I had my hair done last night by Ann. She is a lovely person. BUT... I'm just not happy. I have wavy/curly hair, with some very fine highlights that are about 8 months old. Other than the old, minimal highlights, my hair was in its natural state - light brown with some gray. HOWEVER, I have tons of experience having my hair colored professionally, with good results. I've done full foils, highlights and lowlights, double process platinum, balayage, had it colored dark brown, red... so I know what a stylist should be capable of with my hair. I asked Ann for face framing balayage type highlights, and showed her quite a few photos from Pinterest. I said I preferred a cooler tone. For my cut, I asked for a basic layered cut, "round layers, with the shortest hitting the top of my ear, some longer bangs and face framing."
I said that I like the option to wear my hair both curly and blown out, but more often naturally curly (hence the layers). I asked for it to be cut down the center so that I could wear it that way and also flipped to either side, depending on my mood.
After all of this, Ann initially suggested pulling my hair through a cap. What? No. I nipped that idea in the bud really quickly, saying I liked a natural, "not stripey" look. I said that I preferred foils. I emphasized again that I liked a natural look, not chunky.
She seemed to understand what I was talking about, said the photos I showed her made it clear what I was looking for in terms of color, and we proceeded. She didn't seem very methodical in her foil placement when it came to blending. A few times she removed the foils in the front to dab more bleach in places, and then reapply the foils.
Sigh. When she removed the foils at the bowl, the first thing she did was aggressively wash my hair with a purple shampoo, really concentrating with scrubbing at the front of my hairline, and that was when I realized I was potentially in trouble. Still, I didn't say anything, hoping she knew what she was doing. Then she toned, which is not something I'm unaccustomed to - but she mentioned having a hard time "matching the rest of my hair." When she sat me back at her station, I wasn't quite able to see the color up close. I thought maybe I needed some time to get used to it... but I didn't instantly love it. Self doubt and being raised as a polite Midwesterner stopped me from speaking up. I should have. I was pretty sure I had realistic expectations, I knew my color and texture were my own - that it wouldn't look exactly like the pictures but I expected it to be much, much closer. I felt like I needed to get home and get my hands in it, and to really see it up close, without her standing there watching me. You can see the photo example I provided (one of many), and then my results. I've got hot roots, some brass, some cool... the overall result is so uneven in places, and that color placement is just bad. In the photo I showed her, the face framing was soft and gradual. I have 2008 chunks. I literally hate it.
I called the salon and asked to speak with the manager, to be told by the "front desk manager" (very nice girl) that it was a booth rental operation and that if I saw someone else to correct, I'd be charged again. She offered to speak with Ann, and while I appreciate that, but I'm not sure what the point is. I am not the type to complain... but this was not the experience I was hoping for and I am left really hating what I see in the mirror.
ETA: Ann did call me personally, apologized profusely and offered to try to fix it. I genuinely appreciated that. HOWEVER, she also said "I should have tried to talk you out of that heavy bang." Umm, what? Obviously she wasn't listening to what I was saying, or understanding at all what I was looking for. A face framing highlight is not asking for only your bangs to be highlighted. I never ever said "please make only my bangs a combination of white and gold." I showed her several photos of gradual, soft highlights, and asked to softly blend them towards the back so that I didn't have blonde in the front and just brown in the back. She seemed clear, and said she understood perfectly what I meant. And, it's not just the fact that the highlights are much thicker than what I asked for, and not blended... they are uneven. I have hot roots, and uneven color. There is a portion of highlighting in my crown that wasn't there when i walked in. For her to attempt to put this on me like I didn't ask for the right service is unacceptable.
At any rate, she did attempt to make the situation right by attempting to fix the color, and when I didn't agree to that she offered to refund my money. I appreciate that, and since I will now be spending at least another two hours in a salon and paying for another professional to fix this, I will take that refund.
To be clear, this wasn't the experience I was hoping for when I walked in there last night, and calling to complain was not fun... but I deserved to like my results. read more