A mum was left “mortified” when her nine-year-old son’s haircut went wrong – and he was left looking like Jim Carrey in classic 1994 comedy film Dumb and Dumber.
Carley Dormer, 31, took her nine-year-old son, Mason Thompson, for a pre-lockdown haircut on Tuesday at their regular barbershop, Pitsea Turkish Barbers, in Basildon, Essex.
The mum-of-one said Mason, and her partner Aaron Russell, 31, have been visiting the barbers for their haircuts ever since it opened two years ago – and that they usually do a “fantastic” job.
But Carley, from Basildon, was left shocked this week when she claimed the barber “mutilated” her son’s hair – leaving him with a short, wonky ‘bowl cut’ fringe.
She said: “It was absolutely awful. He looked exactly like Jim Carrey out of Dumb and Dumber – not how a nine-year-old boy wants to look at all.
“He’s just getting to the age where appearance is really important to him, and he was a little bit distraught, worrying that kids at school were going to take the mick out of him.
“I’d be devastated if that was me or my partner – he wants the latest, most modern haircut, not something like that.
“He ended up crying as the barber just made it worse after we told him twice to try and straighten it out.
“It was a really bad experience, overall.”
Carly added that she “politely” requested her money back for Mason’s haircut, which she had paid £12 for – and claims the barber responded by telling her “not to come back anymore”.
She said: “It was a really odd situation. We have never had any issues in there before.
“My partner had already had his hair done, and they had done a fantastic job, as always.
“My son was sat in a chair a few seats down at the same time having his done, so I went over to see how it was going.
“I had told the barber we just wanted the usual doing on my son’s hair, as it was the same guy who has done his hair before.
“But his hair looked really odd – it looked like it had had a chunk taken out of it at the front, and it was really uneven.
“I asked my partner to go and quietly have a word and ask them politely to even it out.
“The guy said he would fix it – but then when he finished off it was still really slanted.
“I said, sorry, I’m really not happy with this, could you make it a bit more even please?
“Even one of the other customers in the barbershop agreed with me and said that it wasn’t straight.
“The barber huffed and puffed and tried to straighten it, but it was just getting worse, so I told him to stop.
“I tried to politely ask if we could just get our money back for my son’s haircut, as I wasn’t happy with it.
“Then he yelled at us, ‘How about you just don’t come back anymore?’.
“He was so argumentative. It was bizarre.
“We were perfectly happy to pay for my partner’s haircut as we didn’t have any problem with that.
“I understand they are under a lot of pressure at the moment, but we’re paying them for a service which hadn’t been done properly.”
Carley said that she eventually did get her money back for Mason’s haircut after another member of staff intervened.
But she said she, her partner and her son were then “ushered” out of the shop without so much as an apology.
Luckily, another local barber – Steven Gomma, of Goodycuts – saw a post Carley shared on Facebook about the experience – and offered to fix Mason’s hair for free.
Carley said: “He was amazing. He worked a 14-hour shift the day before lockdown trying to fit in all his clients, and still had time to see Mason.
“We’re really happy with what he’s done, and we’ll definitely go back to him again after lockdown.”
Meanwhile, the manager of Pitsea Turkish Barbers said that Carley is welcome to come back in the future if she chooses.
The man, who would give his name only as Ali, said: “We employ only the best barbers who are professional and certified in the industry.
“I do not believe there was anything wrong with the haircut.
“The lady made the child distressed by shouting and being aggressive to my staff.
“The child was happy with the haircut, however his mother was adamant she wanted her money back.
“I know it’s a tough time for us all, however if she really wanted a free haircut she could have asked and we would have helped her, because we understand that we are in unusual and challenging times.
“We gave her a refund and she is more than welcome back if she chooses to come.”
