Crackers Phinn
Either A Blessing Or A Lesson.
For the most part my hair is healthy but I haven't had a thorough trim in a year and I'm going prematurely gray with the quickness. Since i've heard so much good stuff about Aveda Salons and natural hair, I thought I would go holla and see what they are talking about as far as color and a trim.
First stop - Aveda Vicara at Del Amo Mall
http://www.vicarasalon.com/
I go in wearing my puff and I asked at the front desk if they have a stylist with experience with highly textured hair. The manager/franchise owner came out and assured me that he had a stylist who was very experienced with my type of hair and was certified by both Aveda and Paul Mitchell to teach courses on styling textured hair.
So I'm like "BET"
The stylist is on a break so in the mean time, the manager/owner dude escorts me through the facility shows me how state of the art it is. The place is moderately busy (most patrons were white) and the people close to being finished were looking on point.
Every stylist in the spot had colored hair and all of their ish was on point. So I'm all kind of gassed up.
Then I meet the stylist who 'would have been' doing my hair and the owner/franchise dude leaves us alone to chat.
He had honey blonde texturized/texlaxed hair that looked nice, so I'm still on board.
I asked him if he had experience with highly textured hair and he said, yes he had experience with black people hair.
So I rephrased my question, I said "Do you have experience with natural hair?" and he said yes he had experience with all types of hair.
Then he asked me WHEN MY LAST TOUCH UP WAS AND WHAT BRAND OF RELAXER I USE?
After I picked my jaw up off the floor I told him that my hair is not permed.
So I asked how he would go about trimming my hair. He said that it needed to be straightened first. While this isn't necessarily true, I was prepared to get my hair flat ironed anyway, so I asked what type of heat protectant did he use. He had to think about it for a minute, then answered the name of the Aveda brand. I asked if he could show it to me and whycome he didn't know where it was located in the store? That just let me know that he wasn't used to using it.
Next I asked what type of flat iron he used. He said that he couldn't use a flat iron on my hair, he would have to use 'the hotcomb that heats up on the stove'.
He also kept interchanging the words trim and cut. Everytime he said cut, I would say trim until finally he said that a cut and a trim were the same thing.
At this point I was done and my mind was made up that he wasn't getting his hands on my hair. (BTW - not once during the entire 'consultation' did he touch my hair to assess $hit) So I decided to wrap up by asking how much it would cost. Now previously the owner/manager guy gave me a pricelist and I figured it would be around $300, plus they had a special for 1/2 off on the first visit. Well the stylist told me that the price list wasn't for African American hair. He quoted me prices that were $5-$20 above the listed prices for services. For color, highlights, a 'cut/trim', straightening and styling, his quote was close to $450, before the 1/2 off coupon.
I thanked him for his time and got to stepping.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But I didn't give up, next I tried this place http://www.amadeusspa.com/salon/
It's another Aveda salon located at the Grove in Los Angeles.
After spending 20 minutes trying to find it, I go in and ask if they have someone with experience with highly textured hair. They send a girl up front who only does cutting but no color, so I'm like fine and ask her how she would go about trimming my hair.
She told me that it would probably be best if I washed,conditioned and straightened my own hair at home then come in so she could trim it.
Know how much she was going to charge for the trim?
...........................wait for it..................................
$80.00
I thanked her for her time and bounced.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At this point it's looking like Aveda ain't happening. If anybody knows of a salon (preferably within 20 miles of L.A.) can you let me know.
First stop - Aveda Vicara at Del Amo Mall
http://www.vicarasalon.com/
I go in wearing my puff and I asked at the front desk if they have a stylist with experience with highly textured hair. The manager/franchise owner came out and assured me that he had a stylist who was very experienced with my type of hair and was certified by both Aveda and Paul Mitchell to teach courses on styling textured hair.
So I'm like "BET"
The stylist is on a break so in the mean time, the manager/owner dude escorts me through the facility shows me how state of the art it is. The place is moderately busy (most patrons were white) and the people close to being finished were looking on point.
Every stylist in the spot had colored hair and all of their ish was on point. So I'm all kind of gassed up.
Then I meet the stylist who 'would have been' doing my hair and the owner/franchise dude leaves us alone to chat.
He had honey blonde texturized/texlaxed hair that looked nice, so I'm still on board.
I asked him if he had experience with highly textured hair and he said, yes he had experience with black people hair.
So I rephrased my question, I said "Do you have experience with natural hair?" and he said yes he had experience with all types of hair.
Then he asked me WHEN MY LAST TOUCH UP WAS AND WHAT BRAND OF RELAXER I USE?
After I picked my jaw up off the floor I told him that my hair is not permed.
So I asked how he would go about trimming my hair. He said that it needed to be straightened first. While this isn't necessarily true, I was prepared to get my hair flat ironed anyway, so I asked what type of heat protectant did he use. He had to think about it for a minute, then answered the name of the Aveda brand. I asked if he could show it to me and whycome he didn't know where it was located in the store? That just let me know that he wasn't used to using it.
Next I asked what type of flat iron he used. He said that he couldn't use a flat iron on my hair, he would have to use 'the hotcomb that heats up on the stove'.
He also kept interchanging the words trim and cut. Everytime he said cut, I would say trim until finally he said that a cut and a trim were the same thing.
At this point I was done and my mind was made up that he wasn't getting his hands on my hair. (BTW - not once during the entire 'consultation' did he touch my hair to assess $hit) So I decided to wrap up by asking how much it would cost. Now previously the owner/manager guy gave me a pricelist and I figured it would be around $300, plus they had a special for 1/2 off on the first visit. Well the stylist told me that the price list wasn't for African American hair. He quoted me prices that were $5-$20 above the listed prices for services. For color, highlights, a 'cut/trim', straightening and styling, his quote was close to $450, before the 1/2 off coupon.
I thanked him for his time and got to stepping.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But I didn't give up, next I tried this place http://www.amadeusspa.com/salon/
It's another Aveda salon located at the Grove in Los Angeles.
After spending 20 minutes trying to find it, I go in and ask if they have someone with experience with highly textured hair. They send a girl up front who only does cutting but no color, so I'm like fine and ask her how she would go about trimming my hair.
She told me that it would probably be best if I washed,conditioned and straightened my own hair at home then come in so she could trim it.
Know how much she was going to charge for the trim?
...........................wait for it..................................
$80.00
I thanked her for her time and bounced.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At this point it's looking like Aveda ain't happening. If anybody knows of a salon (preferably within 20 miles of L.A.) can you let me know.
. Unless the salon is the is the complete bomb, I don't think I can go to a salon that charges more for AA hair.
