I specifically chose Allure hairdressing over other hair salons in the area because of its…read moreoverwhelming endorsement online. After actually visiting the place irl and being extremely disappointed, I figured the best place to put my criticism was also online. I am honestly not sure why there are so many good reviews online.
I booked an appointment for 9am, and ended up spending the better part of 30 minutes waiting for the staff to set up. In the "consultation" I asked for subtle highlights. I can not emphasise how much I repeated the word subtle. Parts of my hair were dyed bleach blonde! But I was repeatedly told that the colourist (Arky) knew what they were doing and that I should trust them. In the dim light of the salon (which used to be a watch shop, fun fact) its looked great! Outside, in the actual sun, not so much.
After my hair was coloured, it was cut. Now, I can't complain about the cut, but I sure as hell will complain about the man cutting my hair. He kept winking at me, leaning in to whisper in my ear as he cut my hair, and just being just a bit to touchy-feely. I was so uncomfortable. He almost seem to brag about his accomplishments to me too, which I thought was strange.
Irrelevant, but I swear to you, he spoke in an Australian accent to me. Except when he mentioned the fact he was from Scotland (which was a few times...) he would put on a Scottish accent. But he only did it when he remembered to! SO weird.
After that awkward cut, I just wanted to get out of there! I was told I had to pay in cash, so I walked down to the bank of Melbourne and took out $270 for the cut, colour, and blow dry. Both the colourist and the hairdresser gushed about the way my hair looked, and in the dim lighting, I believed them. So I gave them the money and left.
I went to an event for a few hours straight after the cut. Looking back, I'm so embarrassed I went outside looking like that! Once I arrived home, my mum noticed my hair right away. There was a harsh streak of blonde down the back of my head. None of my highlights were well blended at all. I was walking around bringing horror flashbacks to the early 2000's.
I called Allure at around 4pm, saying I was unhappy with the colour. They said I could come down at 5:30. I went down at 5:30, but had to wait until 6:30 for anyone to actually touch my hair. You can imagine how pissed I was. They refused to apologise for the colour. Whenever they saw the rattail of a streak at the back, they kept pushing my hair back over it so it was covered, like a combover! Instead of apologising, the colourist tried to make it seem like I asked for chunky highlights. COME ON. Half way through her colouring my hair, not even in the consolation, I mentioned (quite bitchily) how I saw people with those strips of highlights and how much I hated it. Why would I come into a salon, repeatedly ask for subtle highlights, and midway suddenly exclaim "wait, I've changed my mind! I want a racing track down there back of my head!". She said it must of been a communication error. That was her apology.
Finally, after an hour, I was taken into the sink to wet my hair for a toner that would blend the highlights into my hair more. I waited at that sink, with wet hair, for 15 minutes. At this point, my mum is telling me we should just walk out. I refused. I did not wait this long to walk out! I stayed, they put the toner in my hair, and quickly tried to blow-dry it as fast as they could so they could get out of there (at this point, the salon had well and truly closed).
The colourist told me that because she bleached my hair so light, I'd have to come back to the salon every 3 weeks to keep it looking the same. A little while later, the hairdresser told me that washing my hair would help the highlights blend in, and asked my how often I washed my hair. I said I wash my hair every 3-4 days because I know washing it often can damage it but I thought that the toner would wash out, why would washing more help? He said no, I wasn't taking about the toner, I was taking about how often you should wash your hair. Thank god I brought another person along or else I would have thought I was going mad! This guy, who keeps putting on a fake Scottish accent, is talking out of his ass. And I'm the idiot who paid him $270.
EDIT: I almost forgot to mention this! The hairdresser, who prides himself on being a perfectionist, recut my hair the second time I walked into the salon, on the same day! How many times should a customer have to walk into the salon and complain before their hair gets cut in a straight line! Which, by the way, I did not ask for. My hair is thick, a straight cut makes it worse. But again, I was told to just trust him.
At the very least, they did attempt to fix my hair. I'm still going to get it fixed somewhere else because it still looks like shit, but they did try. I'll give them that.
Would not recommend to a friend.
