I'm so glad I decided to take a chance on a new salon and colorist Liz Beveridge. I am nuerotic when it comes to my hair, it took me years to grow out to the length I have and even longer to remove the years of box died black and mermaid red hair stages I went though during college years. After all of that I wanted to be blonde (of course I did) and did so slowly and steadily over the course of five years working towards a cool toned blonde while trying to preserve the integrity of my hair. I had the blonde ombre style, a balayage with a heavy money piece, baby-lights, full head of highlights, etc.
Recently I wanted to get to a nice icy, pearl level 10 or 11 (inside of a banana peel color) blonde that I've been seeing all over Pinterest and Instagram but really wanted to find a salon that used Olaplex after watching countless youtube videos and reviews about how it repairs the hair during the bleach process. I found Strand Salon on the Olaplex website locator and being that they were right down the street from me I called to ask a couple questions and get a recomendation on who to book given my hair history. I'm sorry this review is going to be obnoxiously long but I have to say this.
First, the woman who ended up being my colorist answered the phone and she was so kind and patient answering my questions. Second, she explained to me that the salon has designated colorists that strictly do color and stylists that do haircuts only. I had never heard of this before but thought how genius the concept was. Getting a good hair color is a science all its own...getting and maintaining a good blonde especially for someone who doesn't have virgin hair and isn't a natural blonde...that requires part chemistry, part magical wizardry and part miracles. You can always tell when your hairdresser loves working with color, their constantly experimenting and educating themselves on the latest trends versus those that just view it as another aspect of their job. So why wouldn't we all want to go see someone totally devoted to color who has consistent experience executing client after client of great hair color?
Third positive...they offered a free fifteen minute consultation for you to see if they are the right fit. Maybe all salons offer that but it was the first I heard of such a thing.
When I asked for recommendations she pleasantly gave me a list of names and each individual Instagram handle of the colorists so I could look through to get an idea of their work. My fourth positive note is that even though she could have taken the opportunity to self promote herself as she was one of the stylists, she let her work speak for itself and didn't make any effort to sway me into making an appointment with her, giving the colorists a fair opportunity at a new client. I thought that was so respectable. I had no idea I was speaking to a colorist until afterwards, I just assumed I was talking with the receptionist. It was sheer coincidence I ended up choosing her after all.
Ok I need to wrap this up its a full blown essay. Lets use bullet points
*Salon was impeccably designed & decorated, on par with any upscale salon you'd find in NYC or LA. What put it over the edge for me was that as swanky as it was, the atmosphere and step by step process was nothing less than a spa-like experience, relaxing and with close attention given to every detail.
*They had these awesome stations for each step of your process, one of which included a whole bar of goodies and treats and fancy infused waters, coffee, tea, etc.
*THE SHAMPOO BOWL experience WAS AMAZING, I was wondering when someone would invent a comfortable way to be in that position, I was there for maybe fifteen minutes total while the Olapex Step 2 and gloss did its magic, they had a back warmer on my chair and I was more than comfortable with my head in the sink. Rachael was one of the stylists who washed my hair and she gave the best, most thorough head massage, heavenly. I felt like Queen for the day.
Bullet points aren't working. Im still rambling.
Liz was amazing, she managed my expectations by being honest with how light she could get me in one sitting as compared to the photo I brought in.
She was easy to talk to making the whole experience so enjoyable for a stay at home mom of a 15 month old who rarely gets out and barely ever gets out alone. She was on top of her timing, checking up on me and the color throughout.
I love the finished result, I had a lot going on with my color from previous work done on it and she managed to pull through almost all of that chaos and got me where I wanted with just a little bit of touch up lightening to do for the next appointment. To wrap up she did an amazing blowout that had both myself and my husband smiling from ear to ear when I walked out.
Sorry this was terribly long but if anyone got this far I wanted Liz to know how much I appreciated her work, thank you so, so much. read more