I recently moved to St. Louis and was in desperate need of a haircut. I saw the great reviews for KINK, and decided to give it a shot. Big mistake. I have written a long review that I tried to keep interesting, but I wanted to be as honest and thorough as possible so nobody else endures what I have been put through. So if you're considering KINK Salon, please take a few minutes to be warned!! (To keep it classy, I didn't name the stylist.)
I had a late appointment that started off well. The stylist sat down with me, asked me about my hair, likes and dislikes, etc. I went in with my hair air-dried so she could see how it behaves naturally. (I have long, thick, dark blonde hair with some big, natural waves. It hasn't been colored in 5 years). I told her I love having long, thick hair, and I just wanted to take enough off the ends to get it looking and feeling healthy again. We agreed two inches would do just that. I also wanted to get the long layers back in it.
The appointment was a bit awkward, because we were the only ones left in the salon, but I did my best to make conversation, asking my native St. Louisan stylist questions about the city. As we talked though, I kept getting the feeling that it annoyed her that I wasn't from here and that I didn't understand some of the quirks of the city. I should have taken that as a sign.
After she dried and flat-ironed my hair (which I rarely, if ever, take the time to do), it was much shorter than I was expecting it to be. She had taken about 4 inches off of the longest layer. But by this time, it was almost 10:00pm, and I had worked all day, so I just wanted to get home and get to bed.
When I got home and was able to take a better look at my hair, I was shocked. It was awful I figured I'd give it a few days and see how it looked after I washed and air-dried or scrunched it, but it only got worse. I actually cried when the full effect of what she had done to my hair hit me. She had given me two "layers" in the back which were blunt, uneven, and crooked, and one side of the bottom was longer than the other. It was horrific. I cried. I sent pictures to my two previous hairdressers in my former home cities, both of whom were appalled, and agreed it looked horrendous.
Did I mention I cried?
I went back into the salon a few days later (with my hair in a ponytail!) with the hopes of talking with the owner, who was not there. I booked some time with him for the next day, hopeful he would make the situation right.
I went back with a smile on my face, hoping to catch more flies with honey than vinegar, and sat down with the owner. He was very friendly and personable, and clearly wanted to make me happy. I started off by letting him look at my hair (again, I went in with it naturally air-dried) and giving him a chance to see if he could pick out the errors. He did acknowledge the crooked, uneven bottom and the bluntness of the layers, and suggested I just needed the ends textured more. I thought that sounded reasonable, but wasn't sure he understood quite how unhappy I was, especially with the length issue. So I showed him a few pictures from the past few days of Hair Hell, and reiterated the things I was especially dissatisfied with.
It was then that he told me that he thought a big problem was the color and wave of my hair, and that it was making the cut look worse than it actually was. Um...EXCUSE ME?? He also told me at one point that he thought I was probably overreacting a bit. WHAT?? Oh, and he also told me not to review them on Yelp until I was happy.
After he convinced me he wouldn't take any length off and that it was an easy fix, I let him go to work on my hair. I figured it couldn't get any worse. I was nervous, because I did see him taking length off, and putting even shorter layers in it (granted, he told me he thought that would help it blend better, so I agreed to it). After hair massacre #2, I left with even shorter, thinner hair that ultimately was still horribly blended in the back, although the texturing did help slightly with the blunt layers. I guess the first stylist had mangled it beyond repair. In fact, when I sent my former stylists the picture of the "fixed" cut, they both told me that next time I go get my hair cut, the stylist will probably look at it and say "WHAT THE HELL happened to your hair?" and that it may take up to a year to really fix the damage.
At no point in this process did the owner apologize, or offer to remedy the situation in any way besides attempting to fix it there on the spot. He ultimately refused to admit the fault of his stylist, and insulted me by telling me I was overreacting, and blamed most of the problem on my natural hair (which has NEVER been a problem for my previous stylists, who have given me clean, beautiful cuts that exceeded my expectations).
I will NEVER set foot in KINK salon again. I wouldn't let any of their stylists within 50 feet of my hair. I recommend you stay far, far, FAR away. read more