Hairy Elephant Hair Salon for Kids — Attraction in Ballwin

The stylist was rushed, impatient and unfriendly. It was my son's first time at this salon and his first time ever with a professional stylist.

This place has a unique process that involves selecting a themed chair, a movie, and a shampoo flavor. The stylist gave us no prompting or direction until I, the parent who has never been there, picked up on what should happen next and offered my son direction. Again, my son has never been here and it is his first haircut and is a little nervous. He was treated as though he had been there 20 times. I told them it was his first haircut upon making the appointment and multiple times during the experience.

I don't remember hearing her once give him any encouragement, even when we washed his hair on this table he had to climb up on and dangle his head under a faucet. Not a big deal for older kids or kids who have done it before, but a little weird for some kid who hasn't. Again she offered no encouragement and only reprimanded every time he slightly lifted up his head. This is a kids salon, right?

The stylist (She) proceeded to cut his hair. He has longer hair and needed to have it cleaned up and shaped a little. The haircut seems to be fine. To close out the haircut experience we go to check out and pay. The manager, I assume, is surprised we are done already. She then looks to see that there is a first time haircut certificate laying on the front counter missing a photo. Supposedly my son was supposed to get his photo taken after his haircut and get presented a fun certificate. The stylist never mention it and never took my son's picture.

Oh and the kicker is that my son was never offered a sucker, like every other kid we saw go before us. Not a big deal, but come on to a 6 YO it is a big deal.

We...

We went for the second time for my 4 year old son's haircut. My son is biracial and has long, curly hair and I asked if they were familiar with that style. The first time was fine, we just got a trim. It was not as "kid / sensory friendly" as advertised but pleasant enough for us to return for 2nd time. We had the same stylist, Tim, as we did the first. This time was horrible. I gave a very clear description along with photo of how I wanted his hair cut and styled (the same we walked in with and had last time-no major changes). Instead, Tim ignored my request, and gave his own suggestion. When I stated I wasn't sure what style he was talking about as he explained it, and I just wanted it a little shorter and thinned out, but the same style, he took it upon himself to completely cut off my kids hair. My kid was clearly uncomfortable, reaching for my hand, trying to move away, and Tim instead try to forcefully move his head in the direction he wanted it which is when I intervened and assisted. Aren't we supposed to be a little more sensitive and better trained in these situations? When I clearly was not happy, Tim attempted to "fix" the issue, but the damage was done. The cut is completely uneven and I will have to take him somewhere else to get it fixed. Not to mention, it's completely not what we asked for. I would not recommend this place at all-especially if you have a kid with mixed hair...

Just tried calling here to book an appointment for tomorrow, March 14th, and was told that they were booked on the weekends until April 18. Ok, fair enough I thought.

When I explained to the lady who answered the phone that our daughters birthday was on Sunday, that we need to get her haircut before then and asked if she had any other suggestions for places that could help us out in a crunch, she simply replied, “I really don’t know”. Seriously?

While I was trying to process her answer for about 10-15 seconds, thinking to myself, “Wow, that has to be the laziest answer someone could give. I mean come on, at the bare minimum, you could at least suggest Great Clips or Custom Cuts or some other chain salon to meet our needs.”, she hung up on me, without as so much as asking if I was still on the phone or if there was anything else she could help me with.

If this is exemplary of the service they give everyone, then it is very rude, disrespectful and unprofessional in my opinion. We will definitely NOT be taking our daughter here to get her hair cut, EVER.

I’d rather see her get a mediocre haircut somewhere else and with someone that has good manners and a good attitude than get treated like that and let my daughter be subjected to bad examples of...