To feel scammed? Hairdressers

Have you considered semi perm at home? I use Casting Creme Gloss and its amazing. It leaves the hair in way better condition than permanent hair dye.

Was the person who charged you the same person that cut your hair? Wondering if it was the receptionist and just looked at who cut it and charged you according to her seniority and wasnt made aware that you weren't mean to charged at that rate?

Do they have a website with the staff listed? My one lists their names with their seniority. You will then be able to tell if your stylist was senior or not.

I’m not getting into prices because everyone will pay differently. Everyone lives in a different area with varying levels of hairdressing and we all have different levels of expectation as well as hair. I live in London so I expect prices to be much higher than say (pick a city out the air?) Blackpool.

If it’s worth anything to you, I do think your hair does have a noticeable difference in the second picture a year apart and I do think it looks better. You should have raised your price query at the point of paying, but you know that, it’s done, so no point going over it. You did the right thing to call them and try to get some information about pricing. I agree they should have told you about the treatment and that is chargeable, and it still sounds like you’ve been charged for a higher stylist , as I can’t get my head round the treatment is £50?£60? so really the whole situation is just off.

Personally I’d not go back and find another stylist. I’ve had to do that in recent years and it’s not easy I know. I got fed up with my hairdresser for various reasons and I stayed with her over the time I should have , just because I was scared to make that break. Yes I did kiss a lot of hairdresser frogs until I found “the one “. In fact not only did I actually find a fantastic hairdresser, I went to her because she was on Treatwell and her prices are so so so transparent. Every hairdresser I’ve found locally has been so hard to get a pricing structure out of, like it’s a secret. I like that my new current hairdresser has all her prices set out to the minuscule detail and I can also pay on the app. It’s never happened and I don’t envisage it will but there’s no confusion in price and we’d have to discuss it if she were to charge more as I’ve already paid for the service I want, on the app. If that makes sense.

Find someone else, they’ve treated you like a mug , move on

Hi. I go to a fairly upmarket salon - used to regularly win national awards, so they are pretty decent. I see one of the senior stylists - when he started he was a junior and relatively cheap but he's now one of the most expensive.

Anyway, he isn't overly confident when it comes to dying hair. He does mine, but he won't touch my daughter's. She has hair a bit like yours.

She used to see the colour expert who had done the L'oreal colour course. My guy hasn't done that - it's expensive and time consuming and he isn't that fond of colouring.

Of course the colour expert left recently and they don't have anyone qualified and she saw a regular stylist last time who claimed she could do her hair. But she couldn't. Daughter was very unhappy with it.

Anyway, just wanted to say that colour is a real art and some stylists are better at cutting and styling hair than colouring, even the senior stylists. Maybe you could ask the salon if there is anyone they could suggest who could put it right rather than the one you saw.

Could have been the Olaplex but they should have told you if it was an additional cost. Also could have been a mix up with the senior stylist stepping in. Either way, you should call them and ask for a breakdown of the charges. Don't assume anything until you know how they got to that figure.

.... And that's considerably more than I pay.

Speak to the manager/owner on Tuesday and list your complaints. Use your phone to compile the list then you can look at the phone if you struggle with eye contact.

Firstly, You did them a favour twice when they mucked around your appointment time twice to suit them. What if you’d refused to change it because you had other plans? They offered a senior stylist free of charge but considering how the hair turned out, you’re guessing she was not a senior stylist. (Do they treat all customers with such disdain?)

Ask them to explain how going more regularly would ensure that the lightener would lift the colour adequately? Be interesting to hear the answer to that one as it’s patently bollocks. They obviously removed it too soon and I’m guessing it’s because they were pushed for time and had overbooked. Evidenced by moving your appt. round.

Charging for olaplex without making it clear it was a significant extra charge is deliberately misleading and underhand. I buy my Olaplex in 2ltr bottles from the wholesaler and it’s about €100. The amount they used probably cost them less than a couple of quid. 🤔

All in all, I’d expect them to re-do your lightener with olaplex followed by a toner free of charge or adequately refund you.

You have a lovely head of hair, OP, irrespective of everything else. Mine is also quite fine and looks no where near as nice as yours does.

Ask them to fix it - a decent salon will. The price is horrendous and £40 for olaplex ??

I always went to a salon local that was £150 ( last went about 18 months ago ) - I know it’s now gone up to £180. That was for hair about an inch or so past my shoulders. For this I had a full head of highlights , a toner and a treatment ( not olaplex but sold as me to be better ) with a root melt and a cut a finish . I actually got away with a year before needing anything because of the way they did it but they recommended every 4-6 months.

I then went to another salon that was just easier because it was near work. They told me I didn’t need a full head each time - first I had a half , toner , cut and finish. £90. Next time I asked for a root melt as I didn’t like the blocky roots . They said I still could just have half a head and a face frame. I hated it, it looked like really bad roots. So they changed it and added different toner , more highlights - for free because I wasn’t happy. A good salon would do this. I still wasn’t 100% so will be going back to my original salon next time. But I went to the original salon who said they could do they same as they always had but recommended I wait a few months as they don’t like to add bleach when it’s been less than 3 months since last time- so I’m shocked you were advised to go back sooner !

Thats ridiculously expensive for what you got. I wouldn't go back.

I get my hair cut and coloured in a ‘destination’ independent salon in a northern city. It’s £85 for the colour and £40 for a trim and style. My hair is the same length as yours and I have it curled with straighteners for the finish, and I often choose balayage. I think your hairdresser is EXPENSIVE.

I hope you go and speak to them about the pricing error.

I’m always so surprised by how much people pay for a cut and colour. I’m not in a big city and it is a small independent family business where I go; I had mine done last week and paid £85 including a toner. There are some in town that charge a lot more such as Toni & Guy for example, but I couldn’t afford my maintenance at those prices.

OP, you are right to go back in on tuesday.
It's an ok job, not great.
You have lovely hair, but were mislead.
I think you should write down every single issue, including the senior/ trainee stylist...which was she.
Costs not being explicitly laid out.
Don't make it easy for them.
Spell out that you feel mislead, taken advantage of, for a very disappointing final result.
£230 is very expensive IMO.

Good luck.

That is insane. You definitely should have questioned the price but honestly these days nothing surprises me when it comes to increased pricing. I don’t go to the hairdressers anymore - my hair is actually quite good and I don’t get it coloured etc so I feel really ripped off paying £70 for someone to trim the ends!!! I bought a great shampoo and one of those styling hairdryers instead.

I like your hair now better- it's gorgeous- but I freely admit I know nothing about balayage!
It's quite hard to speak up when they keep adding small extras.

I had it once...it made my curly hair feel like straw. I didn't get the fuss

Totally disagree. Women are socialised to be compliant. Its completely normal to have time to think and then complain. Luckily all our consumer laws affirm this.

Hair does not lift as well when olaplex is used. It's part of how it works to protect the hair. Olaplex is a massive rip off imo. You end up using more toners and purple shampoo to compensate for the lack of lifting. Purple shampoo is shocking for your hair

For what it's worth I think your hair looked lovely but the important thing is you aren't happy. So please go back to the hair dresser and speak to them see what they say.
Then decide if you are sticking with your son or if you are shopping round.
I love my salon and have been going since she was a one woman set up (now she has a busy salon).
One of my number one reasons for sticking with her (and it.isnt.cheap) is the honesty and communication she and the other staff have. This covers add ins, pricing lists and what they can reasonably do versus what a customer asks for. Find a hair dresser who communicates.well and you feel you are having an actual 2 way conversation with.

I think it sounds like they have taken advantage of you as in all kindness it seems like you are the type of person that doesn't question anything. I hope you get it sorted on Tuesday.

Im similar and have a 6 weekly booking, I dont get my hair coloured though and there is some grey showing but I'm reluctant to start colouring it due to the time and cost. I certainly couldnt afford £100+ per appointment!

At the moment I pay £25 per appointment for a cut and blow dry appointment.

I use a self employed hairdresser who rents a chair in a salon with other self employed hairdressers and she is fantastic with a very high attention to detail as well as a lovely person and after several years I have a great relationship with her too.

She does everything from washing my hair, cutting and blow drying so its a nice experience. Ive been to salons in the past and i had one person washing my hair, one person cutting and one person blow drying...felt like I was getting passed about!

I wouldnt go back to the place you went to and try and find a self employed stylist who will hopefully be cheaper. You can build a relationship with her and she can get to know you and what you like and make suggestions from a place of knowing you and not out of making a profit from you.

Time to move on I think.

YUBU for not using words and saying “I was quoted £190, could that amount be checked please?”….

I'm glad you challenged them. It was expensive, and I think very underhand to add on opalex without clearly saying that would increase price.

Having said that I think your hair does look lovely, but I've never had balayage so cannot advise if what you asked for was done correctly.

You should have questioned it then and there. No good complaining afterwards.

I hope you get a resolution. It's awful to pay so much to feel better about yourself, to only end up feeling disappointed.
I think you're charges are extreme. My hair is maybe an inch shorter than yours and on Thursday I paid £130 for a balayage, root smudge, toner, cut and blow-dry and finish with curls. And that's with a price increase of £10 from last year.

Good luck on Tuesday!