Hairdresser
Describe the cut, colour, and length you want — and speak up mid-cut before it's too late.
Describe the cut with length and direction words: más corto por los lados y largo arriba (shorter on the sides, long on top), or solo emparejar las puntas (just even out the ends) for a trim. Soften every request with the conditional — ¿me lo podría cortar…? sounds right where a tú command like córtalo is abrupt with a stranger. And you don't have to wait until it's over: creo que por los lados ya está suficientemente corto lets you adjust mid-cut, gently. In the salon, cabello sounds a touch more polite than pelo.
Below: the phrases for booking, describing, and giving feedback, what locals really say, the words not to invent — and a way to rehearse the whole conversation out loud before you're in the chair.
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Regional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
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The part no phrase list can do
Isabella
Your conversation teacher for this pack
In the Hairdresser pack, the conversation lesson sits you in the chair at a neighbourhood salon — and Isabella is the stylist: ten years in, chatty, honest, and she swings a mirror over her shoulder to check after every section. You've a wedding next month and a photo of the cut you want, but she thinks it won't suit your face, and halfway through the sides come out shorter than you meant. You have to steer it — negotiate the style, speak up about the length. Out loud. And she talks back:
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 6 lessons and Hairdresser is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
Combine length and direction: algo más corto por los lados y largo arriba (shorter on the sides, long on top). Bring a photo — aquí tengo una foto del estilo que busco — and comparisons help too: como esto pero más corto.
Solo emparejar las puntas — just even out the ends. Add no quiero que me quite mucho (I don't want you to take much off) so there's no misunderstanding about length.
Gently, with the conditional. Creo que por los lados ya está suficientemente corto (I think it's short enough on the sides now), or ¿podría dejarlo un poco más largo por atrás? (could you leave it a bit longer in the back?). Lead with a compliment first and it never sounds ungrateful.
Both are correct, but cabello is a little more polite when you're talking to the stylist — cabello teñido, for example. Pelo is perfectly fine in casual conversation.
In most of Latin America it's el flequillo (some countries say el cerquillo). Don't translate it literally — there's no golpes for hair. Try me gustaría probar un flequillo, ¿qué opina?.
