I had an appointment back in June at Candi's Hair Salon for a Haircut and to talk about options for starting to embrace my grey. The morning of my appointment, I no sooner sat in the chair and a City worker came in and said that a water line in the area had been broken and the water would be shut off for the next several hours. Obviously, no chemical treatment could be performed without water, which was totally not the fault of the Salon, so Bonnie offered to go ahead and cut my hair and then reschedule the appointment for Color or Highlights.
My first impression of the salon is that it was Very clean and orderly. It also is decorated nicely. Bonnie was friendly, as was the owner, Candi. Bonnie was able to schedule me for Chemical Treatment the very next morning.
I arrived the next morning to find Bonnie the only one in the Salon. After talking, it was decided that highlights would be the best way to gradually start lightening my hair to blend with my grey. I was informed that the rate was $100/hour, which did not concern me much as the longest I'd ever sat in a salon chair was about 2 hours, and that was for both a haircut and highlights. Since my hair had been cut the day before and paid for separately, and since my hair is a shoulder length bob, I was not concerned that I'd be there for a long amount of time. We got started, and Bonnie was very friendly, and I found the chat to be enjoyable. Because Bonnie was the only Stylist and/or employee in the salon that morning, if the phone rang, she had to answer it and take care of the client on the other end of the phone. This entailed her having to stop applying the highlights/foils on me, remove a glove, and go anwer the phone. Sometimes, she'd be on the phone for several minutes assisting a caller to book an appointment, answer questions about services, etc. Many times, she would no sooner hang up the phone, re-glove and start back on my hair, and the phone would ring again and she'd have to go back through the whole process. This happened MANY times over the course of my visit and I while I don't blame Bonnie for the position she was placed in by being the only one there left to man the phones and take care of her client, it was a little frustrating. I think it might be a good idea if you were to have a receptionist whose sole purpose is to take care of answering phones, etc so that the stylists can focus on their clients in the salon.
Another stylist, Alma, arrived in the Salon just before my Service was complete and there was finally someone else to share phone answering duties. When it was time to pay, I was absolutely shocked when Bonnie announced my total as $300! We're pretty new to Kerrville and are from the Houston area. I've never paid more than $200 to have my hair highlighted or colored, even when I was going to a Master Stylist in Uptown Houston. I've always understood that as a Stylist gains experience over the years, they become more in demand and can begin to charge higher prices as a result. The fact that Bonnie is a relatively new Stylist charging those kind of prices made me wonder if that's the same practice at other Salons here in Kerrville. After a little research, I've discovered that's not the norm. Also, no deductions were made for the time she had to constantly step away from me to answer the phone, so essentially, I paid for time that was used to conduct other business for the Salon. Remember this was for the highlights only, as my hair had been cut the day before.
I have hesitated to write a review, instead thinking it's just better to chalk it up to a lesson learned. I've received a few comments about my highlights looking like "Stripes" in my hair and I've had several people who've been Gobsmacked when I've told them how much I paid for those "Stripes". This is just my experience, so you can take from it what you will, but I wanted to share in case it helps you when you're choosing a salon. If you're going to a Salon that's charging an hourly rate for services, ask them to also give you an estimated time. Never leave it open where a stylist can take as much time as they please, or conduct other business, on your dime. read more