What is it with hairdressers' mirrors!

I try to avoid mirrors Oriel but it's impossible at the hairdressers!

I was in M&S the other week, and for a brief moment wondered what on earth my mother was doing in there......

Yes! Is it because they need really bright lighting when they do hair treatments e.g. colouring?

I got my hair cut yesterday , and blow dry , was enjoying the chst and only glanced in the mirror as I left , looked fine , but this am I can see it is too short [sigh] it is standing on end ! and I only suit hats if a bit of hair is showing

Oh aggie, been there and got the T-shirt! Also can't see well without my glasses so no idea what my hair looks like as the session goes on.

I've just started going to a new hairdresser and I'm very pleased with the way they do my hair BUT when I look in the mirror I see this extremely elderly old crone with deep wrinkles who looks very strange when she is talking! It is quite horrific! However, I will just have to get used to it but I must admit it is a bit demoralising!!!

Yes, I agree , I'm delighted that its not just happening to me . I started to put on makeup to go for a haircut in desperation but it just makes things look worse ! Now I stay home and cut my own !!

I agree. I have found a hairdressers now, that is down a little alley way so at least the whole town doesn't see me sitting there with my double chins floodlit and foils in.

It is probably the only time I look closely at my face in the mirror and like you I don't much appreciate what I see!

I don't like what I see in the hairdresser's mirror either but the M&S double mirror where you can see your bottom as you bend over to try on trousers is even worse.

I agree Liz46 - fitting room mirrors are the pits! I hate seeing my profile, I look like the 3 witches of Macbeth rolled into one (in my opinion)

I use a magnify mirror to do my makeup so am only too aware of my flaws but I agree hairdressers mirrors are aagghhh !
I can't avoid looking because I chat to my lovely hairdresser of 15 yrs in the mirror.

I try to make sure I have done my make up properly before having to face myself in a hairdressers mirror. I once gave up on a good hairdressers as they had full length mirrors and it was when I had a LOT of extra weight on.

Phoenix , I often think of the rhyme - ' mirror mirror on the wall, I am my mother after all!'

Phoenix I sympathise. There is an old woman who follows me around wearing the same clothes as me that I catch in a mirror sometimes. It is very annoying of her.

Oh Hapgran that did make me smile!!

I am still struggling with getting so much older. My 8 year old grandaughter seems to be obsessed by my age, and after a recent birthday I found myself telling her that I am STILL NOT as old as GREAT grand-ma.

What's worse is when you see your father's face looking back at you!!

Katek that's what I see ?

Oriel I agree

I think 'Surely that haggard old woman is not me, I didn't look that bad when I left home' And that's even without my specs on!
I'm going next week - nice cut (I hope,not always true), nice blow dry, pity about the face

I spent 11 years being an hairdresser and I want to tell everyone that we hate spending everyday infront of a mirror. I had mental health depression and was very down on myself so found it difficult to like seeing myself.
I ALSO WANT PEEPS TO KNOW. That when we look in tge nirror to chat to you we do not look ar peoples wrinkles or dark circles or teenage acne or facial scars etc etc. But we actually look and talk to that beautiful smile that smiles back at us. We do it all day and do not judge people looks because we all have iur own insecurities about ourselves.

the M&S double mirror where you can see your bottom as you bend over to try on trousers is even worse.
Oh yes, the M&S back view
Why has the weight I lost re-appeared in the M&S mirror?

It's not just the back view in the mirrors in changing rooms, it is the lighting above them in places like TK Maxx. My bedroom must have kind lighting or something!

I solved this problem by having a super hairdresser come home to do my hair. Always a wonderful surprise when I look in the mirror when she has finished.

So this is why I never go to a hairdresser!

One of my sons has hair so silver that, to his horror, he was once taken for his 12-year-old son's grandfather. But my hair (the only bit of me that isn't disintegrating at a rate of knots!) is still mid-brown – which sometimes causes people the same age as me to think I'm much younger than them.

However, on the rare occasions when I go to the hairdresser's, lo and behold, that old biddy in the mirror has scraggy shoulder-length GREY hair. And the rear-view mirror in my car, with its horrible anti-glare filter, also highlights every grey hair, even though they're not at all noticeable otherwise. So maybe it's to do with mirrors themselves, not just lighting.