Haircut from Hell — Spiked Tinnitus and Pressure Feeling in Ears Afterwards

Living with profound regret after my recent haircut.

Moved back to my old hometown and went back to my old barber shop. The usual gal who cut my hair (scissor cut) was off, but I just went with one of the other ladies. Explained no buzzers or hairdryers... But either she forgot or didn't understand (not a native English speaker).

Ended up with the big humming buzzer yup shear off my long hair... which was okay. But when she went to trim around my ears and sideburns, she used this small clipper that sounded like a sewing machine, like it needed to be serviced or oiled. I kind of thought, okay I will try and take it... She spent probably 30-60 seconds per side. It was loud...

Spiked the next day... Noticeably, but in the 5 days since it's gotten more intense. I had pressure feeling in my ear last night and still a little today. Today is probably the worst so far, I seem to be super sensitive to any noise.

How loud can those damn things could have been? I'm just worried this spike isn't a spike and my "new normal". I've had plenty of spikes in the 15 years of this crap, but this is probably the loudest by far.

 

Go back to the barber ask to borrow the offending clipper and turn it on away from you but near your smartphone with dB app and see how loud it is at that proximity.

(Wear earplugs to protect yourself).

Would be good to know for your reference just what kind of loudness gave you a spike.

 

Loud enough to make one suffer for months. Most likely eventually your spike will be over. However, if you don't learn from this mistake, eventually you might end up with a permanent spike.

Your ears have been compromised. What a healthy person won't even notice, can have life long consequences for people like us.

Most spikes are temporary spikes. Temporary spikes can last for over 3 months, but normally begin fading after 4-6 weeks (or earlier). I wouldn't worry about this spike being permanent for the first 6 weeks or so. If there is no sign of fading after 6 weeks (which is unlikely!), then it is possible or even likely that one will be stuck with that volume level for a long time.

I hope you are more careful next time.

 

Just as a follow-up... I did have the spike recede somewhat and managed to catch a break with a few "very quiet" days last weekend. Came back a bit and now it seems to have spiked back to where it was post haircut just after a short day trip out (which had some moderate but not excessive noise).

I am going back to my older barber which knows it's a scissors only deal... I can't fault the barber, perhaps because she wasn't a native English speaker, she misinterpreted "no clippers around the ears" to mean the opposite. Well, can't take back what was done, just have to be more mindful next time.