Alera Salon and Spa — Attraction in Cranberry Township

UPDATE: Spoke with salon owner this morning. She was very apologetic and took time to listen to my concerns and issues with the cut. She allowed me to fully explain in detail how my entire appointment went, and shared her thoughts with me. She will be having a lengthy, private conversation with the stylist regarding my experience, has refunded me for the cost of the cut and tip, and will give me a complimentary consult and cut with another stylist if and when I choose to return (once my hair grows out). I am satisfied with the owners response as well as the outcome of our conversation. I have changed the star rating to three based on this.

Original review: Salon is beautiful, and everyone seems very nice. This was my first time visiting, and my stylist came recommended to me (she was the highest level). When I sat down I showed her multiple pictures of the type of style I was going for. She barely glanced at them and then just started cutting. Didn’t ask how short I wanted it, didn’t ask if I wanted layers or not (I didn’t, in fact I told her that I’ve had layers in the past and I don’t like them), she just started hacking away. She wound up taking off way more than I wanted and did a really horrible job at attempting layers, which again, I didn’t want! My hair looks like a child cut it in the back. Hair is uneven, and not even flat ironing it helps. At one point she was looking at and talking with another employee about what pizza to order for lunch while cutting my hair! I should have suspected something was wrong when the cut was over and she didn’t even offer me a mirror so I could see the back of my hair. I was so stunned I just paid and left. Nothing I can do at this point, just have to wait a year for it...

Stacy gave me the balayage of my dreams. OF MY DREAMS. I had a bad experience with balayage four years ago, and it put such a bad taste in my mouth that I’ve just been letting it grow out ever since. I was honest about my previous experience not being blended and way too chunky for what i requested, and she was upfront in her knowledge of hand painting and blending my bleach. When I showed her my Pinterest inspo, she took the time to let me know exactly what was possible with my specific hair because it’s extremely dark. The expectation management and transparency was exactly what I needed not because it let me know how light my hair was actually capable getting, but showed me her experience and built my trust in her. When I didn’t know the answers to her questions about my toner preference, I just deferred to her judgment and am so glad I did. She built dimension in my hair and the multi-tonal effect is better than my Pinterest board.

1. she read me well enough to see that I am not an outgoing person and didn’t force me to keep a conversation for the four hours I was there and instead let me do work on my phone. First time that’s happened in a salon.

2. the salon itself was spacious and beautiful. The front desk had great customer service and even held onto my hair clip when I didn’t realize I accidently left it behind. That alone is top tier.

Baddies don’t gatekeep. Give this...

I recently left a negative 1 star review. I had a balayage and cut which was brassy, chunky, and blunt. The salon Manager reached out to me on their next business day and apologized and discussed my concerns. She went over my review pictures and talked about my grievances. She apologized and offered a same day appointment to fix the problems with a different stylist, Stacy.

Due to the recent coloring of my hair, I was offered a toner and layering to fix the brassy highlights and the bluntness of my cut. Stacy was wonderful. She listened and validated my concerns. She did a wonderful job blending the highlights and toning my hair. She fixed the shape of the cut and actually made my hair look longer than it did after the first cut. She was so kind and helpful. I have included before pictures of my initial color / cut ( pics 1-4) and then the updated look by Stacy. I give Management and Stacy 5 stars. Thank you for taking accountability and correcting the problem. We all make mistakes, it’s how we fix them...