For the modern busy woman, salons are like the quiet little nooks in the middle of this urban jungle. Over the sound of blowdryers, one finds a strange solace and tranquility.
That's exactly the kind of experience Hairworks Salon offers. The place is spacious, brightly lit, and busy, but to a woman (or man) dying for a pampering, it's heaven. The staff is incredibly friendly and attentive, though I did find that I had to remind them to give me ear cups when I got my hair bleached and dyed.
What gives me pause about this place though is its ridiculously expensive pricing despite the standards they seem to uphold in the craft of hairstyling. I think here is where the problem that we have with not having proper licensure for hairstylists really persists. If I'm going to pay thousands of pesos for a hair treatment, I expect the stylists to be experienced experts who have REAL credentials and were deemed trustworthy by an official body. Unfortunately, we just don't take hair that seriously here.
I first visited Hairworks because they were supposedly known for their coloring services. However, I went through a nightmarish experience with my hair, not in the store per se, but in the aftermath of their services. I wanted a light ash blonde color, and they said that in order to achieve the shade, bleaching would be necessary. Trusting them, I said, "Go ahead."
After the first round of bleaching, they told me that we needed to do another round because my hair was still orange-y (in later experiences, I found that hair IS orange-y after bleaching, and usually that's the state you want to get it in). They did not tell me that this would make the service cost TWICE as much for my long hair, though I had told them that this would be my first experience with bleach and that I had no idea what the process would be.
The second round of bleach gave me greenish hair--not white like they were trying to achieve--but they gave up at this point and decided to go ahead and dye it. The light ash color did show correctly, and I was happy. That is until I went to the counter, and they presented me with a whopping 15,000-PESO BILL! I had no choice but to pay it, and I chalked it up to my own negligence. I shouldn't have trusted them blindly; I should've done more research on bleaching processes.
This all would have been... not a disaster if days later, my hair did not COMPLETELY shed its ash dye, and just became GREEN (yes, I did the new color protocol and did not use shampoo for 24 hours--even more than that I think).
To their credit, they did dye my hair a darker ash brown for free when I came back. I was furious, but honestly the staff is so nice and accommodating that it's just very difficult to fault them for anything.
For less challenging hairstyles, Hairworks can deliver, and they are worth a visit if only for the exemplary attitudes of their staff, and the happy pampering. They were able to give me a haircut I was actually happy with (full bangs, long hair). For bleaching and coloring services though, I say spend your money elsewhere. They're not experts enough to warrant the price tag they're demanding. read more
