I went in looking for a cut and added warmth in my color. I used the words "caramel" and "honey" to describe the colors I wanted to add to my dark hair, but that's not how it turned out. The layers in my cut were too severe. It looked like one haircut on top of another. The color was striped and ashy in tone. I started getting worried when nobody complimented me on the new look, and I'm the type who takes the time to blow-dry and style her hair every day.
I went back a few months later to touch up my roots and voiced my concern about the cut and the color. We agreed to work towards integrating the choppy, chunky top layer with the rest of the cut and to brighten up the highlights. Unfortunately, our visions were not jiving as I ended up with YELLOW (not blonde, YELLOW) striped color in the front with plenty of dark hair underneath. I looked like a bumblebee. To make things worse, my usually healthy hair was very damaged after the first cut/color session and no better after the second.
I thought I might be overreacting to the severe change and so waited for my husband to get home before dying the whole mess dark brown on my own. Despite the chunk of change I spent, I wasn't about to let this salon near my hair again. Once my husband saw it, he agreed that it looked weird, unnatural, and not flattering. I got more satisfaction out of my store-bought $10 bottle of L'Oreal Feria than from the two $250+ per visits at A la Mode.
The prices at this salon are on par with what I paid when going to top salons on the West side, but their skills and aesthetic knowledge don't compare at all. I learned a lesson here. Many stylists advised me against going extremely lighter in color, explaining that it would take many processes and lots of maintenance to get it right and keep it right. Throwing caution to the wind after hearing the thoughts of one person up against the advice of many wise sages is a risk better suited to things not attached to your head.
Pros: Easy to get an appointment.
Cons: Parking, skills, ambience, prices
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