Shades Italian Hairdresser Battersea — Attraction in London

I had an appointment yesterday with Francesco - now I must say before I go into further detail that he is a lovely man and was very welcoming; he also has a FANTASTIC eye for cutting hair.

However, I booked an appointment (last minute) with him for my first ever perm. I was in the salon from about 5.30pm - 9pm so it was a LONG procedure. Anyway, I am highly disappointed in two things that happened following my procedure which are as follows:

I am extremely unhappy with the result. The curls are nowhere near what I asked for, and for such a high price, I would expect my desires to be met at least a little more than they have been. Immediately after Francesco finished blow-drying my hair, it looked really nice... however when I got home, I realised that the only reason it looked nice was because he put lots of products on it and the curls soon went pretty straight again by the time I arrived back home. It is definitely more wavy than it was before, but I do not understand the point in a stylist asking me what my desired look is, if they cannot come anywhere near it! If I knew this would be the result, i'd have simply bought a curl defining serum and scrunched my hair myself. I wanted real, beachy curls... and after speaking to several stylists since, I have been informed that this shouldn't have been any trouble and therefore I do not understand why I haven't received what I requested. I wanted BIG curls which I did make clear to Francesco at the beginning of my appointment; I even showed him a photo in one of the magazines they have in the salon. I have spoken to other stylists who have said that he should have only done a few layers instead of a full-head to achieve a bigger curl, along with using different sized rollers. My hair looks horrible. I hate it. The only time it looks good is with curl defining products in it. I do understand that the result of your procedure DOES depend on your hair's condition etc. however I don't believe it would have been too difficult to give me bigger curls and use less hair to do so. This wasn't even the worst part...

Second of all, I had the BIGGEST shock once the procedure was finished. I was originally quoted by Francesco a total of £77 for the perm (over the phone - thankfully I have all my calls recorded), and MOST salons have advised me that they include a cut & blowdry within their perms so I presumed this would be the case here but instead I was surprised with a gigantic bill of an extra £50 or so on top of what I was originally quoted. I do appreciate that every salon has different rules and regulations, however in my books you should ALWAYS be advised of any charges before they start adding extras in... because believe you me, if I knew the results would be so rubbish and that I would have to pay so much extra for a simple cut and blow-dry then I would have gone elsewhere to another salon who include this as standard.

So as you can imagine, I left the salon feeling very upset and could not even enjoy the result due to these factors. I am now worrying about how on earth I am going to be able to afford to pay an extra £50 on top. Oh and may I add, I am only 19. How on earth was I supposed to know? Francesco KNEW I was very new to the 'perm life' and therefore should have guided me correctly instead of surprising me with a gigantic bill that no 19 year old could ever afford unless they have rich parents. All I could afford to give Francesco was £80 so I did so, but even that was a push for me because this is money I have received for my birthday and now I have nothing left due to paying for a procedure I am completely unsatisfied with. I really appreciate Francesco giving me extra time to pay the rest, however in a way I do feel that you should not have to pay for services you are...

This was the worst cut I have ever had. Went in with long shaggy style bangs looking for a TRIM. Came out with a micro fringe. The cutter (I’m not even giving him the privilege of being called a hairdresser) went in with one quick cut- I didn’t even have time to request a length. I was shocked at the result- it was so so short and lob sided. I ran out of there as fast as I could, holding back tears. I’ve had to pin the few centimetres of fringe I have left in a middle part to the side as it just looks terrible. Really really disappointed as i just don’t know how one can mess the most simple cut up. My dog could have completed a better job. They gave it to me for free (why thank you for sparing me five pounds in comparison to the thirty I’ve just spend on hair bands, pins and clips to hide this...

I had a lovely wash and blow dry by Vincenzo. He has recently taken over the location of the salon and I could not be happier that I have a new local hairdresser that “understands me”.

I initially wanted some lowlights because I’ve had my eyebrows done elsewhere and thought low lights would balance off my look as I was light blonde, but he advised me not to “react” and wait for my eyebrows to calm down before rushing into changing my blonde for a darker shade. Not many professionals would turn away business but he understood the issue and acted with tact and advised me in my interest. My eyebrows calmed down now, they match my blonde well and am happy I did not go ahead. Instead we did a wash and blow dry and was perfectly happy. Good value for money and lovely company, as well. Go...