Aveda Arts & Sciences Institute Nashville — Attraction in Franklin

This is my second visit to the Aveda Institute for cut/highlights. While the first visit with Master Student Hannah was great and I left with another appt with her for 2 months later since she was still a student but about to graduate. When I showed up for this visit I was greeted by a new student who will remain nameless because she is so new and inexperienced (which I did not find out until after the service was over). This was, by far, the worst hair experience I have ever encountered and I've had some doozies. I told the student what I wanted and an educator (who was great, by the way) came by and reviewed it. I knew something was wrong when the educator kept coming by and "fixing" things the student had missed, but I kept quiet. During the color, my base color was extremely dark, so I asked the educator if it would be that dark after rinsing, she stated no. Well I was going for bright blonde highlights (my hair was already really blonde, I just wanted it blonder), the end product was an ashy brown with less blonde than I came in with!!! I remained quiet during the cut (which took forever and she kept pulling my hair like she was trying to pull it out of my scalp! I had the feeling the student had never even cut hair before) and blow dry (which made my hair look like a frizz disaster). Upon inspection, I stated to the educator that I was NOT happy, that my hair was darker than when I came in, the cut was uneven and it was a frizzy mess. The student was just going to let me leave looking like that!!! WHAT?!?! She was so blah about the whole thing, like she could care less about my hair. The educator assured me that I would not leave without it being fixed so she proceeded to add more highlights and then left saying that another educator and student would be watching over me to finish my service. Well, I kept having to find an educator to look at my hair and kept getting swapped around to whoever was convenient, after I had already been there for 6 hours so far!!! I had literally spent the equivalent of 3/4 of a work day in this place with no food (my wonderful boyfriend brought me food and water), a few dixie cups of water and no bathroom break. Finally I was rinsed and a treatment put on my already damaged hair and I was sent to a student station for the cut touch up and style. Overall, I spent 8.5 hours in this place of total chaos. There is just too much going on in the place for all the educators to keep up and oversee. I won't be going back even though the educator was great and I was offered a free hair treatment upon my return. If you do decide to get your hair colored at this location make sure you ask for a MASTER Student Stylist!!! And when you arrive for your appt, ensure you are getting the Master Stylist you made the...

Student Review: Aveda Institute – Proceed with Caution

As a current student, I feel compelled to share my experience to inform others considering enrollment. The environment has been unpredictable, inconsistent, and at times, unsafe—particularly for young women.

Unsafe Client Interactions: There have been repeated incidents involving inappropriate client behavior, especially from male clients, that were not properly addressed by staff. Despite complaints and clear discomfort expressed by students, these individuals were allowed to return. There is no effective safety protocol in place, and students are forced to either accept uncomfortable services or go home, forfeiting hours they’ve paid for.

Inconsistent Policies & Poor Leadership: One instructor regularly contradicts herself, enforces rules selectively, and often speaks in a demeaning tone. Requests for service swaps—whether for trauma-related discomfort or personal boundaries—are routinely denied without valid reasoning, while exceptions are made for others without explanation. Students are often made to feel unheard, dismissed, or even blamed when they express concerns.

Inadequate Learning Environment: The Phase 2 spa classroom is cramped, windowless, and not conducive to focused study. Students are frequently interrupted and not provided adequate tools or support. Headphones are prohibited, and options for study space are severely limited.

Misleading Admissions Promises: We were told our kit would contain all necessary tools, yet later learned much of it is unusable for licensing. Supplies are limited, and we were even asked to buy our own if we wanted proper hands-on experience.

Additional Concerns: • Students are penalized for taking brief outdoor breaks. • Make-up hour days are inconsistently managed, with students often forced into services they didn’t plan for. • There’s a culture of favoritism and a lack of transparency from leadership. • Professionalism and health standards are not consistently upheld.

Conclusion: We hoped for a professional, supportive education. What we’ve experienced has often felt dismissive, disorganized, and at times, unsafe. I urge Aveda to implement trauma-informed training, clear safety protocols, and fair treatment for all students. Until meaningful changes are made, I cannot recommend...

I’ve never written a review for anyone before, and I have always been the kind of customer to be very polite, understand, and bite the bullet when I’m unhappy with service. I had an appointment to get my already caramel/blonde balayage turned into a bright, fresh, BLONDE balayage. My girl informed my that it would be no problem, and since my hair was already balayaged, it would be easy. My appointment was for 9:30am, and I expected to be out in 3-4 hours— just in time for my other appointments, because my sisters rehearsal dinner was at 5:30pm. My girl was very nice and friendly, but she took way too long to do everything—even just brushing my hair out took 15 minutes. After the first wash and dry, she revealed my hair... it looked the EXACT same as it did when I came in. Except for this time, the top of my balayage had a big stripe of brassy-orange. It had been SIX hours at this point. And only then, did I start to lose my patience. It was 3:30pm and I had to be at a rehearsal dinner in 2 hours. I had already missed an appointment, and was cutting really close to the other one. I would have just left the salon, and gone to get someone else to fix it, had I not had a rehearsal dinner that night and a wedding the next day. I told my girl that it didn’t come out as I had hoped, and that I was disappointed in the brassy stripe. A manager or teacher got involved and said it was expected for it to not be blonde, and that it would take a few more appointments. Even though at the beginning of my appointment they said it would be easy to do??

They covered up the orange stripe on my head, RE-washed my hair, after they had already dried it, and ANOTHER hour and a half later, I left in a hurry, with wet hair to go to my sisters rehearsal dinner. I hate how my hair looks, and my family laughed at it as soon as they saw how choppy the color looked.

I EXPECTED the manager, after seeing how exasperated I was, to offer a discount for the inconvenience... I was tempted to refuse to pay. I got in my car and cried because I just spent 7.5 hours for my hair to look exactly like it did when I came in. And now I’m out $122.

I don’t even know what to say except that I have never been so disappointed with a hair appointment.

Wouldn’t recommend going here, as much as I...