This is a review of Sara Hartman at Dolce Vita. This isn't a review or attack of Sara as a person, the business as a whole, only my specific experience and opinion. I hope it can help others. I spent $160 on the WORST hair experience imaginable-- I had such high hopes because of Sara's other reviews on here! However, this is what you may experience if you book with Sara:
-I didn't appreciate comments on my age: I was told I "act too mature for being 21." I was really shocked about how oddly judgemental that is and that she commented on my living situation as a college student. I didn't pay to be critiqued on my personal life by a stranger and it made me uncomfortable. I was also told, "I ask too many questions like a kid" when I was curious about her advice on hair products. I regret not walking out then.
-She didn't listen to my ideas. I brought pictures of hair ideas and instead of listening, she jumped right into coloring it and talking about her protein sponsorship/fitness competitions.
-She talked poorly about her other, regular clients. I found it strange Sara talked to me about her client who brought her cookies that day and said they were really bad. Talking poorly about clients is beyond unprofessional.
-She was eating during the appointment next to me and started curling her hair in the corner. This is super unprofessional!
-She may rush the appointment...she rushed my balayage appointment in under 2 hours and I felt out of place.
-She gave a really bad shampoo with her acrylic nails digging into my scalp and pulling my hair.
The experience was beyond bad and my hair looks cheap, unnatural, over-processed, and not even close to what I requested. It was ORANGE with my natural dark roots. :/ It didn't go well with my skin tone, eyes or features. I wanted a balayage with subtle caramel and brown. I was clear on what I wanted and very flexible to hear her opinion (she's the professional I had thought...) When I was shocked by how bad it looked and started tearing up, she didn't apologize or take any responsibility at ANY point. Instead, she kept saying it's because I'm not used to hair color and probably "not good with change." She blamed everything on me having had boxed color at one point (that was very close dark brown shade to my naturally dark hair.) In reality, I just didn't want damaged, rusty, streaky orange hair with black roots. She accused me of being indecisive when I was shocked how it turned out. She toned the color down and it looked awful and didn't have time to style my hair because she was "getting a spray tan before meeting her family." So I scheduled to get it fixed with her 2 weeks later. When I went back to Dolce Vita to get it corrected, she was 20 minutes LATE to the appt for no apparent reason.
She wanted my advice on how to fix it and didn't know what to do after the mistake. She again toned down the color and it improved slightly but it was still a FAR far cry from the simple balayage I asked for originally. Months later, my hair looks awful and is VERY damaged I feel. I wish she would have been honest that she seems not qualified to do a simple balyage color. I would have gladly found someone else.
I'm all about supporting women and small business owners, but this was a very expensive letdown. I left feeling really bad about myself from her comments. At the end of the day, hair is just hair but this was a really unpleasant and shocking experience with Sara. If a hairstylist anywhere makes you feel devalued, leave immediately.
Update: As if it wasn't a bad experience, Sara has contacted me directly through a text to discuss this review. read more