llongueras in Madrid which is supposed to be decently upscale and they really screwed up. Note that I speak fluent Spanish and still the guy refused to listen and wanted to "freshen" up my style. Let's just say NEVER, EVER again.

Mary_Fran

I got my hair cut in a shop in Soho, London. The haircut was neither bad nor good, but I'm still impressed that I had my hair cut and styled in Soho.

bellastar

My hair-raising adventures have been mostly in Italy-and always are spur-of-the moment ideas, so they have turned out both ways.
Twice in Rome, once in Praiano, once just near the entrance to Herculaneum at a tiny local shop (that was a spontaneous, and very weird, experience!) I kind if like to do it as a adventure, so it might go either way. It's fun trying to listen to the gossip in another language! Even my regular hairdresser at home is from Spain, if that counts!

cigalechanta

Years ago, in Paris, on a whim, I thought I'd like a haircut. What a mistake. She cut off most of my hair, I hated it.