EDIT: I previously reviewed the salon poorly due to a bad experience I had (copied below) but I am amending my review to reflect the swift action taken by the salon to rectify the situation and their sincere apology and validation of my feelings. This is how you do good business. Thank you Vida Artistry!!!
I fully believe this was an unlucky one-off situation due to the stylist and not the salon overall.
Original Review: I visited Vida Artistry Salon for a balayage with Fernanda on 4/5 and though I usually don't write reviews, especially critical ones, I feel like I have to share my experience in hopes it will save someone else.
Upon arrival, Fernanda remarked at the beauty of my natural hair color, which is a deep strawberry blonde. I shared how much I love my natural color and that it has taken me years to finally take the plunge and lighten it - I was doing so because I'll be serving as maid of honor in my best friend's wedding in 2 weeks. I told her how much I love my natural color and that I was hoping to keep the balayage in my natural color family. I also told her how long I had been growing out my hair and how proud I was at its length because for the past few years I had been suffering with a medical condition that made my hair fall out. I asked to keep my hair as long as possible (we agreed on 1-2" removed), showed her an inspiration photo, and asked how much I would be charged. She quoted me a price of $350-400, depending on how much product she used, with an additional $15 for a pre-bleaching hair treatment she recommended. I agreed and she started foiling me.
I was concerned at the speed she was foiling me, as I have gotten balayages many times, years ago, but I kept quiet because I felt she was an expert and the reviews / photos from the salon were beautiful. It was when she took off the foils I knew I had made a mistake. The pieces that framed my face were all white - fully bleached of any color at all and I could see my hair was fried.
What brought me to the verge of tears was during and after the hair wash. Fernanda was SO rough with my hair. She vigorously washed the bleach out and when she was ready to add toner she took a brush to my wet (bleach fried) hair and started brushing from the roots out. My hair was matted, knotty, and dead, and every rip of the brush through my hair was excruciating. I could not handle the damage I knew was being done to my hair, so I asked if she could instead brush the knots out from the ends first and work her way up. She totally dismissed me by saying she had to get the knots from the root of my hair, and I suffered through as she continued to rip through my hair with her brush, roots first. I sat there with tears in my eyes waiting for it to be over, lamenting the breakage of the hair I had worked so hard to keep healthy. This happened twice - once before and once after toning.
Once back in the chair for the haircut, she chopped away. I told her I was interested in light layers and curtain bangs and when she cut my bangs she dragged the scissors across my hair like you would cut wrapping paper (no snipping). The only thing was, the scissors didn't glide like they would have with wrapping paper, they ripped my hair all the way down. Again: excruciating pain by her hand. It was SO uncomfortable I was about to start crying. When she went to add layers to my hair, she again gathered my hair in the center and brushed my wet hair roots first. When she gathered enough hair to add layers, she chopped a large chunk of hair off which fell onto my chest and I looked at it and freaked out - she had cut off ~4 inches. She laughed and said "are you afraid?". YES, I WAS. I spent YEARS growing my hair out, and I had told her that! My hair is now choppy and the layers are so high that I have set myself back all those years of growth.
Before she finished the cut she dried my hair and it was here I finally saw how horrible her balayage technique was, and how extremely off the color was from what I asked for. My entire front side, my curtain bangs and below my hairline, was bleached white without nuance or variation. All my hair was very ashy - nowhere close to my original strawberry blonde, nor the picture I had shown her. She then grabbed my bangs again to make sure they were even and, even though my hair was now dry, she again SLID THE SCISSORS OVER MY HAIR TO CUT IT, ripping it all the way down. IT WAS SO PAINFUL I finally spoke up and said "PLEASE do not do that again". She again dismissed me, pushed back, and said "I have to make sure it is even" and I said firmly "I don't care if it isn't even, DO NOT DO THAT AGAIN. I will live with uneven hair, I will not go through that again."
On the way to my appointment I was smiling and SO excited to be treating myself to a hair makeover. My long, beautiful, healthy hair now feels like straw. The worst part is, despite being quoted $350-400, she charged me $440. What a huge disappointment. read more