I RARELY get my hair done, so I used the handy dandy yelp app to help locate what I thought was going to be an awesome salon. Urban Gypsy popped up as a pretty popular place, so I figured I'd give it a try. I will preface my not-so-great experience with mentioning how the people who work there seem to be very personable people with smiles on their faces, and the shop is a neat little place. Chris was my stylist and was very easy to talk to and made me feel like I was in great hands.
Last Monday, I had an appointment to get a balayage. I was SO excited! I showed Chris my picture and he said that he could definitely do the color. I was leaving my roots my natural color and just wanted it to melt into a beautiful blonde. Chris made sure I was comfortable throughout the whole process and was telling me about what was going on as he was doing it. I felt very confident that my hair was going to look stellar. I had a 4pm appointment and didn't finish up until 7pm. So, when Chris revealed my hair, I looked it over and was initially disappointed because I thought it would be a lot lighter. But, figured I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. He didn't have me check out the back of my hair, which looking back on it, I see why now. So, I left the shop after spending $135 and 3 hours in the chair a little disappointed. I looked at my hair in the mirror at home and my heart sank. It looked NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like a balayage. It looked like I had some highlights thrown throughout my head. I'm not one to complain, so I got a few opinions from friends who get their hair done regularly on whether or not I should call them back to have them fix it. The consensus was to call and request a fix. I got an appointment for Saturday, and looked forward to getting my hair corrected.
I showed up Saturday and Chris knew exactly what we were going to do. I felt safe that he understood what I was asking to be done. There was a disconnect between the blonde and it was definitely NOT a balayage. He talked very nicely with me throughout and was commenting on how well my hair was lifting and that it was turning out great. I was so excited! He offered to curl my hair, which I almost did, but then decided to not waste more time as this appt took 3 hours, too. While my hair was 'lifting', someone called to book a balayage, but the one girl hairdresser said she couldn't do it because she didn't have the right product. Chris was asked if he had some product she could use and he said 'no'. That should have been a clue to me that this 'fix up' appt was going to go sour.
After my hair was toned, washed, and blown dry, the big reveal was had. My heart sank when I was handed the mirror and looked at my hair. Nothing looked like it had changed. I showed Chris the picture again and said, I thought it would be lighter...look, my hair looks nothing like this picture. Not even close! He apologized and said there was no excuse for it to not look like the picture and that he didn't have the right product to lift it to where it needed to go. I was so disgusted because I spent another 3 hours for nothing to have changed and WONDERED WHY YOU WOULD TRY TO FIX HAIR YOU MESSED UP ON IN THE FIRST PLACE WITHOUT THE RIGHT TOOLS???? I walked out of there feeling so disappointed and lied to. Why would he say it looks so great and lifted so well, when NOTHING CHANGED?!
I called them to request a refund, and they apologized and said they'd refund the color part ($90). While I would have liked the whole $135, especially since I tipped on an awful hair job and spent 6+ hours getting my hair worked on where no one can see a difference, but I'm willing to not throw a stink over 45 bucks.
While I'm sure some stylists there might do great work, I will not ever be going to this salon again, nor will I ever refer a person to try them out! I would rate them zero stars if possible, but chose to give 2 because they at least had some interpersonal skills. read more