You get what you pay for! There is a reason as to why these salons are cheaper when compared to other salons within the area, they would lose their competitive price edge within the market, and lose a significant amount of customers as people would go to more reputable salons if they attempted to match prices with neighbouring salons (their prices have gone up significantly over a 5 year period, around 20-25%). My naive combination of loyalty and stubbornness led me to staying with this salon as a regular. I was looking for a regular salon that I could go to, and a friend recommended an individual at Cool Cuts, and I dislike changing salon. I recommended this salon to various friends and family, all of whom decided to give this salon a chance, and only went as a one off and were never particularly happy. One of the main reasons for this "unhappiness" was this salons ability to constantly cycle employees, in affect you would never stay with a stylist for more than a few months, taking away the rapport between customer and stylist which takes time to build and is crucial for achieving customer satisfaction, and great results. They always seem to have new staff, I was lucky enough to be with a stylist for approximately one year and even then there were mistakes, unequal hair lengths, layering mistakes, inconsistent styling and cutting, if I felt the mistakes were minor I would not complain, on a few major and evident mistakes the salon admitted to and offered to "fix" the mistakes. They were always falsely comforting and stating how rapport takes time and the hair cuts would get better, I didn't feel the haircuts were good but when 2-3 people say they are good you can get convinced. The number one rule when getting a haircut is finding the correct individual and a salon that doesn't take care of its stylists will not have any of these individuals, but they are however experts at fluffing the customer post haircut. I spoke with two of the employees at the time outside of the salon, both of whom left because they "hated it", (wonder why), one was a talented stylist, fired because he had obviously had enough of the management team at cool cuts, they essentially just wanted to rid themselves of this individual. This individual did however find a job at another (more reputable) salon almost immediately. In my opinion customers should be allowed to create a connection and follow a stylist. It was clear from the onset that the management looked to prevent this type of connection being made through the use of indirectly threatening the job security of former employees. Lighting used is not adequate or comparable to other higher end salons, and the two employees that I spoke with both stated that they mentioned this to the management and that it effects their performance in terms of cutting, obviously nothing was done to solve this issue. The final straw for me personally was when on my last haircut, a "new" stylist, I was told he had been cutting for years, managed to cut a lock of my hair from the back then style it in such a manner as to mask it. I did not want to ruin the finish, and it was not until the next day, running my hands through my hair, I noticed missing hair, which was cut off. I contacted the salon and took pictures and offered to prove this issue, they were extremely defensive and aggressive in their approach when it came to dealing with this issue, and my years of loyalty and large sums of money did not account for anything in their eyes, I felt awful and distressed. All the above, which at the very least shows the management here, is unprofessional, lacks sympathy and loyalty. I must also point out that the closing down of their salon in Notting Hill surely highlights how well business is going, I can only imagine why. I hope that this review has been revealing and helps individuals make an informed decision as where to seek their stylist. read more
