I want to love you, Salon Blush, I do. Your pictures of voluptuous pin-ups, vintage furniture for the stylist stations, and retro decor are all yummy. There's a few details that keep you from being amazing, though. One is how your team answers the telephone. They don't sound happy to be taking their clients' business. It's the same bored tone that many salons have.
The first time I went to Salon Blush, I tried to get directions and was given awful ones through Kensington (aka BOYZ N THA HOOD COME TO LIFE and I used to live near Cabrini in Chicago, so it's not like I'm easily scared). As a result, I was maybe five minutes late. I placed a courtesy call to let them know, and was told, "We might not be able to get you because we have a full afternoon of PAYING clients." Then,the girl sighed, and said, "I guess you can come in and we'll see what we can do." Okay, well, I was a paying client too, and only five minutes late. Next time I won't call, dig?
Once I got in, the stylist repeatedly reminded me that she had PAYING clients coming in later and wouldn't be able to do everything I wanted. All I wanted was a trim and a simple colour, but okay. The stylist was admittedly very talented. She did have help. What seemed to be a student or salon assistant shampooed my hair. She gossiped with one of the other stylists the whole time, so I couldn't relax, shut my eyes, and drift off. The stylist seemed to be having issues pulling my hair up to the desired lightness, so I went through a couple of rounds of chemicals. None of it was really explained to me, although I could figure it out on my own. I'm like the Encyclopedia Brown of the beauty industry, yo.
My scalp was burning by the end of it, although I didn't make a peep of complaint. One of my stylist's PAYING clients ended up not showing, so it all ended up working out. She handed me off to another stylist to get feather extensions. Now, those were $10 a pop, but I got so many compliments it was worth it. My stylist didn't follow up with me after that, as she had another PAYING client. She didn't even give me maintenance tips or say, "Thanks for giving me a fat tip and let's reschedule you." None of that. I guess they don't care if they get repeat biz at Salon Blush.
Then, when I went to pay, the two gossiping girls came with me. I felt as if I was supposed to tip them, but why tip when someone takes over where your stylist was supposed to finish you? In that case, the stylist should be tipping someone to help, not me. (Please note: I almost always tip if I am given to a salon assistant, but this one was brought in because the stylist kept messing my hair up.) I did tip my stylist a good 30 to 40% of the services because at the end, it all looked incredible and many people later commented on my hair.
My reason for not giving 5 stars is that I felt like I saw too much behind the curtains action--so to speak. Part of the reason people go to salons is the illusion aspect. We want to feel pampered and special and like we're in a whole different world than the one on the outside, with its bills, traffic jams, and city-chaos. I don't need to know that you have paying clients because I'm a paying client, too. I don't need to hear your idle gossip about where you went last night or how drunk you got. And I certainly don't need to know that my stylist mutter about having to do my hair. If she'd politely communicated her issues, I might have been more receptive. It just felt passive-aggressive because she kept hissing, but wouldn't, I don't know, talk to me. The funny thing, is other than asking what I wanted, my stylist didn't really talk to me. She talked around me. The connection wasn't established. Keeping your clients returning is equal parts talent and connection.
If I want to feel like an inconvenience, I'll try one of the well-known snooty salons, not one that purports itself to be down-home and real in Fishtown, but gives you the same feeling of being constantly judged. I'll stress that my hair looked great, but it just wasn't worth all the other hassle to get to great. I want phenomenal--all around. I'm certainly paying enough for it.
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A post-note is that it's strange that some negative reviews are written and then, some positive reviews immediately go up discounting what the other negative reviews have said. These positive reviews are posted by people who've never Yelped or even done other reviews, which makes them seem suspect. It's like when I read the filtered reviews and every negative one had a comment about being "an ex employee." Seems like a lot of drama and very unprofessional. All of these reviews could be learning tools or taken with a grain of salt. read more