This review is long overdue, mostly because my experience was awful enough and I didn't want to relive it by writing this, but I hope those who read this find it helpful when choosing a stylist and salon that is right for them.
I have had my hair cut twice before by Abel and trusted him at this point. My college grad pics were coming up and I really wanted a layered hair cut with curtain bangs along with a rose gold balayage. I messaged Abel, showed him the reference photos of what I wanted, he said he could do it, and I booked the appointment.
My appointment began at 2pm. He finished my hair a little past 9pm. I was there for over 7 hours, and that's not even the worst part. My hair was nothing like how I had asked for it at all. Instead of balayage, he did a whole head of streaky blonde highlights and attempted to tone it with a rose gold toner. To reiterate, I wanted balayage, not bleached hair with rose gold toner, but I thought he knew what he was doing so I didn't question it when he was doing the foils. I thought maybe different hair dressers have different methods for balayage. He rushed the cut at the end because of how long he took with the color, so there were no layers and it just looked like a blunt chop. Also no curtain bangs like I had asked.
When I finally saw the finished color and cut, I was in shock and said it was much lighter than I had wanted and also that the rose gold was pretty faint. I also mentioned how there were some patches where the color didn't look blended, like you could see the line where it was foiled. He said he could schedule me to come in for some touch ups. Really? 7 hours at the salon and I still would need touch ups?
I paid $350 + tip for a botched color and cut and literally had a mental breakdown in the car once I left. I was so upset and I had grad pics coming up and didn't know how I was going to fix this. The days following, I was in contact with the salon manager, Janelle, and had explained to her the situation. I showed her pics of what I asked for and what I ended up with. She offered me two options: another stylist could try to give me the color and cut that I wanted and they would give me $50 back / a $75 gift card... or they can get me back to natural and only refund me for the color so $265 refund. I will attach what she told me via text. I also spoke with her on the phone and we kept going in circles. I wanted them to get me back to natural and fix my haircut free of charge and issue a full refund. Not only did I have to sit in a chair for 7 hrs straight and come out with nothing near what I wanted, my hair was now overly bleached and damaged and it smelled like chemicals for days. She kept telling what she offered me was the best she could do.
I asked to speak to the owner Clay, and she said he would say the same thing she was saying. It took a couple days to hear from him, but when I finally spoke to him he offered to get my hair back to natural and fix the cut himself free of charge and refund me for what I paid. He fixed it, and it was alright. Definitely better than what I had from Abel. When he was done, he pressured me to tip for the service. I never got my tip I gave Abel refunded, but I still tipped Clay and the assistant who styled my hair at the end because I didn't want to be rude.
This was such an awful experience, I felt gaslighted by Janelle, I wasted so much of my time arguing with her and it was so frustrating trying to advocate for myself. I still spent money in tips for an end result that I didn't ask for nor was satisfied with.
Please be careful booking with this salon. I'm sure every stylist is different, but it wasn't fair for Abel to say he could do the color I was asking for when in reality he couldn't. He should have been honest and referred me to another stylist who is better experienced with balayage / the result I was going for. It was pathetic and extremely unprofessional how Janelle acted and then to be pressured to tip after what I was put through was just unbelievable.
Please see attached photos for what I wanted vs what I got, my text exchange with Abel explaining what I wanted, and my texts with Janelle. read more