1 /5 Angelina C.: All of the people here, including the owner, are so nice. Unfortunately, from my experience, they dont know how to handle curly hair. My hair is fine, 2c/3c, and I think it genuinely stumped them.
I specifically asked if I should come in with my hair blow dried for them. They said no, and seemed surprised when I showed up with curly hair - like they hadnt expected my hair to ACTUALLY be curly.
I went in originally asking for a chunky highlight. I explained that I like how chunky highlights look on curly hair, because the contrast of a bright blonde curl next to a dark curl is dramatic and fun. Fine and mid-sized highlights on curly hair tend to give a salt-and-pepper look (especially the farther you get from the root, since the hair separates into different curls) which just isnt for me. My stylist went silent when I showed her pictures of what I wanted, which I took to mean "I dont know how to do that" or "I think thats a bad idea". So I mentioned my backup plan - a balayage with face-framing highlights.
I have a wedding coming up, and I have extensions that I want to use, so I also wanted to be able to blend my extensions at the back of my head.
After some discussion, this is what I ended up asking for: Solid blonde face framing pieces/money pieces. Balayage which gets less intense/darker the further back you go.
What I got: Uneven blonde face framing pieces and highlights (full highlights, not balayage). The highlights give me that salt-and-pepper look I was trying to avoid when I asked for chunky highlights originally. Even though I got highlights, I paid the balayage price.
My stylist (wont name names because she was so nice, even though I dont like how my hair turned out) did her best to detangle my hair at first. She was pretty gentle with it when it was dry. But after the bleach, she brushed the HECK out of it. It was not a detangling brush, it was a regular oval paddle brush. The ripping sound my hair made drove me NUTS the entire time. I would have been way more gentle, especially with freshly bleached hair.
She also did not have any good curly styling products. I could tell right away that the gel she was using wouldnt work, so I had her stop and just let me go without styling. I was right, because the back of my head which she did put gel in did not come out looking great.
Again, they were really nice, and Im sure they do a great job with basic straight hair. Ive been trying so hard to love my result for the last few days and I just cant.
