The employees here are extremely kind and accommodating. I'm a woman who gets her hair cut very…read moreshort and I like to get the sides faded. Traditional salons for women always know how to cut the top portion of my hair but are complete crap when it comes to anything fade related. And I mean....complete trash. The reality is, if a woman wants a clean fade, she's going to have to find a barber who is comfortable and competent enough to securely go at a woman's coif. And the sad reality is---that when a woman walks into a traditional barber --- she's almost always guaranteed to be made to feel like she has made a mistake.
This was the case when I first walked into Salon Rodolphe. I had used the yelp app to schedule my appointment. I thought I was scheduling with an employee---ends up---I was scheduling with Rodolphe himself. Sweet baby jesus, had I known that, I would have let them know that anyone could have cut my hair.
FYI---don't use the yelp app to schedule with this Salon---unfortunately it took me about a week and a half to get an appointment squared away using it. So, not the most reliable. You may be better off calling ahead for an appointment.
The day I walked in, sure enough, the front desk woman was utterly perplexed. Apparently my appointment wasn't on their regular books. Lo and behold....that was because I had scheduled with the boss man. I'll admit---I was pretty embarrassed, because I'm fairly certain that with the amount of work an owner of a Salon has to do---coming down from his office upstairs and into the shop to cut my hair....isn't high on his list of "things that I need to get done today to help my business succeed." Major face palm on my behalf.
While each of the three employees I interacted with that day were utterly flabbergasted as to why, me---a woman was coming to their salon---I will definitively say---that they were never rude, or short or impolite with me. However, being very confused, shuffling me around, not knowing what was going on or who I had scheduled with and looking at me like I had walked a unicorn into the shop to request it's horn to be polished---did make me feel very out of place.
Once the boss man Rodolphe walked in----he was EXTREMELY gracious. This is a man that radiates professionalism, courtesy, and confidence. With that being said, I can tell you right now, I wouldn't have been comfortable laying out my needs with hair cutting. Once I realized that it was an owner cutting my hair, I basically decided to sit down, shut up and enjoy the ride. lol....knowing full well, my head full of curls was about to be tamed in a way that I didn't want it to be.
The cut I got was EXCELLENT---if I were looking for thinned out, straightened hair. Mind you, I have VERY thick hair. It's incredibly dense and full, and most hair stylists are used to clients who want their hair thinned out and texturized. Now, personally, I LOVE my uncontrollably curly hair and I LOVE how thick it is. I don't want it to be thinned out and I don't want it to be texturized. I just want straight scissor work. I wish I had had the guts to tell Rodolphe this---because I'm fairly certain that if I had, I would have come out with the best cut of my life.
Mind you---the cut I got was beautiful. But by the time we were done, my curls were gone. Two weeks later, because the cut was super effective, the curls still haven't come back. They'll come back eventually once they aren't scared or pissed off at me anymore. :) Between the thinning sheers and the razor cutting (Both of which kill curls but give you fantastic straight hair if that's what you rock....) my curls went cest la vie.
I really appreciate that barber shops do the whole close razor shave to clean up your neck and the set up of this shop is brilliant. The sink where they wash your hair is right there at the station where they cut your hair. So when the cut is done and they need to wash you up, they just spin you around and dunk you. :)
The atmosphere and shop here is so lovely and chic. They have beautiful black and white photography on the walls, and it's so clean and bright. It's conveniently located off Ave Louise. Definitely go here if you have straight hair and are looking to be pampered. I absolutely didn't think that the pricing was too expensive. I truly feel that for the quality that you receive here (And every customer I saw getting serviced was getting the same quaity service I was getting from the owner)....you are paying a fair price for what you are getting.
The last inconvenience was when I was paying. I had a 100 euro bill and it took them having to go to the upper office to break the bill.
I really think this salon is excellent, but for my style and texture of hair, it's probably not the best place. Curly folk look elsewhere.
