Based on the reviews I've just read, I appear to have the dubious distinction of writing the first review (and sadly, a negative one) of this establishment's hair care offerings. I want to say that my... Read More
Based on the reviews I've just read, I appear to have the dubious distinction of writing the first review (and sadly, a negative one) of this establishment's hair care offerings. I want to say that my decision to write this review was made only after speaking with the owner, Lisa Murphy. Had her response been different (e.g., actually expressed concern about my experience and not attempted to blame me), I wouldn't be typing this now.An acquaintance gave me the name and # of a stylist she recommended. Lash & Beauty Bar recently began offering hair styling services (last fall). Matteo's currently their only stylist. Full disclosure: I was 10-15 minutes late for my initial appointment and Matteo understandably told me I needed to reschedule. I did, and was on time for my appointment about a week later.i was offered (multiple times) something to drink and everyone with whom I came into contact was gracious and professional. I confess to being a bit disappointed that Matteo had not, apparently, given even a few minutes thought (prior to my appointment) to my cut and color despite our brief chat about it the day I was late. He didn't seem to have any ideas/suggestions/advice. I was left to Google various cuts and color options for us both to peruse. At the time, this was simply a minor annoyance.Color was applied. I was put under the dryer. Matteo did not come in to check on me. It was only when the heat became too uncomfortable and I lifted the hood that he came back in. He performed the cut and we were done. Our interactions were convivial during the entire appointment.The next day I noticed that the roots and hairline area had not taken the color completely. It was a new color for me and the styling somewhat hid the roots so this wasn't immediately obvious. We were coming up on the 4th of July weekend and so I waited to contact Matteo about the problem until the following Monday, eventually leaving 2 informative vmails. We finally connected on Wednesday. He told me that he hadn't been able to make out my messages...so I explained that my roots/hairline needed to be redone. And since I'd be returning for this, I asked if he could take some time to give me some pointers/advice about styling my new cut, blow drying, etc., as I felt unable to achieve the look he had in the salon. I also mentioned that I was traveling to the Bay Area the following week for a job interview and so really needed this corrected ASAP. This is when things went squirrely.Matteo seemed to focus on the cut/styling rather than the color application issue. He asked me to describe the problem I was having w/ the style. I tried. I don't know for certain but based on something LisaM said to me, I suspect that Matteo misunderstood me and thought I was unhappy w/ the cut, though I never said so. At any rate, Matteo said he was scheduled out 2 weeks and so preferred to refund my payment so I could go elsewhere for the correction.Okay. Way to provide excellent customer service. He didn't check the color. He should have. And he should have been willing to bring me in to correct it within a few days. Period. Instead, I was simply left to shift for myself and hope I could find a stylist to fix his error in only a few days. Yes, at least he refunded my money, but I paid for his services through the Square payment system and so won't receive that refund for several days.To complete this review, I now have to talk about my conversation with the owner, Lisa Murphy. Since my first experience at her business had ended less than satisfactorily, I wanted to provide some feedback. She returned my call promptly and left a vmail. She explained that since Matteo worked as an independent contractor there was nothing she could do, was sorry I hadn't had a good experience and wished me the best (paraphrasing here).I returned her call since I wanted to clarify some things. First and foremost, that I had no expectations of her doing something, I wanted only to share my experience with the owner. Lisa said something about it being unfortunate but since I'd had problems with color treatments in the past, perhaps I was difficult to please (again, I'm paraphrasing here but this was definitely the upshot). She then recounted what Matteo had told her (I instantly felt like we were all 7-year-olds in the school yard misbehaving): I told him that I'd never been happy with any color treatment and that his cut was the worst I'd ever had. For the record, I *never* said any such thing, on either count, in Matteo's salon chair or during our brief conversation. I just wanted the roots redone and some advice on styling my new cut. The client, me, was thrown under the proverbial bus and made out to be one of those "you just can't please someone like that" people. Poppycock.Lisa wished me luck at my new salon and said she just wanted to "move forward." I could practically hear the sound of her washing her hands of me and my concerns.Don't recommend. Read Less