Salon ombre hair disaster!!!

Review: Aveda Hair Institute, my experience.

Before I start my rant, I would like to inform you that I waited 3 weeks for my appointment at Aveda Hair Institute. I chose this because I was googling hair salon reviews in toronto, this one was said to be "affordable" and "good." However, this was not the case from my experience…

I arrived at 10:30 am for my appointment, travelling from markham to toronto, totalling an hour's commute on public transit. When I arrived, the girl at the front counter told me to go downstairs by myself to get a robe. I came back up and met with my hair stylist/colorist/whatever you may call her. She was said to be an "advanced graduate," which according to Aveda Institute, costs $65+ for the ombre technique. I thought that was fair.

The process quickly begun, she asked me how I would like my hair done. I showed a picture (from instagram, a girl with really long straight hair and beautiful balayage ombre ashy blonde hair), she told me she could not lift my hair that high because my hair had been previously box dyed. I said fine, so I showed her another picture (from instagram again, with another girl with a distinct ombre look, but still very nicely blended). She said alright and got started. Though because my roots were so grown out with box dye, she recommended to bring down my natural hair colour by dying over some of the box dye. I agreed.

Here is a before shot of my disgusting grown out box dyed hair: hair is not that red (more brown/orange-y in colour), but that is how the picture turned out.

Roots were just a PAIN to look at. Anyway, she was really nice, not very talkative, brought me some water, then started off with the dark hair dye. She went further down than I had wanted, but I let her do her thing. Next, she applied the bleach to me ends, which again, was lower than I had wanted it. Now, see that was where I went wrong. I should've spoken up about what I wanted… By the way, toning was an additional $15. The whole process took over 3 hours. I was pretty satisfied up until I left. That was another mistake because they made me sign a form that said I had to inform them of anything I was dissatisfied with before I left the store…. When she finished drying my hair, she didn't even show me the back! I only saw the front and was content with how it came out. She helped me take a photo of my back and after I left the store, I realized it was a mess, a complete disaster! I initially wanted to go back and complain but I got lost in downtown after walking too far and it started raining so I went back to the subway. I felt horrible.

Here is the aftermath:

After seeing the photos, I was really really mad. She made my back look like a bad dip dye job which I could've done myself. Worst of all, since i have short layers on the side, she ombre'd that too to make it look very uneven from side to back. It's like a whole chunk of black hair that was supposed to be ombre! The total cost was $190 ($145 for full highlights from advanced graduate, $15 for toning, tax and unfortunately I also gave her $10 tips). Lesson: Do NOT go to hair schools for colour jobs, they are just as expensive and very badly done. 

Rate: 1.5/5 stars

Review: Petro's Hair Design, my experience

I got back to Bayview station, had 3 hours to spare to wait for my aunt to pick me up, so I walked into Bayview Village to try to find a salon and see what they could do. The only salon I could find was Petro's Hair Design. People there were 100x more friendly. The girl who helped me "fix" my badly done ombre kind of rushed it because she had another appointment in about 1.5 hours. She used a balayage technique on top of my ombre. The colour didn't turn out as vibrant as I thought though. She said it was also because the girl had previously dyed my hair black which I understand will be a tough process to lighten again. She charged me less, because it was faster than she though, which I also appreciate. However, I still need to re-lghten my hair after a few months because one day damaged my hair a lot. I'm happy with the front at least…

Here is a picture of how they tried to fix that harsh line:

As you can see, I still hate it because that line is still so visible, but it's definitely better than before I walked in. Hair is also FRIED. Total costed $175 ($110 for highlights, $35 for colour, tips and $8 tax). In total, I spent almost $400, way more than the average girl to get an awesome colour. FML. Can't wait for my next appointment. Sadly, every time I do my hair at Canadian salons, I hate the results. 

Rate: 3.5/5

Lastly, I wanted to show the true colour because it really isn't all that orange, as how the pictures are showing up. Here is the front, with natural lighting and a big fat frown for my bad bad bad decisions.