I came in for my second visit at this salon a week ago. I told my stylist that I was wanting to go blonde all over but would be willing to stick with balayage highlights if he thought that was healthier for my hair. He recommended a balayage starting a little higher on my head to prep me for blonde all over at the next visit. What i got was not as expected. The color on the ends of my hair was quite nice, however the transition into my natural base color was very poor. The highlights were very patchy, particularly at my part. My stylist said that the demarcation line would ease over time. Two days later no such thing had happened. Because of how high the balayage highlights started, the color contrast, and the patchiness I looked like I'd had a bad highlight job and let my roots grow out for a month. I was not happy with it so i reached out to the salon's owner, Kimberly. She asked that I send her pictures of my hair which I did on wednesday. She agreed that the highlights didn't transition well and said she would contact me about hopefully getting me into the salon for a followup on Saturday. I did not hear back. I emailed her again this morning to follow up and was told that she was unable to do the color herself but that another experienced stylist could accomodate me. I was informed that they would touch up my balayage for free but if I wanted my hair blown dry I would have to pay extra. If i wanted all over color, which we had discussed in the prior email, I would have to pay. I declined to accept either offer. My 2 star review is on the basis of the following: (1) disappointing results from a stylist with 9 years of experience and (2) customer service in response to my disatisfaction. I expected better work from someone with that much experience and I did not appreciate that he told me the line of demarcation would ease when it did not. I do not feel that it is appropriate to charge a client for a blow dry when she now has to come in for correction of a bad product. I did not find it to be an appropriate response to charge me another $85 for all over color either. While the owner did explain that all over color is a different process (while simultaneously accusing me of being vindictive just because I changed my mind), I simply do not understand the rationale. Were I able to get a refund for my bad balayage I would certainly pay $85 for a new all over color process. However in this scenario not refund was offered and I am left still having paid full price for bad balayage plus an additional full price for another service. This is simply unacceptable to me. It's poor customer service and I have decided to take my business elsewhere. For the sake of full disclosure the owner was responsive to my complaints however I did not find her response/sokution acceptable in my situation. I did inform the owner of my intention to post a yelp review when I was trying to explain that I didnt understand why she would throw away my future business, plus the business of other yelpers, over $85. Her response was to accuse me of being derogatory and trying to make her salon suffer because I changed my mind. I do not feel that that is an accurate description of what has transpired nor do I appreciate that statement from a customer service standpoint. Very disappointed.
UPDATE: I went to a salon in Hunt Valley for color correction after this experience. I was advised that my hair was INCREDIBLY over-processed and on top of the work that needed to be done to blend my highlights I had to have 3 inches of my hair cut off (after an intensive deep conditioning treatment). I couldn't even just cover up the bad color job because my hair was so over-processed that they didn't think color would hold in it. I do not know how to do hair but I now know, thanks to the qualified stylist I had in Hunt Valley, that having bleach saturated hair under heat for a half an hour is NEVER a good idea. Do not trust the judgment of this salon. They are not balayage experts nor are they able to make good judgment calls on what is and is not healthy for your hair. I spent $160 here only to leave with my hair looking terrible and irreparably damaged. read more