This is going to be a detailed evaluation of my salon experience…read more
I first saw the salon off of Nereid Ave and noticed that they were different because the techs are Black. I got excited because that is rare in this neighborhood. I walked in and sat down. There were two young techs working on clients. One near the entrance & one near the bathroom door. NO ONE greeted me, they just looked up and continued with their client.
One of the techs were done. I was giving her eye contact and I can see through the mirror that she was looking at me but decided to not acknowledge me. There was a loud child in the corner pretending to run the business (I later found out she is the owner's child). As the nail tech left, the other nail tech decided to ask me if I made an appointment. I said no, I'm a walk-in. I asked her if she had another client after her, and she said yes. I called the number on the sign and later made an appointment with whoever picked up the phone. I left.
I informed the woman on the phone that I just soaked off acrylic and my nails are weak. I wanted service soon to avoid them breaking. She told me the shop closes at 7:30PM. After rescheduling about 3 times within the week, she took over 20 minutes to arrive. I rescheduled again because I admit I was late ONE time. I FINALLY got to the shop on the 4th try 15 minutes early. I should've never done that cause after scheduling a 5:30PM, the woman Neema, or Star walked in at 6:05PM after ignoring my texts of "I'm here, and what's your eta". She entered with three of her children & didn't apologize for her tardiness. It was a Friday, and I guess homework had to be done before the weekend, so she decides to stop every second to help them with their numbers, spelling, and one older one log in to her phone to use her time at the shop freely by doing educational activities... all while doing my nails.
I didn't give off any negative energy or the typical huffing and puffing, just waiting to see if there will be a word exchange about what was going on. So, I had to soak off the excess acrylic that I had on my nails which she told me was an additional $10.. a bottle of acrylic is $2.99, but OK. She began to eat at the same table I'm soaking. Without washing her hands, she touched the nails file and drill and began to start taking out the soft acrylic. As she begins to do an overlay on top of the nails that survived, she bent everyone one to see if it was strong enough. I've never noticed a licensed technician needing to check their acrylic this way before. In conversation, I'm talking to her, asking her why they do not offer, UV gel, SNS, or anything else apart from acrylic. She told me she went to a brand new nail salon and had SNS done and gotten fungus TWICE. She thinks dipping nails in powder is unsanitary. Mind you, her entire workspace was dusty, her hands were oily of her food, and the sink I washed my hands out on was DISGUSTING. The bathroom door was falling down, and I learned all this because her daughter pointed them out in the THREE HOURS it took her to complete this full set overlay for $35 plus $10 for the soak.
I showed her a photo of what I wanted, I saw her face looking confused, so I showed her a more simpler one and she said she will try the first 1. Guys, all I wanted were triangle shaped polish on pointy nails. Once I seen her reaching for the top coat, I asked her to remove it. The fact that cosmetologist can sit and say they can do something, look at it even if it's horrible looking, and continue without speaking to the client and think it's OK to pay for it is beyond me. She gladly removed it.
Anyway, once she was finally done around 8:45PM (way after the closing time and techs still in salon with two clients), I told her I only had $40. She said OK, I gave it to her and walked out.
SUNDAY-- my real nail broke, I showed her a photo and told her it's only been two days. She told me to come in to have it fixed. The time she gave me was 3 hours later and I asked her if another tech can do it. She didn't respond. After having waited 30 minutes for her, I asked her ETA, no response. She finally walked in. This time, no children. She said good afternoon, no apology. The overlay she did looked deformed & took one hour and 15 minutes.. ONE NAIL.
THURSDAY- Another nail breaks DEEP.. bleeding. "No refunds. Nails should be soaked off properly to avoid being lifted." I asked her then what can she offer and she stopped responding.
PROS:
1. One thing I did like about this woman is that after she is done with one hand, she says "let me know if there is anything I can change on the hand." That's hard to judge after sitting in 3 hours with low lighting.
2. She "repaired" the nails that were breaking by "nail wrapping" them. No extra charge.
DO NOT have tech with unkept nails do your nails.
DO NOT have any hair stylist with ugly hair touch yours.
DO NOT have any barber with a crooked hairline touch yours.
There is no excuse.
MAXIMUM WORDS REACH
