I looked to Yelp to help me find a quality hair stylist in Merced. I have to say, I was sorely let down. I wanted to like this place. I really really did. I'm hoping she was just having an off-day but my hair will take months to try and repair the damage done to it. She did mention a few times that she was tired.
First off, for those who use yelp's deal ($85 for $110,) don't do it. I did it and when I presented it to her, she didn't accept them. Thankfully, I had money to pay for the service. She did honor the price, however, but still, annoying and unprofessional. I didn't deduct any stars from that though as it could be a business vs. yelp thing, but just giving a forewarning to avoid any hassles with any one else that tries to do this. I had to contact yelp and ask for a refund of $85. They stated they would do this, so all should be fine, but it is a hassle.
Now, for the service. I called and made an appointment for 2 pm. I was there at 2 pm and she took me in a timely manner. Good start. I explained what I was looking for and she seemed to grasp it with minimal questioning. (I asked for my hair to be jet black and for the ends to be a dark bright blue. I used a hair swatch she had available at her station for reference.) My hair was very long: about down to my hips. She "dry cut" off a good portion, but still kept it long. She then thinned it out using what seemed to be some sort of razor comb. Hurt like hell, but no complaints. So far so good.
She dyed my hair black, not dyeing the tips since they were to be bleached and made blue anyway. She appeared to do a good job with this bit.
While my hair was processing, she took on another client. Her husband, I believe.
After the black was rinsed out, she started applying the bleach to my hair. She stated she used a lower concentration so that she could leave it in longer. She bleached the ends and put me under the dryer for an extended amount of time.
During this time, she took another client.
I'm not familiar with bleaching, so I took her word for everything on how it worked. Little did I know that my bleached ends, covered in foil, and sitting under the dryer for what may very have been pretty close to 45 min-hour ended up damaging my hair beyond repair.
The hair wasn't even really bleached. There were swirls of bleachy parts and my normal very dark brown hair. I was hoping the color would fix it anyway and didn't realize the fried damage until much later.
She then applied the blue. She stuck me back underneath the dryer for a while for processing and rinsed it out.
Not a single strand of my bleach-fried hair was anything remotely close to that blue. Not one. It was more a mix of teal and dingy sea-pond-moss green. Also, she missed a huge spot of bleach where my hair was actually more of a pink color. She apparently missed another spot which I never really saw because she applied blue dye to it after it was all rinsed out already and never rinsed it out again. I knew already that this wasn't really what I wanted, but I have a problem speaking up...and I had already been there for 4 hours. I told her to curl it since it would help cover up the mistakes and so I could go.
At that point, I was so disheartened and even more disheartened to learn that the black part wasn't really even black. In a different light, I could find all sorts of brown. I've done a better job using Feria by myself.
She offered for me to come back and "put more emphasis" on the blue, but I already knew I was disappointed and that my hair did not look healthy. (I didn't realize just HOW unhealthy until I got home.) Then there was the whole yelp deal that went sour. I tipped my normal 20% (it was a loooong process and definitely a lot of work, even if it did ruin my hair and not at all what I wanted.)
I then made an appointment with Caylin at Ulta Salon in Turlock, and another $150 later, my hair is still damaged (can't expect miracles,) but it looks the way I want and it looks a lot healthier than before.
I honestly can't comment much on the cut job that Maggie did due to the fact that I had the Ulta appointment done almost immediately afterwards and I never let my hair "uncurl" from the initial style/color by Maggie. However, my stylist did mention that she would have to cut my hair again since it was uneven. I will say that Maggie seemed to breeze through it very quickly. I thought it was because she was masterful.... apparently, I was wrong. I left the cut aspect neutral though in regards to ratings because I cannot truthfully rate it fairly.
All the other reviews gave her 5 stars so I was excited to find a stylist in Merced that would be good. Perhaps she is just not very good with color? At either rate, don't let your hair get fried like mine. I am now a little bit more knowledgeable about the process and I think having her put me under the dryer for so long while bleaching killed it. You've been warned. read more