Mei-ling at Salon Lofts in Carrollwood is AMAZING! I have been to so many salons in Florida (I'm a…read morenative), and I haven't had THIS great of a cut and color in at least 15 years! I can't get over how gorgeous my hair looks! I am EXTREMELY picky about my blonde hair - I want light ashy blonde, even though my hair always pulls heavy red/gold tones and can look horribly brassy. I also want a light pretty blonde that is not so bleached that it is falling out like wispy strands of cotton candy! Mei-ling gave me that perfect gorgeous dimensional ashy blonde I want, and gave me the kind of layering I've been asking for, for literally YEARS now, and no one else has done the way I wanted, until today! I wanted long layers that flow/blend together, movement around the face but not the 'stair step' look, and some movement and lightness to my very thick hair without razoring it into a jagged oblivion, and she TOTALLY understood what I meant!
I have a bit of social anxiety, and am self-conscious and often feel bad about myself, but today I am SMILING! I didn't realize how the Salon Loft concept works, but I love it - it makes for a more private, relaxing setting, where you are truly getting 100% of your stylist's attention during the service. What makes it even better is Mei-ling is extremely sweet, professional, and so easy to talk to. I usually feel a bit intimidated at salons, but Mei-ling put me at ease from the moment I saw her. I'm usually not one to chat a lot, but I felt so comfortable I ended up babbling quite a bit! Then when I went into my usual "relax/almost start snoring" mode during the placing of the foils, she rolled right with it and kept working without forcing small talk.
Before we booked the appointment, I texted about 40 or 50 pictures of examples and nonexamples of what I wanted in a cut and color. I like that Mei-ling wanted to see how my hair is now, and took the time to look through my pics and comments of what I wanted. I literally took almost an hour of texting her pics and comments of what I liked and didn't like, and she responded to my comments and questions, and sent a reminder text a few days before the appointment. She made sure to book plenty of time, as I explained that my hair is very thick and always takes longer than stylists anticipate. She also booked extra time because it was my first visit, and she wanted me to have plenty of time to talk about what I wanted, and to have more time for the haircut if needed, as she understands sometimes clients can be afraid to have too much cut at once from prior bad experiences (haven't we all had that situation where you ask for a half inch trim and next thing you know, you just had 5 inches lopped off?) and she is patient about going back to cut a little more after the initial cutting if you want it.
I really hate having my picture taken, but now I wish I had taken some before and afters. It is amazing what she accomplished today! After asking my permission, she did take a few pics of the back (which I'm fine with those being posting to accompany this review), but unfortunately you can't really appreciate those pics unless you could see the "before" shots! I was in an awkward growing out stage of a sort of angled lob that was really screwed up on its last trim. To make it even better, I had a really ugly dark pumpkin color in the underneath section in the back, an inch or so of regrowth, and brassy frizzed out blonde on the rest of my very fried hair. It hadn't been cut in about 6 months and was straggly and awful. And yet, with all these different colors and issues going on, Mei-ling made my hair look and feel amazing! It reminds me of how a service would look on virgin hair, and yet she somehow took my hair that had more issues than a magazine and made it beautiful! It is completely blended everywhere, a great cool-toned blonde that I asked for, dimensional, with no sign of yucky brass/gold, 'hot roots', or 'bleach spots'/signs of sloppy foiling/highlighting (unfortunately that has happened to me, even at very expensive salons).
I'm not one for 'add-on' services, but the Olaplex IS worth it, especially if you're having any corrective color or going lighter. I'm used to the rougher feeling my hair gets after it is lightened; I figure it's just part of the price you have to pay when going blonde(r), and yet, after today's full head of highlights, my hair feels smooth and healthy! It reminds me of how my virgin hair regrowth feels, soft and silky. And this is without any argan oil or shine enhancing product added.
Mei-ling is amazing, and I'm so thankful I found her!