I was a customer at John V for over a year. I did most of my beauty treatments there to include nails, pedicure, waxing, hair cut & color and massage. Being new to the area, I relied on the reviews to find a place. Apparently, the staff must post many of the reviews because the positive ones I doubt are factual. While going there for hair the stylist once turned my hair brassy and gave me hot roots and another time turned my hair almost black. Even though I knew my color combination and my hair is naturally a warm medium brown, they only got my hair right a few times at most, and all I did for color was the regrowth. I heard excuses time and time again about how they had changed color lines, or something must have gotten mixed wrong, etc. No one should pay thousands of dollars and end up with their hair wrong. You also should not sit and wait while your stylist is halfway done with you but works on other people for hours in between. If anyone is looking for a decent hair place, I recommend Paris Parker or Salon H2O.
As far as nails I tried different technicians and as soon as I liked one they quit but the salon would never tell you and you would just show up with an appointment and they shifted you to a new person. Even if you had an appointment, sometimes you would wait from half an hour up to over an hour, which honestly defeats the purpose of an appointment. I once went to the manager and he was suppose to do my nails after I waited over an hour with an appointment then he advised he didn't have time for a quick gel manicure "because I was not one of his regular clients" and he shifted me to another person that I waited another half hour for. This happened repeatedly and the owners just made excuses every time. If anyone is looking for a decent nail place, I recommend DeView Nails or P&D nails.
I tried doing massages at John V twice, and the room was cold as was the oil. The "massage therapist" (I saw no credentials and saw her doing pedicures) did not cut her nails so I got scratched. The "bonus" during one service I had was that the massage room has slightly open walls, so I got to listen to the screaming kid's spa birthday party right in the middle of my massage. If anyone is looking for a decent massage place, I recommend Stone Creek.
The cherry on top and what stopped me from ever going back, as if I needed more reasons, was when the owner's mom ripped multiple layers of skin off my face due to contaminated wax. It should be noted that she is a nail tech not an esthetician doing the service. I usually do my eyebrows every two weeks. I have also, in the past, had my full face done for special events so my makeup sets better. My wedding was just around the corner, so she did a full-face wax after I had just asked for eyebrow only, she just kept going saying "I see a spot let me just do it." She went over the same areas repeatedly for peach fuzz. A waxing rule: never go over the same area multiple times, it damages the skin. Some areas she did up to 5 passes. Another issue is she double dipped in the wax with the same stick, this is how bacteria builds up and the wax gets contaminated. I ended up having layers of skin taken off my face and it looked like a chemical peal. She essentially gave me a chemical and friction burn on my face. What bothers me most, other than the fact that they did physical harm, is that it was very painful and almost scarred my face, and the owner tried saying I must use Retinol or it was somehow my fault that my face got messed up. That was the common theme at this place. it was always the customer's fault or some other silly excuse.
I went to a dermatologist who also does light plastic work that very same day, and she advised that I indeed had a chemical burn and from the contaminated wax. She prescribed me a skin cream that cost almost $150 and I had to do light dermabrasion and derma plane afterward to make sure it didn't scar my face.
I did an estimate based on my receipts and I wasted almost $5000 at John V's to basically damage my hair, get poor customer service for nails, scratch me during a massage, and almost permanently damage my face. I do not know how this place is still there or why I gave them so many chances. They keep claiming new ownership, but they are just shifting it from one family member to another that is why the name is the same. Whoever monitors the heath grades for salons and what the employees are trained in verses what services they are providing needs to investigate this place. read more