Halo Hair Salon — Attraction in Philadelphia

Halo is an amazing and unique Salon environment. It is much different than many of the Salons I have been too over 20yrs prior to Heather opening this business. If you're a woman and you get your hair done regularly, you know exactly the type of atmosphere I'm hinting at regarding many salons in the City. Halo is the opposite of those places for the better! There is a chill vibe with small talk, friendliness and a staff of people who enjoy being there and love what they're doing. Heather's leadership and respect for her team give such a pleasant and easy going experience you're looking for when you're about to spend 3hrs somewhere in a chair:) Loyalty is everything to me and finding a place where even if you're stylist is booked, you can trust anyone to get your color right....Halo is the spot. They all collaborate as a team and are not afraid to ask each other for an opinion when a Client asks for a unique or technical style/color. They all work together and with such a positive energy to achieve the best outcome for their Clients. Halo is one of a Kind and it's worth every penny spent there. They never disappoint and will be honest and upfront with their Client's to provide feasible solutions....especially with a color correction. Heather is simply amazing and appreciates her team. She offers Client's a great experience by being someone you feel comfortable with that you can TRUST with your head. We all know how important our hair is to us and that's why Halo is the place to get the best results while feeling the most at ease. Heather has fixed many of my self inflicted hair color debacles when I would try to "get by" with a root solution that would always result in a disaster. After doing a major repair job on my hair on at least 3 occasions, she finally bluntly told me to "Stop doing this". Heather is also an expert with Curly Hair. I can never say the or spell the technique correctly, so I just call her a "Genius With Curly Hair". The funny thing is I actually have naturally curly hair that I always wear straight. One Day I will let her do it curly :) I feel like as a Woman, I could deal with a bad haircut but I can not deal with bad color. With Heather, you WILL NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT EITHER! I have also witnessed Heather doing some major projects on people asking for the platinum/bleach/white type of hair and I thought it was magic. I hope my reviews for Heather and Kara help you make the choice and choose Halo Hair.

Kara is awesome! She is super friendly and down to earth. I'm a Client that usually struggles to describe what color I'm trying to obtain outside of showing a picture of myself with that color but Kara is able to pull the information from me to make sure we're on the same page. Rebecca and the other Stylists...

TLDR; If you have curls see Heather.

I went in a couple months ago because I saw Halo offered both Ouidad and Deva Curl options. I've not seen a studio in Philly that offers both, and I figured the stylists here would probably be knowledgable about curls and could make recommendations for how to cut and shape mine. I underestimated how right I was.

I admit I was nervous once I set eyes on Heather, a straight-haired woman (and white. I'm white but I empathize with the skepticism people have towards stylists who don't look like them.) Now I appreciate many things about her approach. I will be going back to her.

Heather is the only stylist I've met who really gets curly hair. I respect anyone who has a lot of experience (she has 20+ years) but I come back to the person who pays attention and educates me. I used to think Ouidad (and Deva) was the standard for curly hair but Heather explained that while the cut method was still good, Ouidad's fame for de-bulking hair shouldn't be used all the time for most clients. BIG revelation for me. My curls were flimsy and weren't curling the way they used to... I thought it was because my hair was starting to thin. But Heather said it was the way my hair had been cut over time. I'm still growing out a cut that thinned my hair but my hair looks great after seeing her.

Heather is also so well-versed she doesn't need to rely a bunch of formulas. She noticed where I have thicker patches of hair, differing curl patterns, and she said in some places she would de-bulk and use the Ouidad technique (specific to my hair) and other places do something different. That kind of attention matters to me.

I also like how open and warm she is. She let me bring up the topic of hair coloring and said, "You know, I trust people to ask me if they want it. I don't tell people that they need to color." And I really liked that. I had a stylist I loved tell me I'd look better if I added more contrast to my face with a darker hair color and covered my budding white hairs. I try not to take it personally because I never look as good in a salon as I do outside it in my own clothes and colors that flatter me, but honestly, it can be exhausting to work with people who don't think about me beyond what they see in their chair. Heather understood this-- and even said it herself-- and that was the cherry on top for...

I was super excited to try this place and made a next day appointment for a cut. I woke up that morning with a scratchy throat but took some emergen-c and tried to take it easy hoping it was temporary. By around 3pm I was starting to get chills. My appointment was at 4:30pm so I called and explained that I was a first time client, was not in the habit of cancelling last minute, but that I didn't want to get anyone sick so could I possibly reschedule. She put me on hold and came back saying they'd be charging me 50% of the service fee. I understand and respect cancellation policies, but I am a first time client and this is clearly an exception. I don't want to be shelling out money to a business I've never even been to. Not to mention apparently they have a 48 hour cancellation policy- not something that was even possible for me with a next day appt. So I said ok well then I guess I will come in and get the haircut. I then got a call back 5 minutes later saying that the hairstylist isn't comfortable cutting my hair since I am sick (fair), so we needed to reschedule AND they were still going to charge me the fee. I said no thanks, charge what you have to, but don't count me as one of your customers. They charged me almost as soon as I got off the phone. So I've now given this business my money without stepping foot inside. Again, I understand and respect cancellation policies as can be confirmed by the many (hair, nail, waxing) salons I've been a loyal customer to over my last 8 years in Philly. But there has to be some flexibility built in for situations like this. I just moved an 8 minute walk away so they lost a repeat customer. And just a tip to the owner, if you require 48 hour cancellations, don't allow people to make next day appointments. Doesn't add up. What a fully...