‘I haven’t felt this bad about myself since I lost my hair to chemo’: Woman goes to Hair Cuttery and asks for ‘Birkin bangs.’ Then she leaves in tears
Haircuts are a universal necessity. However, until you find your dream stylist, getting your hair cut can still feel like a massive gamble.
It’s truly one of the most vulnerable experiences, as, after all, hair can make or break a look—it’s often one of the first things folks notice about other people. That’s probably why TikTok is chock-full of videos featuring customers crashing out about their botched hair after a stylist did them dirty.
One woman is now going viral on the app for being ‘devastated’ after not getting the bangs she wanted at Hair Cuttery. And people sure do have thoughts.
What happened with her haircut?
In a video first posted on Feb. 2 that has since accumulated over 437,000 views, Samantha Ann (@sammieann1989 on TikTok) tearily recounts her experience to her audience.
“I’m so freaking devastated right now,” Ann begins, visibly upset. “I went to the hair salon with a photo of exactly what I wanted and explained exactly what I wanted to the stylist, and this is how I walked out. Not even my hair done, because my hair was not done when I walked out … I came home and I straightened it.”
Ann says she specifically asked for Birkin bangs, AKA “the thin little bangs in the front that blended into [her] face.”
“I’ve had them before, so I know that my face holds them,” Ann says. “This girl gave me the most blunt bangs. I feel like I look like [expletive] Jim Carrey off Dumb & Dumber. I’m so [expletive] upset.”
Ann says she both attempted to both call Hair Cuttery and physically go back to talk to someone, with very little luck. She has the distinct impression “nobody cares” about her situation.
“All I can say is I should have known better,” she says, in tears. “I usually don’t go to Hair Cuttery ’cause I’m not really [had] luck when I’ve been there in the past, but … money’s really tight right now, so I was like, OK, I’m just gonna go here and they can’t mess it up … They messed it up so bad.”
There’s more to it than just a haircut
At the very end of the video, Ann reveals her emotions aren’t coming out of nowhere—as a cancer patient, she has a very special and anguished relationship with her hair. In a comment, she further explains she was “bald three years ago, and it took [her] three years to grow [her] hair back.”
“I haven’t felt this bad about myself since I lost my hair in chemo,” Ann finishes in the video. “Tried to do one thing for myself and it backfired royally, ’cause now I have to look like an idiot for God knows how long.”
Viewers respond to the bang debacle
Commenters’ responses were mixed. Many expressed sympathy for Ann, while some became rather aggressive and belittling her in her comments section. Mockery in response to women’s tears as a phenomenon that’s as old as it is well-documented. But at least a couple of hair stylists chimed in with sympathetic advice. A third even offered to fix it for her.
“Hairstylist here… you just need some blending and texturing,” commented stylist Lisa Minardi Kleinow. “I know ur devastated.”
“Babe, they can be fixed,” echoed stylist Melissa Nakachi. “Hairstylist for 30 years…. They can be texturized to be wispier and softer….. go find another salon and a stylist that can help…. They will grow and be beautiful.”
Many commenters criticized Ann for “crying over a haircut,” comparing her botched haircut to human rights crises like starving children. Others pointed out these are hardly fair comparisons, complimented Ann’s appearance, and gently encouraged her.
“I’m sorry so many people are being mean,” wrote one viewer. “It’s ok to be devastated and I’m sure that it brought back all those despairing feelings from your chemo. BUT it actually looks polished and it will grow back. It’s ok girl.”
@sammieann1989 #haircuttery #devasted #fyp #haircut #badhaircut ♬ original sound – Samantha Ann
What are ‘Birkin bangs,’ anyway?
The style Ann was after, Birkin bangs, has roots all the way back in the ’60s. Jane Birkin, an English-French actress and singer who blew up in the 20th century, was such an icon that she inspired the mega-popular Hermès Birkin bag. She’s also responsible for what has now become a decades-long craze over her distinct bangs!
According to Revlon, Birkin’s bangs—along with her overall aesthetic—”helped define ‘French girl’ style from the 1960s through the early 2000s.” With a softer fringe than more blunt-looking traditional bangs, a hairstylist described Birkin bangs to Cosmopolitan as “‘shorter in the middle, and longer and sweeping on the edges.'”
Ann’s devastation with her results seems to be rooted in her hair resembling traditional bangs more than Birkin bangs. However, in the words of one commenter, the style still “looks super cute on [her]”!
The Mary Sue has reached out to Hair Cuttery via email and Ann via TikTok comment and DM.
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