I was in the market for a new salon, one that specializes in curly hair. I chose penny lane after…read morelooking at multiple places. I tried calling them but ended up leaving a text message, which they answered promptly. I ended up booking online as a new client, which was awesome. They are in the heart of Logan square and get this...they have a parking lot in bank with TONS of free parking! It's super cute and full of natural light. I chose my stylist based on their profiles they have on their website. My stylist was Erin, who had only been working there since October. She used to own her own studio. She specializes in mullets, shags (aka wolf cuts, for the younger generation), and razor cuts (a difficult skill if you go to someone who doesn't know what they are doing). They have a chill annex space connected to their salon and that's where she was located. Erin is a rockstar, she even had a cut similar to what I wanted, even though our textures couldn't be more different. I was making a major change. My 2b curly hair was just really long, I hadn't had a professional haircut in over 1.5 years. I wanted bangs, dammit, face-framing layers and a shag cut over the rest. She was the absolute BEST! She made me so comfortable, letting me know her plan. Cut it dry (I went in with it on down, styled like usual on day 2 after washing), wash it, style it, cutting as she went to make sure it was perfect. She walked me through every step. When she was making a big cut, she made sure I knew do I wouldn't freak out when I saw it. Conversation flowed like water, and she's a consummate professional. She made me so comfortable and looked at the 900 pictures I brought in with examples (I even brought pics of what I didn't want). She only used shears and before she went it for bangs, she let me know where she'd make the cut. She praised the salon and her fellow stylists. She said if someone came in and wanted a style that she knew someone else could do better, she'd make a referral. Though she's confident that though everyone can do everything, everybody has a specialty. Her specialty is edgy and fresh. I liked she had so much experience with exactly what I wanted. The product line she uses is innersense organic and I liked their finishing gel, though using it is a bit of a learning curve. She gave me a few free samples of the shampoo and conditioner she used, and I purchased the gel. No leaving the salon with understyled or wet hair. No despairing, hoping I could fix it when I got home. No being unable to style it under my own routine. She listened and gave me a rad new hairstyle that I've gotten multiple compliments on. It's a throwback for sure but I love it. I have to get used to bangs: getting them during the summer may not been my best idea. It's also not cheap, I paid $230, but I did budget for a brand new style. They do bang trims for super cheap, though. Overall, I think it was worth every penny, lol penny lane for the win.

Beware of their policies. I have been going to this salon…read morefor approximately a year, without incident. This week, there was a miscommunication about an appointment that I made and I discovered there is no relationship or respect based on customer loyalty. I made an appointment online for two services that I normally get with my regular stylist. I thought the form was confusing and didn't see her name but wrote it in the comments that I wanted her to do my hair, so that it was clear. When I got there, my stylist wasn't there; there was another stylist that I'd never seen before. For obvious reasons I didn't want the stylist I didn't know to work on me. That's when the worm turned. Everything became my fault. You can ONLY schedule color by phone or email ( I didn't know, I'd been scheduling in person after appointments ). They disregarded my note in the online request for a reason unclear to me, so my request was ignored. Not letting the unknown person work on me, for them, equalled a cancellation. They did not accept any responsibility for their requirements being unclear or that it was a misunderstanding, not a disregard for their business, 'because you signed the paper that explained the policy". I've done business with businesses like this with 'gotcha clauses' but never expected a hair salon to do that. Cancellation policies are pretty common these days, but not like theirs. 'Their cancellation policy is to take ALL of your appointment money, In my case it was $190.00. Lesson learned.