Wedding Hair, Makeup, & Beauty Forums

Hair trial - need to vent

I booked an appointment months ago with my regular stylist. When I called last week to confirm it, I was told that that stylist no longer works with the salon, but they had someone they felt would be good for me. They added extra time to my appointment so I could talk over my needs/wants with the stylist before we started. I arrive today to find that there would be one person to dye my hair, another to style it. Was led to a waiting table area and left for about a half hour. The person who came over to dye my hair asked me what I was going for and I showed him a few pictures of different reds - I wanted coppery red base, with dark auburn low-lights and strawberry blonde highlights. He proceeded to go to the counter behind me and mull over what chemicals to combine etc. with another stylist, almost as if he didnt know what to do. They both came back and started to work on my hair - talking to each other, and it honestly sounded like she was a trainee.

After the dye was shampooed out, the stylist took me back to his chair and blew it dry, then trimmed a bit off the back ends to get rid of the splits - not even a half inch, no shaping or anything. After that, I moved to the NEXT chair for the girl to style it. I told her how I wanted it - soft/loose curls, pinned back just a little bit off my temples. She did her job and I was happy. In all honesty, the look was the same look I would pretty much always leave my normal stylist with, except that she pinned it back off my face and sprayed the SHIT out of it to make it last. She did the spray heavy to make it last the day, as I was going to pick up my dress later that afternoon and had to try it on etc. - wanted it to look nice to make sure it was what i wanted. I asked her how long I should give her day-of to do it, and she said Oh, about a half hour to 45mins - you come in with clean dry hair, we dont wash it for you.

Then I went to pay. I was expecting around $150 - the normal amount (90) or maybe a bit more for my dye job (long hair, lots of roots, so more product needed), and then a styling fee - usually my cut/blow dry/loose curl salon visits were about $45 before taxes.

They told me $245 and broke it down like this:

$120 for the colour (90 plus 30 for the 2 low/highlights plus 10 for the extra length) <- that was the same that I always did on dyes, just changed the colours a little
$45 for the cut
$55 for the *updo*
Plus 12%tax

I stopped them and said that it was not an updo - it was curls with a couple of pins, that I always had my hair loosely curled like this. Turns out, my previous stylist was undercharging his clients.

I was outraged. When they informed me that my stylist(s) would be different than my normal one, shouldn't they have informed me of the price difference. My moms salon stylist charges $45 for a cut, and includes the style (basic - nothing updo-y or whatever, but she does curls).

Anyone else I have ever known to get their hair done for their wedding paid for their colour/cut on the trial, but the *style* fee was always paid on the day-of.

Grr...anyway...just needed to vent.
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Re: Hair trial - need to vent

  • Yes, if there was undercharging going on, you should have been made aware of that before you actually went through with the appointment.

    That being said, for the coloring job: highlights, lowlights and a base color for $120 sounds completely reasonable to me. When I'm blonde, I get highlights and a base color done to my roots every 3-4 months, and I roughly that, before tip.

    And for the 2 people consulting each other on what chemicals to use for the color? If you've never been there and/or have never had this kind of coloring done before, that makes sense to me, too. I've been going to the same salon for my blonde for a decade now, and every once in a while when somebody new gets hired or a new type of coloring process comes out, I've had to sit back and watch the people that I trust with my hair to make sure they're making the right decisions based on my needs.

    As for paying for the hair trial, to the best of my knowledge, that's par for the course, as well. Maybe they shouldn't have labeled it as an "updo" on the receipt, but your hair was done. The time that you spend in the chair while your hair was curled/pinned back/whatnot was time that your stylist could have spent working on someone else's hair.

    Overall, it sounds like a bit too much money for a "trial" for my taste , but when you break down all of the salon services that you received, you actually didn't get ripped off.


    *I felt sorry for my husband before I met him. Take a number.*
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  • I have to agree with the PP.  $120 for a base color, low lights and highlights sounds really reasonable to me.  When I get a full foil highlights I pay about $80.

    And like Ramona said, since you were working with a different stylist him talking to another stylist about what color/chemicals to use on your hair is natural.  Would you rather them not discuss anything and he just grab whatever and throw it on your hair?  Discussions are good because that means they are really thinking about what would work best for you.

    As for the hair cut.  Did you tell them what you wanted before they started to trim your hair.  Hair stylists are not mind readers and unless you said "I want X" they are probably just going to cut the split ends off and move on.

    For the updo, the salon probably has a set updo cost for special events.  Since this was for your wedding hair trial they charged you the updo cost.  And trials are never free.  You are taking up an appointment time with a stylist.  No stylist who likes to make money will just give your 30 or more minutes of their time for free.

    I do agree that they should have let you know about the price difference when they let you know about your previous stylist but it seemed that you did a lot of assuming and you just can't do that.  You need to ask questions.


  • jcrmcjcrmc member
    Name Dropper 5 Love Its First Comment First Anniversary
    I know trials are never free - totally understand that. And like I said - was fine with the hair colour charge. Just was shocked to hell that for a 30second shave off the end cost $45 and the 10min curl-and-pin was another $55. And yeah, will not be going back to that salon.

    I managed to find my old stylist on Facebook - he is a friend of a friend - and he is totally ready to come out and do my wedding hair! Yay!
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