For the sake of creating this review I had to select a star, but I wouldn't even give this salon a single star if I had the option. What a horrible experience. My wife and I visited Smart Style salon in Latham because my wife wanted to have her hair cut. As we walked in, we observed a young lady with blond hair who was working alone. She said hello to us as we walked in, and she noticed us that she was alone because her manager and the other employees had stepped out. She said that they should be back very shortly. We sat in the waiting area for about 20 minutes and we watched her with her customer. She looked to be a very talented young lady and we were so impressed with her that we wanted to request that she cut my wife's hair. We waited for the other employees to return, but it was a good 20 minutes we were there waiting. There was no receptionist. We eventually walked over to the young lady and we asked her if she could do my wife's hair next. She explained that she would love to if we could come back another day because she was already one hour past her shift and needed to pick up her son. We agreed, and we waited for the other employees to return do that we could schedule the appointment. A young man with bright pink hair walked in and greeted us. I believe he had been on a cigarette break, because he wreaked of cigarette odor as he walked up to my wife and I. He did not apologize for our wait. We requested to book with this particular woman, but the manager (and another man who also had bright pink hair and piercings) seemed noticeably upset and they both began pushing for my wife to book her hair appointment with one of them instead of with the young lady. My wife insisted that we wanted to book with the woman, and we explained that we observed her work and liked what we saw. The manager then (reluctantly) entered my wife's info into the computer and booked my wife an appointment for the next day. He was very rude about it. Fast forward to the next day. So the next day, my wife and I arrive to the salon for her appointment, and we see the manager speaking to the stylist that we had booked with. The stylist seemed upset, and she began packing up her things. We heard her say to the two men, "I don't think this environment is a good fit." At first we thought that she was just going out for a moment, but it appeared that she was leaving for good so we asked her if we could have a moment to speak to her outside the salon. She agreed. She was very nice, and she apologized to us and said that she was brand new there and that she did not like the way that the two gay men had been treating her. She explained that she had been cutting hair for many years, but that the two men had been giving her a hard time with her work and were being overly critical. We really wanted her to cut my wife's hair and we exchanged contact information with her in hopes that we can follow her wherever she goes next. As we were talking to her, the salon manager (pink hair guy) kept walking around us, trying to hear our conversation. Next thing, a Walmart security guard approaches the stylist and explains to her that the salon manager had just called security and asked if she could be forced to leave. He apparently said that she was creating a scene. I can say that she was not doing any such thing, because it was my wife and I who had asked to talk to her outside the salon. The woman was very polite about everything. The reason that I am writing this review is to hopefully make the upper management aware of the unprofessionalism of the manager that you have running the place; we couldn't believe the first day we walked in that this young lady was left alone to fend for herself for over 20 minutes on her first day of work, while the manager was gone for over 20 minutes for apparently cigarette breaks. We observed her trying to scan retail product purchase for a customer that walked in, and she didn't know what to do. We heard her say to the customer that she was sorry, that it was her first day working there, and that the manager had stepped out and that he had not shown her how to cash out product sales yet. We felt very bad for her. She had to leave her customer to try to handle this on her own. There should have at least been a receptionist present. When the manager returned, he was not nice to the young lady when she explained that a customer needed to purchase shampoo and she wasn't trained yet on how to ring the customer out. He rudely told her, "Well you should know how to do this." When she replied and said, "You never trained me on this yet." He was very rude to her. We also observed the salon manager had noticeably shaky hands as if some sort of drug addiction. We will not return. We do hope that the place gets better management and can hire (and keep) good stylists. Until then, we will not return. read more