I was in the market for a new salon to help me maintain the color block hair style I had. I first…read moretried them in May 2023, and have been returning for touch-ups every other month.
Unfortunately, I experienced a tremendous amount of breakage when I moved to Thrive Salon to maintain my color style, even with every intervention and variable that I was able to control myself. (Tons of hair masks, silk bonnets, only air drying, wide-toothed combs rather than brushes, regular haircuts, high end shampoo/conditioner for color-treated hair, changing shampoo/conditioner to another color-safe one, oil sprays... you name it).
I kept up with 7 week appointments at my stylist's request to help "minimize damage", but it didn't seem to do anything but put me out of more money, and result in me having less hair. I was dilligent about asking my stylist to do a "breakage check" every time I sat in her chair to try to prevent this. She always said everything looked great.
In November, during my normal appointment, I cited that I was noticing substantial breakage. I should have listened to my gut when my stylist responded to my concerns with a surprise, stating "you usually see that up here" while pointing to my scalp. (In hindsight... yikes.)
Despite my concerns that day, she didn't seem to heed additional cautions or change her approach. On that same day I cited bad breakage, she lifted a new brunette section of my hair (at my request in a desperate attempt to keep my hair style) *extremely* fast. What normally needs 3 sessions to go from my brunette to our target shade of blonde she somehow achieved in 1 with my roots, and could do in 2 to my ends. She was both surprised and excited at "how light it got" during my wash out. It seemed like she never had full control over her color processing, and didn't even know what she was expecting it to do. Needless to say, all of that hair started breaking in the following weeks, plus other strands.
When I went to another salon to get a haircut (I find their haircuts to be outrageously priced at Thrive), the woman shared her concern with me on the health of my hair. She even questioned if Olaplex was being left out of my mix. I didn't have an answer.
This salon, despite the high price tag, also doesn't include a basic rough dry for color services to check their work. They let people paying nearly $200 for color walk out with sopping wet hair. The manager assured that a rough dry ("not blow out, that was extra") was normal for color, so stylists could check their work before the customer leaves, but I was handed a blow dryer by the rinser last visit to do it myself while my stylist moved onto another client entirely. She didn't even check on me or say goodbye. It felt wrong. I was paying ~$250 every 8 weeks but couldn't get a rough dry? I had to drive home with wet hair?
Despite the poor outcome with their color service, I also observed that I was being charged different ways and different prices for my exact same service every time I went. I was never given a heads up about the price differences, and only found out at the register after my stylist had left. At one point, I was charged for a haircut that I declined in the chair. (Thankfully I noticed!) After I was rung up, I told the man at the desk, and he quickly said "oh, well you got your hair dried, so we have to charge you for a blowout". The price of the blowout helped them retain all of the mischarge for the haircut I never got. It felt very shady to me. (Remember how the rough dry was supposed to be included?)
Generally, I find this salon to be very expensive for the skill I was shown. I thought the price I was paying for my color blocking was fair, but seeing that I had so much breakage, maybe it was over-priced like some of their other a la carte menu. ($75 for a *trim* is too rich for my blood.)
I'm leaving an extra star despite my experience because when I did have a chance to speak with the salon manager, she was open to feedback, stayed true to her promises of when she would get back to me, and offered a refund for the past haircut/blowout fiasco I retold above. She understandably stood behind her staff, but I was disappointed that the stylist's word was always taken over the customer's. (I have no reason to lie about a service I didn't receive....) They also got me in quickly around the very busy holidays when I called and let them know more of my hair was breaking and I needed to come in to resolve it with my stylist. I appreciate them doing that for me.
One last shoutout - Jen at the wash station was seriously a highlight of my experience. Love her and wish the best for her.
