I'm so incredibly distraught. I made an appointment with Sam after doing some research online and reading lots of great reviews. Well, my experience was far less than great to say the least.
I told her I would like balayage and showed her a picture of hair that she had done on someone else. I figured this should be easy, she's done this before. She asked if I had any concerns, I said, yes I don't want orange hair which I've had happen before because my hair is so dark. I also said I don't like foils because it looks like stripes, that's why I like balayage. She said ok, and that my ends would probably need a trim after.
So, here we go..Sam starts the process with foils..I thought that was different for balayage, I asked are the foils to help lighten my hair easier? Her answer was yes. I noticed my hair was lightening super fast, over to the sink we go!
She kind of had a worried look on her face and said I should have a conditioning treatment (which I'm pretty sure I was charged for), which made me a little worried. So back in the chair as Sam is brushing my hair, I noticed clumps of my hair in her comb. I asked "should I be alarmed by all my hair in your comb?" She said no and asked if my hair falls out a lot when I brush it, to which I answered no. She now keeps saying my hair is 'so dry'..I've never been told by any stylist my hair is dry, ever. She says she's so glad she went more subtle, I'm thinking, what? More subtle? She goes on to say, don't put heat on my hair, don't style, blow dry or anything. Odd, never been told that either.
She blow dries my hair, it's super subtle, nothing at all like what I asked for, said it looks good, and never shows me the back of my head. I'm ushered over to pay...upwards of $200! Never have I been charged so much in my life! She tells me it's always more expensive the first time and that we will work towards the hair in the picture.
In the car, I'm looking at my hair, I think ok, no orange but it sure is subtle. I get home and really start looking at my hair, I see the back and there are stripes! Just what I didn't want! Perhaps this is why she didn't show me the back? It's also not uniform, there's way more 'highlights' on one side. Not only that but my hair is FRIED! So FRIED and breaking off! I'm embarrassed and friends are asking what in the world I did to my hair.
So, I consulted a family friend who is a salon owner. She told me my hair is super damaged and falling off now and I need to call this place. She also told me they should have never charged me and if they were a reputable salon they would give me my money back and they should be having me go for weekly conditioning treatments until my hair is fixed.
I called and spoke with Sam, who did apologize and said she's glad we went more subtle or it could have been even worse. I told her it's nothing like what I wanted. She also said she didn't know why that happened and it must have been the condition of my hair. Which again, no hair stylist has ever said the condition of my hair was bad. Ok, so I get it, maybe she didn't know that my hair would do that, even though my hair has never done it in the past. BUT, here's the kicker I told her my hair breaking off and burned. Her response was, she told her boss what happened to my hair and I could come in for a few conditioning treatments. When I asked how much will that be? She said she could do 4 for free for sure. So here's the problem, Sam knew before I left that salon that my hair was now in horrible condition, chose to say nothing to ME, chose to charge me full price (over $200) and let me walk out the door, maybe hoping I wouldn't notice. But she did tell her boss what happened to my hair! How can someone feel ok charging a client full price knowing their is now in awful condition? And act like nothing was wrong to boot! That's just bad business! What a waste of money!