Hair - Angela & Co - New Harford, NY - NOT recommended

mnp13 · August 2011

I was looking for very specific styles for my bridesmaids and myself for the wedding. Namely, finger waves and pin curles. Most of the salons that I called flat out said no - they didn't have enough driers, hadn't done them since school, or just didn't want to.

Grippe's said that they could do it, but didn't have enough driers to do the entire party. While I was waiting for them to decide if they would do it, I also called Angela & Co. They also were willing to take on the project, and we decided to split the wedding party, sending the long hair to them and the short hair to Grippe's.

It's important to note that I spoke with the owner and the women who would be doing the styling. I also brought in numerous photos. I was told that it would be no problem, that they were looking forward to it, etc.

We also offered to have one of my sisters go in for a trial run, but they declined, saying that it wasn't necessary.

Quite frankly, it was a disaster. They were not prepared at all when we arrived at the salon, and spent a good deal of time looking for clips and other necessities. They spent hours trying to get the styles right, and then both of my sisters were under the driers so long at such high temperatures that they got heat blisters on their forheads.

They were both extremely upset when they arrived at the hotel, and though their hair was ok, it was nothing at all like what I had asked for, or given photos of. It also didn't look anything like the other styles. I called Grippes in a panic and asked them if they could do anything. They were already closed at that point, but agreed to attempt to fix it.

I can not recommend going to them. Not only did they agree to do what they were wholly unqualified and unprepared to do, after the fact they told one of my bridesmaids that her hair was the problem - that it wasn't cut in layers and wasn't "processed enough."

I have run a charity pinup calendar for the last four years. Numerous ladies in the calendar have long hair, and neither have layers nor highly "processed" hair, however their hair has been sucessfully styled by a salon local to my home (two hours from the wedding unfortunately.)

If you do decide to use them, be sure you have a trial run before you trust that they will be able to perform what they promise.

mnp13 · August 2011

The sample photos (two of MANY)

What we ended up with (pre-fix)

As I am familiar with the styles already, the main problem was doing the bottom of the hair without using rollers. The front of the second photo above is also completely wrong. The front / top of the first is ok.

kevinandmonica2011 · August 2011

I'm sorry you had a bad experience at this salon.

I do have to say 2 things though... borederline snark... warning...

#1. Your reviews are awesome and very helpful. however... after a week they will disappear into old posts and will be of little to no use to future brides. Please use the "Review" sticky at the top of the page. This will stay at the top until Kara takes it down (likely never)... so all of your reviews will be handy and easily accessible for future brides.

#2. Perhaps if you had been a little more relaxed about the hair style, it wouldn't have been such a disaster. It's one thing to choose the dress and maaaybe even the shoes... but, TBH, to dictate their hair style too.... that's a bit much. I hope you paid for them... In the end, was all the sress and drama (and heat blisters on the poor girl's forehead) worth your pinup curls?

mnp13 · August 2011

In relation to #1 - I'll add my reviews to that thread, thanks!

In realtion to #2 - I run a pinup calendar, the dresses were vintage styled, and that was the overall look of the wedding. Two of the four women in my wedding have been in the calendar as well. In three years of the calendar, we have never had this problem before, so it never occured to any of us that this would happen.

All of them asked, at different times, "what do you want me to do with my hair"? And this is what I wanted. Nope, didn't pay for it. It wasn't any more expensive than having an updo done, in fact it was far less than I paid for the last two times I've had my hair done for a wedding party. ($75 each time)

I did dictate stockings, but they chose their own shoes. And their jewelry was out of my collection of vintage rhinestones and was their gift along with the bouquets that I made for them.

And we all looked fantastic!

And I don't think your post was snarky.

CD2011 · August 2011

That is too bad that you had this experience. You can definitely tell they had some trouble with the longer haired girls, but you're right, you all still look fantastic!