I moved to Denver from LA, where I had a solid relationship with a stylist for several years. After a bad experience at another salon, I went to Scarlet Salon. After a consultation for corrective color, I went in to see Shannon. I had a lot of gold happening in my blonde and needed to get rid of it. Shannon was a total whiz with color, and did this awesome X pattern with my highlights and lowlights to get a super natural, relaxed look. She totally killed it on getting my color right. Props to Shannon for THAT.
So, why the two stars, you ask? Here's what happened next:
I had very deep, blunt bangs (ala Zooey Deschanel), and they needed a trim. Shannon cut up into them (instead of straight across) and I ended up with a very jagged, awful bang. I felt like the little Dutch Boy. She sent me to another stylist in the salon to blow dry them out and straighten them to try to make them look right, but they were AWFUL. My bangs were kind of my trademark feature, and she completely butchered them. I ended up wearing them to the side until they grew out, which worked... but was not the look I wanted, and only happened to cover up her mistake.
Then, when I wanted to take several inches off and go for an inverted bob, I WENT BACK. God only knows why I did it, but I did. I figured that maybe I hadn't communicated clearly enough about the bangs, and the color was SOOO good the first time, I just had to give Shannon another shot. So, back I went, and this time, I was armed with a picture of EXACTLY the cut I wanted. I wanted a very dramatic, inverted bob. Long in the front, short in the back. I was taking off about 6 inches.
The color this time was only mediocre, and then she did the cutting. She pulled the front part of my hair back to cut it, and it seemed wrong to me but I didn't say anything. She chopped the front part, leaving a weird layer (that kind of made me look like Florence Henderson in the Brady Bunch), and little to no difference between the front and the back. I had long, gorgeous, flowing locks before. I only got rid of them because I wanted an edgy, fun style. Instead, she butchered my hair and left me with something I didn't want at all and could hardly style. Recognizing how upset I was, she sent me to another stylist because that stylist "does this kind of cut all the time." When she was describing to the new stylist what went wrong, she said "She had a lot of damage to her hair." This comment infuriated me. Not only did she totally mess up my hair, but she couldn't even own up to it. My hair was not damaged; I had just been in a mere 4 weeks prior, when SHE CUT IT. Additionally, even if it was damaged, she should have said something like, "Ok, this cut isn't possible because your hair in the front is damaged so I'll have to take off significantly more than what you want." That was never said. I asked her if she thought the cut would work, and she said "Definitely!"
And the cut would have worked, if she had known how to do it. There should be no need to steer a customer to another stylist because that stylist "does that cut all the time." And, if such a need exists, I should have known about it before I got in her chair and let her ruin my hair. The new stylist was obviously unable to fix the damage of Shannon cutting 4 inches from the front when she shouldn't have, but she was able to reshape it so that it was at least manageable and not bubble-like.
I'm still waiting for the front to grow longer so that I can have the cut I wanted. The only reason this salon gets two stars is that Shannon killed it with color the first time, another stylist (read: GODSEND) was able to shape my cut into something manageable after Shannon royally screwed it up, and the salon didn't charge me for the haircut.
I'm terribly disappointed. The color was so fantastic, but the cut (and the bangs incident!) was absolutely terrible. Stylists should be well-versed in cut and color (otherwise they should only be colorists), and if they cannot handle a cut, they should speak up before they start snipping.
I cried in my car for 20 minutes before leaving the parking lot, and instead of going to an event that evening (as was planned), I was holed up in my apartment watching Dexter and trying to figure out how to style the mop on my head.
Take me back to LA, please. Ugh. read more