Van Michael Salon — Attraction in Atlanta

DO NOT GO HERE THEY WILL RUIN YOUR HAIR. They don't deserve one star. My daughter has natural ash blonde and natural highlights. She went dark brown on her own using Argan Oil hair color back in August 2015 and has wanted to go back to her natural color for a while. She's home from college and we thought now was the perfect time to start slowly working back to her natural color. She collected pictures of what she wanted and what she did not want. She was very nervous about the process but the reviews on here were so positive we felt she would be in good hands. WHAT A MISTAKE. What she got was pumpkin orange hair, highlights that did not blend at all, some of them started halfway down her head and were this weird shade of I don't know what color, a definite ruler straight horizontal line across the back of her head where the color is a darker above the line and lighter below and her hair is fried. And by fried, I mean FRIED, DYED AND LAID TO THE SIDE fried, so badly it will probably have to be cut to above her shoulders to get rid of the damage. She's crushed, crying hysterically and I am speechless. I immediately took her back to give them the opportunity to correct it. Of course they keep telling us 'well the "box color" you put on your hair we just can't be sure what will happen'. I bit my tongue because that "box color" was a tenth of the cost and looked phenomenal and didn't fry her hair. They put toner on her hair to tone down the pumpkin orange and cover up the bizarre color and pattern of the "highlights" all the while Harlow is telling her "well because of the box color you put on its not going to be perfect." If you knew this you should have said, "We can't color your hair with the box color still on there. You need to let it grow out and then come in and let us color it." You didn't. Why? This excuse is INVALID. Why is it invalid? Because for years women with box color on their hair come to have a professional color it and walk out looking FABULOUS. The manager senses we are getting more and more upset by the moment, comes over and puts her with "the most experienced stylist, she trains their talent in hair coloring." She went over what could be done. She wanted to put a conditioner in it tonight and have my daughter come back in the morning to have the color corrected. At this point my daughter is terrified to continue going for the highlighted effect and tells said "expert color trainer/stylist" that "she's too scared to highlight it now and prefers to color it back dark brown." What is the reaction of this 'experienced, color trainer, master stylist'? Was she sympathetic? Understanding? No. She backs up and goes off on my daughter: "I'm offering to stay late and come in early to fix this for you and you're going to act like I don't know what I'm doing?" Oh honey, first, just look at the fried mess your 'professional products' that were applied by a person 'you trained', left on my daughters head; you can bet your last dollar you're going to stay late and come in early and bend over backwards six ways to Sunday to fix this disaster. Secondly, if you're the "color trainer" at this salon and this is the result from your instruction, no one that sees this color catastrophe on my daughter’s head is going to trust that you or anyone else in this salon can color their way out of a box of crayons. And lastly, if you seriously think your intentional, cruel, unprofessional, and low class bully tactic is going to smooth things over, win you loyalty, and scare us into submission, you have lost your mind. You purposely pushed my already traumatized daughter over the edge and sent her running out of the salon sobbing hysterically. What I can guarantee is that we will let everybody to infinity and beyond know that Van Michael's IS NOT the place to go.They refunded the cost, it hasn’t shown up on the card yet but that doesn't even begin to negate the fact that they emotionally assaulted a client whose hair THEY FRIED. DO NOT GO THERE - THEY WILL RUIN YOUR HAIR AND YOU...

Hello

This is reference to there new talents side "aka their hair school' from what I understand" About month or so ago, i look on FB marketplace to find somebody or and a hair school that did hair coloring. I find a guy, is with van Michael, we come to agreement to come in for a hair color. It was two weeks ago this monday, When I went in. I did my best with the paperwork they gave me, I didn't see that try was anything like, if theres a mistake on the students part, you dont like how your hair comes out, you will need to come back and pay for another hair model service, which is 20$ not bad for a hair color at a salon that charges alot for there services My student and I decide on a true red base with highlights to match. The teacher agrees and we move forward. When all was said and done. What came out, Was Completely Wrong. I was very upset. The teacher came over and said what's wrong, I said this isnt red, and she tells me it is, How, its brown no red anywhere. She said we can add a red gloss if you want. Nop, I want to get going to my evening appt and I realize that a gloss isnt permanent, it's just a band aid :( So I go to pay and ask if they can fix it some other time, Nop, we Dont do that, you will have to come for another service. Not only that our students find models we dont and the person at the counter was very uppity and seem that people who aren't a certain size or and look should be treated less than people who are wealthy and thin. "I'm fluffy and it's hard to treat myself, when the world looks at you that way for most part and I dress the best I can, w/o looking like an old lady that wearing wallpaper." { I'm getting really tired of people who faux at being friendly to people who are not the perfect size etc, you are supposed to treat All your clients well, no matter what, Dont judge a book by its cover, Because what if I was of the popular crowd and my hair got ruined, they would be all over me to fix for free or I would of have to money to fix it , that isnt right nor fair, this is 1st time that this has happen to me at a school}

I sadly pay because I didnt was to cause a scene, started crying and left. That night I send the salon a FB message, Because the only other way to contact them is by #, Weird huh No Instagram, no Twitter no nothing and how I was feeling, talking to them would been a bad idea. I explain to them what happen, how if this student got a job with your salon, there wont be that many clients, if he does services the way he did with me and how charging me for another service when it wasnt my fault, is wrong. Especially if they knew or care how tired my money was. ' Sadly I dont know if they fix hair problems for free, on the other side " I wish and hope they do, after A lot of debate, sadly' There response was this " Hi Linda, thank you for your message. I apologize that you did not receive the color you expected. It is our policy at Van Michael that we do not offer corrective services for models who have services at class on Mondays, as models are aware that this is a training experience for our students. We would be happy to accommodate you on a future Monday, however the service will be $20."

This isnt right, nor is it good customer service.

I also heard that they do there best not to fix things even if you are a nnormal client, most of the time.

Sincerely UhHappy customer

PS I still havent gone back and now my hair has suntan into a light brown with blonde like highlights. Other people have said they like it. But I dont :( I will be calling them back soon, to see it o can get redo for free, if not. I will have sadly waste $40 on my hair. When I only can afford & like to pay $20 max for my hair services. The reason I say this is because I dont make much and it's hard when you want to do something nice for yourself, every once in a while, when money is as tied as a twist tie on a loaf of bread. Good day

Picture one and two is what I wanted for the most part, also what was shown to me and picture 3 is what i...

July 24, 2024 appointment: haircut w/ Shane, color/highlights w/ London as a new guest. Left the same review via their internal link: no follow up from the salon. Shane (great experience): I was initially greeted by his friendly assistant Paris. Shane was very professional & accommodating. He looked at the pictures of a haircut I envisioned, made some quick clarifications, and started cutting my hair. His education/training w/ Scott Cole Academy/Paul Mitchell & Vidal Sassoon shows through his precision, detailed oriented haircut and excellent blow-out I received that day. Bottom line: Shane is very professional, a good listener, efficient, and he can deliver. I’d highly recommend him to anyone in need of a good stylist. London (unpleasant & extremely stressful experience): I was greeted by her assistant Helena who seemed welcoming. Along came London. I showed her a picture of a desired shade & placement of highlights; however, right off the bat, she categorically dismissed it as unrealistic, adding that my hair would fall off should she try to achieve that look (as if I requested platinum color highlights). The notion of taking a look at some prior pictures of myself with similar highlights was also rejected. I mentioned that I didn’t mind her adding some Olaplex (#1 and 2) to the hair lightening process to protect the bonds, for which she immediately berated me -  letting me know that I had no right to advise her regarding my hair coloring process since she was a colorist and knew how to do hair (nevertheless, she added extra charge for Olaplex and glaze to the highlighting service bill)! Another argument followed about the shadow roots I requested with a shade closer to my natural dark ash blonde hair color (for a soft seamless contrast, to achieve color depth & dimension, & for easier maintenance). I had it previously done with no problems. The colorist vehemently disagreed and kept repeating that I had gray in my hair, and that shadow roots would not cover it. Though I didn’t mind that some of my gray hair would not be completely covered and instead would shimmer along with the highlights, I insisted on having shadow roots closer in shade to my dark ash blonde natural hair color. I thought we reached an agreement there but I was wrong: in the end, I didn’t receive the requested shade of shadow roots. I also kindly suggested to use some cool gold glaze/toner to achieve a more glowy effect. A blunt dismissal followed: she schooled me that there was no such color as “cool gold” - just either gold or silver and nothing in between. Wow! How about rose gold, white gold, palladium shades, etc? To halt the negativity, I just asked her to do whatever she could do to bring me closer to the style I initially showed her. When done, I wasn’t satisfied with the end result and was especially disappointed with the shadow roots since they were not even close to my natural dark ash blonde hair color, particularly around the front hairline (very light), creating a washed out effect. Immediately London raised her voice and said that with darker shadow roots I would be even paler. I further explained that my preference is to have it (for contrast). She retorted that even if she had done that, in a few weeks new gray would have come out. I didn’t mind coming back for a root touch up; however, she argued back and stated that it wouldn’t be economical. Realizing the futility of any further communication with London, I told her that I had to go. Bottom line: It’s London’s way or the highway. Instead of helping me turn my vision into reality, the colorist turned my experience at the salon into a nightmare. London came across as very rigid, lacking a personal touch, exercising one-size-fits-all solution and being interested in just one-time visitors instead of making an effort to turning them into loyal clients who keep coming back for more. I never experienced anything like that in my prior salons’ interactions. I would definitely not recommend this...