I have been thinking about this review for months, debating about how I really felt about this in between haircut....
I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate it! Did I mention I HATE it?
I decided to give this place a shot after a haircut gone wrong, and I have been going to Gary Manuel for about a year, and it had been decent up until January.
I was seeing Collins, and although the haircuts were acceptable, I definitely wasn't jazzed about them and I never left thinking "damn, this hair looks good, I am taking it out tonight." They were the best that I could find and better than the previous so I stayed. With that said, there was not a time that I got my cut done that I didn't have to go back a day or two later and get something fixed, shape, strays, whatever.... Disappointing. Not only am I tipping all over again, but I am wasting additional time on something that should have been done right the first time.
Fast forward to January. There was part of the a-line on the back of my head that was longer than the rest, it touched my collar - the other side didn't, I wanted the neck line trimmed for a party we were going to over the weekend... Collins was off, I thought to myself "this place is solid, there should be someone who can get er' done, I mean this is child's play, it's a neck trim for god's sake; there can be no way they can fuck it up, right?" WRONG!!!!
I saw Michelle. She gave me the ABSOLUTE, WORST HAIRCUT (which was supposed to be a neck trim) EVER, LITERALLY. I sit down in the chair and say "I am growing my hair out, I just want the neck trimmed for a party," she says "no problem, that's easy." Apparently not, by the time she was trimming on a side I could see it was too late. I literally lost it, I started crying, tears were just trickling down my face and after some dialog, she says to me "well, obviously there is nothing I can do for you right now, how about you take the evening to think about how you really want your hair, come back tomorrow and have someone else help you." What the fuck? Here's the part that just has me floored, I am crying and she is already hiding somewhere.... I was going to just leave, but then thought to myself, "this is bullshit, she doesn't get to fuck up my hair and then act like I am the asshole because I am upset." I decided that even though there was nothing that could be done for this mess, I wanted to talk with the manager, which I did.
I ended up in the back office, sobbing - as in gut wrenching sobs. I had worked so hard, the last 6 months growing it out, and in one fatal swoop, it's back to ground zero. And on top of that, I was the bad guy? The manager on duty was Vanessa, she was the only good thing about this fiasco. She felt terrible and was so sympathetic, and apologetic, not only for Michelle's shitty attitude, but for the obviously hack job she managed to "create." Vanessa even had the extensionist come in and see if there was something she would do - the fist thing out of her mouth was "oye" and the final answer was no.
Back to Collins to try and get it all straightened out and try to salvage what's left. We spent two months coming up with a plan and a little snip here and a little snip there. She tried. The last adventure ended up in flames.... She ended up adding her own choppy touch and sent me on my way. I followed up with her and made a repeat visit to have her check it out and guess what, I got the, da da duh, wait for it: "You're just going to have to grow it out" speech. OMG, serious? I broke up with her on the spot. How many visits does one stylist get to say "we are working on growing out the old haircut, etc,., etc." At some point, they become involved and responsible for the mess, you can only blame it on another stylist for a few visits....
My hair looks best when: a) I'm asleep, or b) I'm wearing a hat. Every other time, I cannot tell you how pissed I still get. A short shitty haircut just turns into a grown out shitty haircut.
I should mention, GM said they would comp my haircuts for a while, to try and work it all out. Um, thanks, that's awesome, but I would rather have skipped all of that just to have a stylist do it right.
So to recap:
0-8 months w/Collins, Mediocre
everything after, TERRIBLE
Vanessa, AWESOME and the reason I am giving GM a star.
I am soooo disappointed, I really, really, really, really tried. I kept coming even though I wasn't sure about it, I saw more than one stylist too....
OMG - WHERE ARE ALL THE COMPETENT STYLISTS, THE ONES WHO ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT WHAT THEY DO, VS. JUST A "CAREER"??????????
PS. As a funny side note: I love the institute, I have been there a dozen times for color, and haven only left happy and healthy. Hmmm, there's an idea. read more