I saw Gail Jerrett for about a year. She was willing to work with me on the formula and listen to my needs, and Gail remains one of the only stylists in Chicago using Organic Color Systems. She is genuinely committed to running a low toxic, holistic salon, and even though she does not specialize in color, I felt fine compromising luxury for a healthier mom-and-pop experience. However I recently had an odd experience, and this is the reason I am giving only three stars. While in DC I visited a stylist who had trained with the owner of Organic Color Systems, and my hair felt ten times better after she used the Power Build Deep Conditioner for 10 minutes prior to color application. When I started paying for a gloss every other month, my hair was radiant due to the combination of the conditioner and gloss. After I returned to Chicago, I tried to get Gail on board for this protocol, but returned my call to say that Organic Color Systems had gone out of business and was no longer being sold. After I called the salon in DC and checked the line's website, I found out that Gail must have been mistaken--Organic Color Systems was still in business as always. Gail responded by having me call her contacts at Organic Color Systems, and the number rang through to an American distributor that had switched lines. Gail then had me call the line directly to find out how she could order. It is very unprofessional to have a client do this much work (especially with no discount), but this is not the end of the story. In fact, Gail then tripled her prices for me alone with no notice. She charged me three times more for the color than she had in the past and also more for the gloss and conditioner than I had ever paid in DC. She surprised me at the counter with a huge charge--it was even more than they charge on the Gold Coast, but without the luxury and professionalism. I paid and left, hoping this was a one-time fee to cover product costs from the order Gail placed to accommodate my needs. But when I chatted with her about prices on FB a few weeks later, she really felt that her services were now worth the high price because my hair felt so much better. Yes, but only because I instructed Gail on the line's conditioner policy, told her how to mix the gloss, and then tracked down product and helped place the order. This took hours of my time--why should I have to pay Gail MORE for a service after she delegated her job to me, the client? I never went back. read more
