Is it rude not to chat to your hairdresser?

If you're rude, then so am I. I like to be left alone with my own thoughts (plus I struggle to hear them over all the hairdryers etc.)

I chat to mine. I get on really well with her and we lots in common. However I cant bear talking to my beautician.

I hate it too. Especially because I have to take my glasses off so I'm then kind of in my own fuzzy wall. I've got a lovely hairdresser now who just doesn't do small talk - it's great.

I don't think it's rude. I just take a magazine or something and make it clear I'm reading. TBH I'd stop going to a hairdresser who persisted in trying to chat all the time.

I'm not a hairdresser, but I am a nail technician, and I don't mind either way. It really depends on the client, what mood they are in, and the atmosphere really.

If it's a companionable silence and they're happy staring out the window, or absentmindly watching what I'm doing then it's absolutely perfect, as it usually means I can just crack on and get done quicker. Much as I love a chat it does slow my work down.

If it's an uncomfortable silence it's not nice for either of us obviously, and I will try to make small talk intermittently to break the stalemate, although it doesn't happen much to me fortunately, and again I take my lead from my client. As long as (s)he's happy with my work and not upset with me I'm all good

I'm quite happy to be polite and chatty, but really, really don't want to talk about my own life, so I make up a legend (like on Spooks) and tell them all about my imaginary life. It keeps me entertained, and I get my hair cut so infrequently it's always a different person, so I don't have to remember what I said before. ?

I probably sound mad now.

When I've gone a few times I normally feel a bit happier chatting to them, but I'm not really a chatty person.

Normally I just get a stack of trashy magazines and get stuck in.

I chat to my stylist because she's really lovely and she also styles my H (annoyingly he found her first and recommended her to ME!!) so we often *** about him! ?

But I don't talk very much to my colourist. The first time she did my colour, she just bombarded me with questions about my hair - which I can understand because she's getting an idea of what kind of lifestyle I have and how much time I spend on my style - but the second time we met she carried on in the same vein and I was just bored rigid. She didn't seem to have any other topic of conversation. There'd be a companionable silence for five minutes or so and then another inane hair-related question. Now I tend to take a magazine with me and as soon as the stylist hands over to the colourist, I whip it out and hey presto - I'm left in peace.

This is ace! . I'm going to have to remember this. Although I'm in such a fog these days I'm not sure I'd manage to keep it going.

I also get my hair cut really infrequently, which is why a) I don't have any relationship with them and b) it's not worth changing hairdressers, since I never know who I'm getting anyway.

Portia - how do you know your client's not having a comfortable silence, when you're feeling it's uncomfortable? I wonder if that's what my haridresser thinks of me.

Thing is (and slightly weirdly) I can't hear as well when I take my glasses off, so it really makes chatting far more effort that it's worth to me.

Glad it's not just me though

I've recently found a new hairdresser who is lovely and great to talk to. My previous one, whilst she was good, never spoke to me and it was horrible.

I could chat for hours with my beautician. In fact her boss once asked if she got any work done when waxing me as we were giggling so much and very loudly ?

I used to chat away happily to my previous hairdresser. He was Italian, an ex-model, gorgeous and with a voice like warm honey. I'd swap him television world gossip for fashion world gossip.

Now he's gone back to Italy (sob) and I've got a miserable cow in his place who barely cracked a smile last time AND turned my hair bright orange, so I'll be changing hairdressers shortly.

I don't think it's rude whether you chat or not; ultimately you're paying for the service so it's for the stylist to determine whether you are in a chatty mood or not and act accordingly.

I hate chatty hairdressers. If they want to talk about my hair, fine, but all this "Do you have any holidays planned then?" stuff just makes me want to stab them to death with their own scissors.

Sometimes I want to chat and am happy to do so. Other times (and I'd highly recommend this approach; it really works), I say "Would you mind if we don't do small talk today? I'm really tired and could do with the peace and quiet and it might be nice for you to be able to concentrate, too.". This has resulted in a number of hairdressers/ nail people/ beauticians/ whoever being very gracious about it, often telling me how tiresome they sometimes find it - not all hairdressers find it comes naturally.

I usually have a little chat with my hairdresser but most of the time she chats with other customers and I can carry on reading my magazine/"be at one with my thoughts"

As you know I don't do small talk. If I get in a cab and the cabbie seems chatty I get my book out and read or pretend to send text messages from my phone. I go to a fantastic beautician who won't talk to me and I have the most amazing 1 hour facial where I'm totally relaxed and almost asleep. The only problem is that she's where my mum lives so an hour away from me. H jokes that I have to go all the way there just so I won't have to talk to someone!

I just find it very difficult to keep a conversation going if I don't know the person and then end up with horrible silences. So better not to get into that situation in the first place.

Not weird at all LadyF. Even people with full hearing lip read - they're just not so aware that they're doing it! You'd be surprised at just how much you do! So - glasses off does equal 'hearing loss'. It's scientific and everythink! ?

I used to hate it. I can be fairly shy (less as I've got older), have the glasses off thing, and also am totally deaf on one side (there is a Hitcher Kleek for this!) so I literally can't hear for half the cut. I used to feel so uncomfortable.

I now have a fab hairdresser, seen him every 8 weeks for 4 years, he's been doing MrMG's hair for 20 years, and you don't even have to make conversation - cos you can't shut him up ? It's lovely being close enough to him not to feel awkward when I have to say 'you know I haven't got a clue what you're saying'. He's a lovely man - but trust me, no-one goes to him for an oasis of peace and quiet!

Because a comfortable silence is comfortable for both of us, if one of us is uncomfortable then it's not a comfortable silence. Plus you know when people don't want to talk as they are disinterested, even I'm not stupid enough to keep banging on if someone is not remotely interested in joining in. Perhaps it's just a knack of knowing what people expect from me after spending hours and hours a day with different people, you read the signs

I've found some hairdressers to be particularly bad at reading the signs, though.

Like a lot of people, I have to take my glasses off while having my hair done and then find it difficult to hear - and not having my glasses on means I'm not able to read a magazine, either. As a result, I tend to prefer to sit in my own fuzzy little bubble and let them get on with it.

There's nothing worse than a hairdresser who is desperately casting around for a subject - any subject - to chat about. Once they've done holidays and found out you're not going away this year, told you about their holiday, asked about kids and found out you don't have any, told you all about their kids, and gone through all the TV shows they watch and found out you don't watch any of them, it's already got very embarrassing.

You'd think after the third time you've said "Sorry - what was that? I wasn't listening" they'd get the hint, but some of them don't seem to!

I have to take my glasses off too, so I can't read anything. Usually I just give "hmmm" or yes/no answers and they get the hint pretty quickly. I usually explain at the beginning that I can't see anything, so if they think I'm looking upset at the cut, I'm not - that's just my almost-blind face. And then I sit back and sort of make a scowling face and tune into my own thoughts. Or I eavesdrop on the people next to me.

Most stylists here seem relieved. They do get it done faster when there's no chatting.

I dont like chatting when im having my hair done.I dont want to talk to a total stranger about my life.Might be different if i had the same hairdresser every time but i dont.

Also i like to hear them gossip about there everyday life it amuses me for an odd reason and getting my hair done makes me sleepy so i like to just sit there and relax.

Oh no, never!!!! ?

I chat to them at the start, and im always polite and friendly, but I just tend to leave it to them, if they want to chat, i'll chat, if not, then thats okay with me too. Sometimes I like having time to collect my own thoughts.

Don't think about it, talk if you want - if you don't want to

It's perfectly fine if you don't feel like chatting with your hairdresser during your appointment. Some people prefer to just relax and enjoy the experience without engaging in small talk, and that's totally okay. Just be yourself and do what feels comfortable for you!