After reading Chelsea's review, I decided to go make an appointment her for my highlights. This salon is right next to my apartment, so it was really convenient. I'd read other reviews that said the place can get pretty busy, so I went the day before to make an appointment. The woman behind the desk didn't take my name, or any contact information. I was just told what time to come the following day. Ok then.
Fast forward to the next day. Now there's a different girl behind the counter who just glared at me when I walked in the door. Maybe she was annoyed because I'd clearly interrupted her conversation with her friend. After telling her I had an appointment, she decides then to take my name and contact information, because apparently it matters now. Lucky me, she's my stylist as well.
She starts doing my highlights, but I was a little upset that she just finger combed my hair and didn't actually brush it out to make sure there were no snarls. I have curly hair, and it can get tangled just from walking outside. After the foil was in, she moved me over to the dryer and said I'd be there for about a half hour. According to my phone it was more like 40 minutes before she came back to get me. Then she started washing my hair. Now, I know you're supposed to massage the scalp to make sure you're working the product through and rinsing correctly, but you do that with your fingertips, not your nails! She raked through my scalp and I swear it was a miracle I wasn't bleeding! I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but man that hurt! Not to mention the water was frigid. Now we move back to the original chair so she can dry my hair. She had the dryer on the hottest setting, and placed it right at the roots and just held it in place, scalding my skin that had already been raked to hell. Then it's time for the haircut. I told her I just wanted a healthy trim, and that was it. I told her no layers because again, with me having curly hair, layers just makes it go crazy. I got the trim I wanted, but she still have me the layers I didn't want. She also decided to go ahead and give me a face frame, without even asking if I wanted one! I do a lot of bending for my job, and now some of the hairs in the front are too short to fit into my ponytail. It's not the end of the world, but definitely an annoyance.
I walked out of there $82 poorer, not including the little tip I left. A full head of highlights may have been $53 back in 2008, but they definitely aren't now! Even with a haircut my total should not have exceeded $70. I don't know if I got scammed, or if they really changed their prices. You can't really tell because they don't advertise their prices for anything. Only thing I can think is she charged me extra for "styling" my hair by blow drying it straight. Let me be clear that I did not ask for it to be straight, she decided to do that on her own and I should not have been charged for it.
The highlights do look good, I'll give her that. But I'm not sure I'll ever return. read more