Speaking Spanish
How to say the haircut is going wrong, in Spanish
If you are in the chair right now
Perdona, lo veo un poquito más corto de lo que quería.
Sorry, it looks a bit shorter than I wanted.
If that gets brushed off
Perdona, esto no es lo que había pedido.
Sorry, this isn't what I asked for.
Say it halfway through, not at the end. While there is still hair to work with it is collaboration; afterwards it is a complaint. In Spain you would use tú with a hairdresser; in much of Latin America usted is the safer opening with someone you do not know.
There is no chapter for this. Phrasebooks teach you to ask for a trim, then abandon you a third of the way through, when it is already too short and the person holding the scissors is pleased with themselves. Most people say nothing, say “está bien” at the end, and leave.
If you need more than one line
softest
Perdona, ¿te puedo decir una cosa?
Sorry, can I say something? Buys you a beat before the difficult part.
neutral
Yo quería mantener el largo por aquí.
I wanted to keep the length here. Say it with your hand where you mean.
neutral
¿Podrías dejarme los lados un poco más largos?
Could you leave the sides a bit longer?
firmest
¿Se puede arreglar?
Can it be fixed? Impersonal, so nobody has to be at fault.
Two things worth knowing
You already know “corto”. That is not the problem.
Make it your impression, not their mistake
“Está demasiado corto” is a statement about the haircut, and by implication about their work. Many speakers soften it by making it about their own perception instead: “lo veo un poco corto”, literally “I see it a bit short”. You have said the same thing without assigning blame, and it is the difference between a complaint and a comment.
Diminutives do the softening
“Un poco” is fine; “un poquito” is warmer, and common in most of the Spanish-speaking world. Diminutives here soften rather than shrink — the same instinct behind “un momentito”. Leaving them out is a good part of what makes otherwise fluent Spanish sound abrupt.
What Isabel actually said
What you have to get done
- Gently say that it's not what you hoped for
- Explain what you were looking for
- Decide what to do next together
Isabel
How are you feeling about the cut so far?
You
Honestly, it's not exactly what I had in mind. I wanted it shorter at the sides and a bit longer on top.
Isabel
I understand, I'm very sorry about the confusion. We can take the sides shorter and leave a bit more length on top, if that sounds good to you.
You
Yes, that sounds good, but I also think it would be ideal if you took a bit more off the back to balance the cut better. Could you?
Isabel
Of course, I can take a bit more off the back to get that balance. Done! I hope you like how it turned out. Have a good day!
The whole conversation, unedited
A real run in the app, nothing scripted on Isabel's side. The transcript above is taken from this recording, and the three objectives tick off on screen as they are met.
Turn sound on to hear it.
Now say it yourself
Reading that is not the same as producing it with someone waiting, which is the entire difficulty. You can have this exact conversation in the app: Isabel is a third of the way through, and you have three things to get done.
It is free, it takes about a minute to start, and the first attempt is allowed to be terrible.
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