I'm reviewing one particular stylist, Alissa A., at the Great Clips Milan IL location. I discovered her amazing skill set when she re-did a haircut (by another stylist) that wasn't quite working for me. In case the rest of my review is TLDR then I'll cut to the chase and say I would confidently recommend Alissa's work to both men and women with any hair type. She apparently spent her training focused exclusively on hair and it shows. She is also a barber and the first stylist in 9 years whom I would trust enough to give up my ponytail backup plan and cut my hair short.
Before I met Alissa it had been years since I'd had a cut I love and which works well for my semi-wavy sometimes frizzy hair type. But she sounded like she knew what she was doing when I asked about a re-do so I sat in her chair and crossed my fingers.
If you know exactly what you want and what works for your hair type then any competent stylist can give you good hair. I, on the other hand, have to trust the stylist to do what s/he is trained to do and hope for the best. Doesn't always work out well for me but I get by ok. I'm pretty bad at explaining what I want and dislike in a haircut which makes me a difficult customer. I just know I don't want it to look bad. Not too poofy, too flat, too heavy, too stringy, or too bowl/square/triangle shaped. I don't want a mom haircut. I definitely don't want a mullet. What do I want? Something that will look good with minimal effort or at least a decent cut that won't make me want to hide under a hat or in a pony tail every day. Something that works with my hair texture and does not require rollers, a curling iron, or other tools I neither own nor know how to use. I -- and I know this just adds to my pickiness -- also don't really want to use hair product beyond shampoo and possibly conditioner.
So keeping all this in mind, the ideal haircut for me requires some pretty great skill and hair sense. I had a fantastic genius stylist years ago but then I moved and haven't had haircuts I've liked since. I tried expensive places but I got the same "just ok" haircuts that only looked good on the day the stylist did my hair and I lived in a ponytail 98% the time.
Alissa went far beyond my expectations. She listened to / translated my garbled hair-speak and quickly gave me a beautiful cut that works with my hair texture instead of against it. After my first wash I was able to make it look really pretty with just some air dry and ~1 minute of upside down blow drying. The next day I got two compliments after I just washed and let air dry. My SO (who is truly picky when it comes to hair and likes styles that take 2 hours of work and a pound of product), kept telling me how good it looked and how much he really liked it -- a first in more than 4 years together.
I feel very happy to have found her and look forward to many more haircuts by Alissa. read more