I have been holding off posting about this since last January because I am also in the beauty business, and I can't stress enough that ***in no way do I want to harm another artist***. However , because I am still recovering the consequences, I feel that this can hopefully serve as a constructive review and aid in growth.
I was referred to the salon by one of the local Facebook Mom groups. All I wanted was a glaze and a haircut. The salon is adorable, cute decor, modern boho vibes.
I had first sent my mom with her aide to get a haircut. She was happy with her cut, and had gone in another time as well.
Her aide went in for a cut, color, and treatment, and after only a few days (I see her everyday to take care of my mom) the rich color went copper-y red, and looked quite fried from her ears, down.
I figured it was just because of her hair length/texture - which it still very much could've been- but I still decided to go for a very much needed haircut and glaze. I figured I wasn't worried about the color because I wasn't changing or lifting it, and I wanted a relatively basic haircut. Long length, lots of layers, face framing angles in the front. I've been getting the same haircut probably since 2002. I'll attach my inspo photo as well.
I was in the salon for about 2 hours start to finish- my haircut took about an hour- I feel that my haircuts typically take about 15-20 minutes plus drying time of about 20-30 mins. But this time, my hair was cut, dried, curled, and then cut AGAIN from the back. This is the part that took the longest. I heard and even felt my hair being cut in chunks and even asked the stylist if everything was ok because *in the past* when I've had a dry cut- it's just to blend pieces, sometimes with a razor. But never after being curled, and never completely from the back..
Regardless- it took a very long time, I had to run home to get to my kids because it took way longer than anticipated- so when Marissa showed me the finished style, I looked quick, paid and ran home.
When I grabbed my hair to pull it off my shoulders, and then later put in a ponytail, my hair felt very thin. When I finally washed my hair, my heart sank to my stomach. It felt thin because it WAS. Even my husband made a comment about it. I essentially had a mullet.
I brought this to the attention of the owner via email late at night and in response was asked to come in to the salon so she can look. She asked if I'd be okay with her fixing it and I declined- truthfully didn't even feel comfortable going back to the salon , let alone have her cut/fix my hair. But I went back to have her look because, like I mentioned earlier- I hope this would serve as a learning experience as well.
When I went back to the salon , I was first subtly accused of cutting my own hair by the photos I had sent the night before (attached)Which upset me off the bat.
Then Marissa asked another stylist to come take a look, who was performing a men's cut at the time-and BOTH stylists spent about 10 minutes convincing me that the haircut was great and was cut exactly how I asked Marissa to cut it the day before.
This boiled my bones, but I stayed quiet and polite, and continuously declined the offer to cut my hair even more. (Which- if the haircut was so great, why would I first be accused of cutting it myself - and then asked numerous times to have them fix it ..?)
I was sent off with some free products - leave in conditioner, and shampoo/conditioner.. and haven't heard a word back since.
My brothers wedding was a few weeks later so I ended up getting extensions to fill the awful gaps in my hair- this cost me $800. The stylist who installed and maintained these could not believe how botched my hair was and little by little has been helping me grow out my own hair so that I don't have to chop it all off because of this mistake.
All of this to say- I was devastated how a seemingly typical ask of a haircut turned into a huge mistake, a major ongoing expense for me in order to fix the mistake- and I am incredibly disappointed that the opportunity to take ownership of the mistake went from doubly blaming me with the inclusion of another employee, to sending me off with products that in no way solved the issue.
I am a few days shy of a year later and still have a lot of progress to go with growing my hair back enough to fix it properly without chopping it all off. But this has unfortunately affected me and bothered me enough to feel a responsibility to be honest and hope that it can be a constructive experience for their next client. read more