I'm not sure where to start or how to say any of this without it sounding mean but I'll try my best.
I had a small gift card from spa finder and this salon was on the list of places it was valid. I figured that with it being an aveda salon, and with having experience myself with being a student at aveda ibw, that the aveda mission and all the perks of aveda would make this a great experience. I was so very wrong.
My stylist, though very sweet, seemed to lack experience. From the minute I sat in the chair I had a bad feeling but figured this couldn't go too terribly wrong. I had asked for a purple ombré type style. I had some left over color on my ends and after the first round of lifting, we decided to use that color and play off it and modify to what she suggested as "mermaid hair". The first session, had zero aveda stress relief massages, which I thought came standard with every aveda service. Maybe I'm being spoiled but in school that was a requirement with every service. The blonde "balayage" was not executed well at all. Very blunt and not lifted as far as it should've been for the colors we wanted to achieve. I also left with wet hair as she didn't even completely dry it. I thought maybe that was just because it wasn't "finished" (more later).
So I came in the next day, more nervous and hoping that the color would cover the bad lifting and blend in with my brunette hair and all would be well. Was I wrong. Very very wrong. The colors were not at all what I expected. It was splotchy and full of missed spots. I pointed the first one out and then kept finding them. She looked mortified and said she had someone waiting and I had to come back for another appt for her to fix it. And once again, it was not dried all the way before she sent me home.
In a panic as I was set to go on a mini trip in two weeks I called all around to try and find someone else to fix it. But due to fund restrictions I ended up agreeing to let her try to remedy the situation. I had to tell her what to do and although it's at least completely colored now, I will never return to this salon. Ever. ONCE AGAIN SHE TRIED TO SEND ME OFF WITH WET HAIR. And actually wanted to style it with a flat iron while it was still damp and when I asked her to finish drying it she seemed like she didn't even realize it was so wet still. I still had to pay for the service on top of having to come back and spend four more hours there. I ended up going to another place the next day to get the damaged ends chopped to try and salvage the look and to also cut out the muddy and gross colored ends I ended up with.
Overall the whole experience was shitty and I ended up spending as much as I would have elsewhere without the gift card. I'm frustrated and even more frustrated that I cannot leave a real review for this joke of an "aveda" salon read more