I first found this salon online as it was voted one of Austin's top salons! I checked out their yelp, Instagram, and asked around if anyone I knew had gotten anything done from them before. I was very intrigued and decided to make an appointment. I had been wanting to go blonde for a while (I'm a medium brunette) so I was counting down the days. I drove to Austin (40 minutes, not a huge deal I don't live in Austin so I figured it would take a while)
And got there and met my hair stylist Ashley! She right off the bat was incredibly nice and asked me what I wanted. The first thing that came out of my mouth was that I wanted to be blonde and wanted to know the best way to do so to not completely ruin my hair.
I also had some pictures of girls with brown roots and blonde hair (I wanted to keep my roots the same since I knew it would grow out) and she suggested a balayage. I asked her how much it would be and she told me $120 I believe? That didn't sound too bad so I decided to go ahead and do it. I asked her if that would make me blonde and she ensured that it wouldn't get me all the way there, but pretty close.
The entire appointment Ashley was so nice and talkative and we really connected. I was very excited to see the final outcome.
When all was done I looked at my hair and it definitely looked good and lighter!
I really enjoyed it when I walked out of the appointment. However when I got home the first thing my boyfriend said was "I thought you were going blonde".
Now after having spent $150 (including tip) on my hair, I was very disappointed when no one in my life even noticed I colored my hair.
I sat with this for about a week when I was so frustrated I called Ashley and explained the situation with my hair. I told her that I wanted to be blonde and didn't feel like I was anywhere near.
She agreed to go up higher on my roots again for me FOR FREE !!
how sweet of her I thought!
We made another appointment for the next week and I drove out to Austin again.
We did another round of the same treatment I had gotten the previous week. She didn't charge me however I wanted to tip her anyways because she was nice and did it for me for free. I told her again that I wanted to be blonde so to go higher up on my roots. When it was all said and done it looked really good! I still wasn't blonde but it looked higher up, just not high enough. After a couple of weeks I really started to notice that after all of that, I STILL wasn't blonde. Now after 2 rounds, and $200 later, Im still very much a brunette. I called Ashley again and explained pretty much the same thing I did the last time to her over the phone (that I loved what she did, but was still not blonde)
She said that she did not want to damage my hair and if we do another round of the balayage then she thinks it will be lighter. So if I want my hair to look the way I envisioned in my head I am going to have to spend $300 to do so.
I did have a really good experience, but I don't think as far as my hair goes, I'll be going back. I know my sister has gone from brunette to blonde, much lighter than mine, and only spent about $150-200.
I think Ashley is a wonderful hairstylist, however I didn't receive what I was looking for, not even close. I'm still very much a brunette and that is the frustrating thing about it. I walked in and said "I want to be blonde" and am still not :( read more