Drip Nail Salon — Attraction in Houston

I honestly wasn’t going to leave a review on how bad my experience was at Drip Nail Salon. But now that my gel nail polish came off and it revealed a fungal infection, I absolutely have to leave a review.

First I have to talk about the parking situation. Both times I’ve came here there is no parking available. Every possible free lot to park in is completely full. There is a lot right next door that is paid parking. I parked there thinking it couldn’t be more than $10 for an hour and a half. Wrong, it was almost $20 to park there.

So My appointment was mid April. I booked the most basic pedicure with a gel polish add on. It says online that a gel polish add on is $20. A basic pedicure (Citrine) is $35. I wanted to get a cat eye polish too and knew that was going to probably be an extra fee on top of that. All I was ok with.

My actual service was pretty good. Nothing incredible though. Before we started, my tech confirmed with me that it was going to be $10 extra for the cat eye, $20 for the gel, and $35 for the citrine pedicure. I agreed the service proceeded.

When she went to apply the gel, all she did to prep the nail was wipe it in either acetone or alcohol. As a licensed cosmetologist, I know that is not the proper way to prep for gel, she didn’t even buff my nails at the least. As a result, my polish started chipping after just two weeks. I expect at least 3-6+ weeks out of gel on properly prepped toe nails. I’ve honestly never had gel chip on my toes in my whole life. This was the first.

When it was time to pay, my total was $75 before tip. I was kinda shocked, but I didn’t say anything. I got my receipt and saw that I was charged $20 extra for the cat eye polish. I asked for clarification on this, as I was told by my tech that it was $10 extra for the cat eye gel. She told me it was more because it’s more complicated to do gel cat eye than regular polish cat eye.

I know for a fact that it doesn’t take any more time or skill to do cat eye polish in gel form than regular. I’m already paying extra for the gel polish- so the extra time needed to cure the gel is already covered in the $20 gel polish fee. The extra time needed to use the magnet for the cat eye should already be covered in the $10 cat eye fee that I agreed to. You usually have to do 2 coats of regular gel polish (color). She only did 1 coat of the cat eye gel.

I didn’t reply any of this, as I didn’t want to cause any issues. Instead, I asked her to confirm with my tech that I was quoted the $10. She went to go talk to her. I waited. She came back and went back to what she was doing before. Completely ignoring me. I waited there and she asked me why I was still standing there. I told her I was waiting for her to tell me about her talking to the tech. She told me that yes, the tech did quote me $10 for the gel polish. Went back to what she was doing. I then asked her if she was going to refund me the $10 to make it right. She flat out told me no.

As a service provider myself, I pride myself in having excellent customer service. The right thing to do here was to honor the price I was quoted and inform me in the future that it was $20. Nobody likes a surprise charge.

So disappointed in this...

Wanted to love, but cant. I had at least 3 bad sets of nails nearly in a row once I was pressured into using a form of gel instead of my usual dip (they are moving away from dip and only using gel is what I was told). No lasting remedy was offered without me paying for a whole new set each time.

The first time builder gel was recommended, I requested something strong be used with the birth of my son since afterwards I knew it would be harder to get any "me time" - and sure enough the gel that was pushed on me failed within a week after my son was born. I have grown out my natural nails for years and never had this issue (I usually use dip or acrylic) - at so many different salons. So once I finally had a chance to come back in postpartum, I had shared the difficulties with the builder gel set. They pressured me into builder gel again and said the person who did them was new and put it on too thin and no longer worked with them... I gave them the benefit of the doubt and proceeded again... The next time I used builder gel they broke off within a week also. My long beautiful nails ripped off each time (painful and distressing) and I had to get a sitter or a friend to watch my son to be able to come in to fix this each time. I did not receive any discount or compensation because you have to call in/ come in before something like 10 days? It generally happened on day 10 - 13 and I have timestamped photos. I am used to my sets lasting 3-4 weeks with little to no issue. After the stronger polygel failed me a 3RD TIME I called in quite upset that I have continued to be pressured to re-do them with a form of gel that is not working. I had to pay for a full new set every single time - NO discount. This last time was the last straw, since I was told I would gracefully receive a 10% discount if I came back in to fix them. I was disappointed at such a small discount after 3 failed sets, since I am a regular for over a year now - and I do want to love this salon, all the people, etc. BUT to make matters worse, once I lined up a sitter to come in and get them fixed, I went to pay and was informed AFTER that I would actually not receive the discount. I had to pay close to $100 AGAIN to have them redone....

If they could not even honor the agreed upon 10% discount after not only ruining my naturally beautiful nails over and over but forcing me to pay full price many times to have them repaired each time, I cannot keep recommending them to all my friends or go back until serious changes in how they conduct...

Unfortunately I remain on the hunt for my ideal pedicure spot in the Heights. TL;dr they were running behind to the point I had to change my service, very minimal callus treatment, not all tools were sanitized, but had good, lively vibes

I had wanted to do the Moon Stone pedicure but the pedicurist was running behind and I had only budgeted the 70 minutes before I had to get to a lash appointment, so I had to do the Jade pedicure.

I was surprised to discover there’s an upcharge for assisting with ingrowns ($5/nail) and that my pedicurist couldn’t do it herself so a different pedicurist had to fill in. I even had to fill out a form for them to complete the “procedure,” which I thought seemed very professional. And let me tell you, she DUG! Haha. It was painful and I bled a tiny bit but she really got everything out. What bothered me (other than the upcharge and having to switch techs) was that she used a tool from her cart that was not in a clean package to dig into my toe. I’m worried about infection as the skin was now open and bleeding. Fingers/toes crossed all is ok.

One reason I chose Drip was their description of “extensive callus treatment” in the pedicure menu. All they have is a pumice stone that was used for maybe a minute total? I specifically do NOT want a cheese grater tool, but I was hoping for a file-like tool. As an athlete, I get hard skin buildup on my heels and don’t want to have to do my own filing to then go pay $100 for a pedicure. This is honestly the main reason I won’t return. If they would actually do extensive callus treatment with a file, I’d consider coming back.

This could be a great place for others! Lots of ladies were here and the music was a good vibe. Just not a good fit for me for pedicures and I already have in-home manicures.

Drip, please make sure all tools are sanitized (especially if you’re going to upcharge) and invest in metal files with sticker files you attach for each person. They’re easily sanitized and do...