Barbers/Hairdressers of Reddit: how exactly do you want customers to communicate what they want to you? What do they say/do that is unhelpful?

1. Any time I get a haircut I really like, I ask, “what would I say to get this exact cut again?”
   — MHM5035


2. I get my hair cut by an old eastern European man named Boris. I walk in, sit down, say hello, he asks me how do you want your hair, short? I say, yes, short. Tapered back or square? Tapered please. Okay. We say nothing more to one another and my hair is perfect fifteen minutes later. I love my barber.
   — lazyslacker


3. After a really good haircut, I asked the barber what I should ask for next time. She said, "Number 4". So I go in to the same shop a couple months later (hair's pretty long at this point), get a different stylist, and she asks me what I want. "Number 4," I say. "All over?" she asks. "Of course!" I reply. "Really? You sure?" "Yeah!" "Ok," she says... and runs the clippers straight down the middle of my head, from front to back. That's when I realized that a "Number 4" was a clipper size - and not a style of haircut off a menu. You're doing important work here, OP!
   — IguanaBalls






4. now if you really love having your hair washed and want it to last 5 minutes (oh god, please) how do you ask for that without sounding like a creep?
   — posikid


5. Side question. What am I supposed to say when you show me the back my head?
   — z3ro_gravitas


6. Related question: How do I say "I don't trust myself to make decisions about what will make my potato-face look good, can I just leave that to your experimentation?"
   — Dracon_Pyrothayan