I've been going to Cristina Antonelli for my hair for 7 years, from her time at 75 West (Somerville, NJ) to Color Me Chic (Bound Brook, NJ).
I've never had any issues until my last appointment on 2/16/24.
The following occurred over the course of 7 hours, from 10:30am to 5:30pm.
After entering the salon & being seated, I asked Cristina if she had time to accommodate a color change; she said yes. I've had deep purple hair for 4 years & it had been 3 months since my last appointment (the color was holding on well). I showed her a few photos of a copper tone I liked (closer to my natural strawberry blonde) & she said that we'd be able to achieve that color.
After the bleach was mixed, Cristina & Diana applied it to my hair in 3 sections: #1 back / #2 left side (LS) / #3 right side (RS). Once applied everywhere, I sat there with a hair cap on each section. After the bleach was rinsed out from the back section, Cristina said that the color was lifting well (light peach color). I returned to the chair as the side sections of my hair were still processing.
Cristina came to check on the LS a few times. On the last check, we noticed it quickly heating up. When she put her hand under the cap, steam was rising from that section of hair. She said that we needed to rinse my hair ASAP.
This is where the chaos begins (although I don't figure this out until later).
Sitting down by the sink, Cristina was on my LS & Diana was on my RS. As they started to rinse out the bleach, I could feel Cristina running her fingers through my hair. Her hands were not going far from my head (as they should have if all of my hair was intact). This is due to massive breakage on my LS. Anywhere from 6-8 inches of hair had already broken off. I could hear the drain stop being removed & reinserted several times. Cristina and Diana were aware of my hair breaking off in chunks and refused to say anything at that time.
Cristina then wanted to do a big reveal. After applying the fill color, she had me stay by the sink. Once rinsed out, Diana wrapped my hair in a towel. She took me back to the chair & turned me away from the mirrors.
Diana was taking too long to blow dry my hair, especially on the LS. She was being too delicate. I knew something was very wrong. I pushed her hands away from me & I started to touch my hair (or lack thereof). I turned to the mirror in absolute shock. Cristina "pretended" to be shocked. She kept saying, "OMG, I don't know how this happened!" And she kept apologizing.
After many tears, Cristina gave me the option to proceed with the copper or return to the deep purple. I went with the copper. The color did not take well to my damaged hair, resulting in various shades of brown & copper. She applied some tape-in extensions to try to minimize the appearance of the bleach breakage. She gave me an at-home hair mask and offered to do weekly appointments for deep conditioning & a blowout. We scheduled an appointment for 2/23/24. After connecting all of the dots & coming to the realization of what happened, I quickly cancelled that appointment.
I texted Cristina 2 days later: "Can you please explain what happened to my hair on Friday? The least you can do is be honest about everything."
Attached are the texts that followed.
It's been over 5 weeks, and I've yet to receive a response from Cristina.
Cristina absolutely destroyed my hair. I've lost 6-8 inches of hair in areas on the LS of my head. It will take 12-18 months to grow back. The hair that didn't break off is very compromised. It is brittle, dry, and gummy - even 6 weeks later.
We are human, and humans are fallible. Mistakes are bound to happen. Attempting to hide your mistakes is not acceptable under any circumstances.
Cristina had a chance to provide open & honest communication when she saw my hair breaking off in the sink, but made the decision not to. She lacks honesty, integrity, and professionalism as a hairstylist and a salon owner.
I will NEVER go back to Cristina or her salon. read more