I've been on Yelp for 7 and a half years now, and I still believe in it as an entity. Sometimes, though, it gets it wrong. This is one of those times! The published reviews here for Urban Roots are old and mediocre. My experience was entirely different, thankfully!
Strangely, Urban Roots was recommended to me by Hush Hair when I went into them one morning looking for an emergency cut (it's a thing, I swear) and they weren't open. I'd passed it innumerable times, what with it being located super conveniently between New St station and Tesco, but hadn't paid attention. Reviews on another site were favourable, as were the Facebook comments, so I decided to give it a go.
First of all, I was shocked by how great the communication was. I sent a Facebook message on a Sunday night thinking that I might be lucky and get an answer the next day, but nope! My questions were answered that night. I provisionally decided to book in with the artistic director, Wesley. There was a long hair extra charge of £5 (boo) but a 20% new client discount softened the blow. They worked around my schedule the next day and I was all booked in, ready to go.
On the day, I arrived for my 2pm appointment a little early, but was seated straight away. Wesley came to meet me within a couple of minutes and did a great consultation. He listened to what I wanted, and explained what would and wouldn't work, what he'd like to do, and why. Perfect. I toddled off for a wash, scalp massage and condition from a lovely girl (almost nodded off), and then blearily walked back to the chair where my Bailey's coffee was waiting. Wesley got to work cutting away with just the right amount of chat. He made sure I was happy with the amount he was cutting off (an actual 2 inches, not a man's 2, apparently) and gave lots of styling and management tips while he was drying and straightening it.
I'm not sure if it was the Bailey's coffee, but I left feeling so happy. I have been here 18 months and hadn't found anywhere I wanted to go back to until now. I held off on writing the review until I'd washed and styled it myself, so I can attest to the fact that it is easy to manage and still looks good when I do it myself.
So...
-great communication both online and in real life
-easy booking (as a customer you can use their online system, and there's also Wahanda)
-friendly staff
-GREAT CUT!
-Bailey's coffee. Yum.
-Not scolded for doing my own colour
I'm definitely going back! read more