Puja S.
Yelp
I've come to Parlour 17 for a few years now, and have always seen Kristen to cut and color my curly black hair. I've always felt like I've left with the cut/color that I wanted, and that's why I always come back. Girls with curly hair know how hard it is to find someone who knows how to cut it properly.
Unfortunately since Kristen was out on mat leave, I went to Brianne to get my first post-Covid cut. I wish I had been told that she hadn't had a ton of experience cutting curly dark hair. I have 3a/3b curly hair that I have not styled with heat in several years, so I know most of my hair is healthy and fresh -- I really just needed a trim and a color refresh. When I got there, the assistant (I forget her name) asked if she could use a PICK on my hair to brush it out -- mind you, I have never been asked that before, nor do I have hair that would suggest you would want to use a pick (yes it's thick and curly, but definitely not what I would describe as textured). That was definitely just the start of my frustration, and it made me feel very uncomfortable. I selected the color I wanted for my highlights (a reddish brown), which Brianne said would result in a beautiful copper on me. She finished the highlights first, but kept going back and forth between another customer and me, and I felt that she was definitely prioritizing the other customer (I could just tell by the conversation, the time spent at her chair, etc.). After the foils were completed, she came back to cut my hair, which I explained I wanted mostly a trim but wanted all of my prior highlights at the end to be cut off. I felt like she rushed through my cut, and after I came home I realized that a lot of my old color was still there at the bottom, not trimmed as I had requested. Once my hair dried that evening, I was excited to see how the highlights turned out...sadly, I didn't even see them! There was no copper color, and instead was a dark brown, basically just blending in. I figured I'd give it a few days and a wash before judging how it looked, but 2 months later, and I still see no copper. I feel like I spent $300 on a cut/color that was rushed and impersonal, and I think I'll be looking for a new salon until Kristen comes back.
Please for future customers: if other stylists are not as well versed in cutting/styling curly hair, tell the customer!! I'd rather have been told to wait for Kristen's return than coming and being disappointed with my cut now.