Went to O Salon as it had good Yelp ratings, was able to get an appointment the same week, and could book online - all good things! However, my appointment was a bit of a disappointment. Started off running about 30 minutes late - no big deal, I find that to be semi-typically at hair places and sometimes I'm late, so I get it. I went in for Balayage and asked for rose gold color to be painted in (I had a picture to accompany me). I explained that I know the picture didn't totally match my hair color (it was someone with brown hair and rose gold Balayage, while my hair was mostly blond), but I liked the rose gold part at the bottom and was hoping for something close to that color. The stylist nodded, said it was probably a good idea to add in some low lights too for dimension, and I went along trusting her as the expert.
Fast forward to the blow dry and I'm quickly realizing that we got our messages crossed somewhere - My hair is basically blonde with some nice lowlights. I tell her that I think it looks really good (and it does), but I had been hoping it would have that rose gold color in it. It quickly becomes clear that my stylist doesn't know what color rose gold is. She says since I said gold, that is what she ran with. I (sort-of) understand the mix-up - maybe rose gold isn't as popular as I assumed it to be in the hair coloring world, but am wondering why, based on the picture I showed her, she didn't question me more at the beginning, or follow up with something like, "You are saying "gold" but this picture shows a person with more "reddish-pinkish" tone her hair." Since she nodded at me and ran with it, I figured we were on the same page.
The stylist did graciously agree to work with me to do a fix on the spot. However, that ended up being disappointing too. She asked another stylist (or maybe the owner?) for advice, and they ended up going downstairs to talk about it. I could hear them chatting about me, and while they didn't say anything overly negative, the stylist did sound exasperated and said a few different times, "That picture is nothing like her hair color... it won't work." If that was the case, she should have explained that to me before we started. It made me uncomfortable and I debated about paying and leaving then. However, I stayed at stuck it out, hoping for the best.
Both stylists ended up working on my hair for the fix, which was nice of them. However, they ended up leaving the new color on my head for less than 10 minutes and the stylist seemed very worried about the color being a totally different shade from everything else in my hair (which is probably more along the lines of what I wanted, but I'm no coloring export). When we re-blowdried my hair, it really didn't look that much different to me, but by this point I just really wanted to get out of there. I paid and left. When I went home and got under better lighting, I could see the color they added, but it was more of a true-redhead red (i.e. more of that burnt orange color), and the reason I really couldn't see it at the salon was because it is hidden underneath the hair that lays on top so it's kind of hard to see where it was added. I think they did this so that it would look more natural, even though that really wasn't what I was going for. Ultimately, I feel like the fix was a bit of a waste, although I really do appreciate the effort the staff made to try to get me what I wanted - it's just that the execution didn't live up to that effort.
Now, let me echo what most of the other Yelp reviews have said: the color was expertly done and did look really good for what it is. The problem is that I paid $250 plus tip, and at the end of the day, didn't get anything close to what I wanted. I felt like the focus was so much on making the color look natural and well blended, when honestly, I was hoping for it to look a bit more out of the box.
Long story short = If you are looking subtle, well done color, this is the place for you. If you are looking for something a bit more quirky, I'm not sure they specialize in that here. read more