I sometimes feel sorry for my hairdresser, who has to put up with me coming in and saying 'give me something different,' or - I want a short hairstyle for summer, etc.

If I haven't selected a style from one of his many hairstyle magazines, he'll start to flip through one of them to try to figure out exactly what I want.

The reason I feel sorry for him is that he has a tough job to do. We were chatting one day when he was trying to make a short hairstyle out of my currently layered hairstyle when he confessed that he did so much better when a person brought in pictures of hairstyles to show him what they want.

I guess one guy had come into the shop that day and wanted a hairstyle that made him look 'dangerous.'

One thing I like about my hairdresser is that he is always going to conventions to keep up-to-date on the latest trendy hairstyles (both men's hairstyles and womens hairstyles). However, he had no idea what a dangerous hairstyle might look like. And, because he had no idea, he just gave the guy a popular men's hairstyle. He wasn't sure if the guy was satisfied or not; and he definitely knew he wasn't satisfied with the cut he gave him, not knowing if that's what he wanted - or not.

In my opinion, if a guy is going to pay $25 for a hairstyle (womens hairstyles are more like $45 or $50) he/she should at least get something different than he always gets - especially if he tells the hairdresser what he wants.

But there's the key - and the problem. He asked the hairdresser for something different, but since he did not have pictures of hairstyles that he considered dangerous looking, he got the same ole thing. In this case, both parties lost. The hairdresser was not happy because he didn't have a clue what kind of men's hairstyle this guy wanted, and the customer was not happy because he just paid a good price for the same ole thing.

So what's the solution? If possible, always bring your hairdresser a picture of what you want, or something close to what you want. I have taken pictures of people on the television and brought them into his shop. He once said I could even bring in a video tape of a person with my vision of a short trendy hairstyle, if that's want I wanted.

He really just needs a clue as to what you might be looking for in a new hairstyle. Medium length? Long? Shorter? I found out the hard way that he really has a different opinion of how short a short trendy haircut should be (on me) - That's a mistake I'll never make again

Now, with all the new technology out there, there is a way to put on virtual hairstyles and see what you might look like in them before you go in for your hairstyle. I do this all the time, and it has saved me time (growing back hair), and money when I get what I want the first time.