Master hair stylist Emily Lotf — Attraction in San Diego

I would give 10 stars. Best hair experience in 35 years. Emily is a true Master of her craft, an artist with hair, and a kind beautiful person. I’ve had two terrible experiences in my pursuit to find a good hair professional to replace my stylist of 12 years who retired. I was nervous when I called Emily after my last horrible experience. She asked me to come for a consultation. At the consultation she asked me what I was looking for, she asked several questions to ensure she truly understood what I wanted, she listened carefully. She showed me color swatches and made some suggestions. Once I agreed she explained the process and how long it would take. I have very long hair past the middle of my back. I usually get a foil weave with highlights and sometimes with color. . When I came for the appointment, Emily checked in with me, repeated what we had previously discussed and verified that nothing had changed. At each step she checked in with me to make sure I was comfortable. Emily is so considerate. Because I am very tall and often have to slump down in the chair when the top of my head is being done. Emily is the first to have asked first if I have back issues or would have any discomfort in doing so. She asked about water temperature and even when cutting my hair made sure to show me and verify the amount to cut before making the cut. She knew I was nervous and took extra care to make me feel comfortable and assured. Emily had to do a lot of corrections to repair the patchy terrible color and chunky blotchy highlights from the previous person I tried, not to mention the uneven cut. When I was finished my hair had never looked better. It was soft and the perfect color and perfect honey blond highlights . We had wonderful conversation the entire time. I’ve been to people before that try to fit several other people in while you are waiting for product to set or are under a dryer. Emily doesn’t do that. Her philosophy is “you are paying for my time so why would I give that time to someone else”. Emily charges more than I am used to paying and that almost scared me away, but now I understand why and she is well worth every penny. If you are looking for a true professional that will produce exceptional results, I highly recommend Emily Lotf. You...

Extremely poor customer service!

I had to reschedule my appointment twice due to medical emergencies in the family.

When I showed up for my appointment, she made me wait for 10mins outside her door. Unapologetically.

Spent 5mins max trimming my hair. I have very thin hair, but definitely can be worked upon for more than 5mins (not my first time getting a haircut).

When I expressed my disappointment, she said “You cancel your appointment twice And I can’t work with your schedule, you are so busy and mess my schedule So sorry but need to find new stylist”

So I “mess her schedule” by showing up at a time and date that she gave?? Unbelievably rude!!

And yes, +1 for one of the previous reviews, she wants to be paid in cash or Venmo. And this was never communicated by her prior to the appointment.

Answer to Emily's response:

Warning: you cannot have family emergencies if you have an appointment with Emily! Even if she knows about them, she will not understand.

It is a lie that I showed up late. That appointment was canceled by Emily, and there is no dissatisfaction on that.

It is a lie that I bargained. Emily had told me that she will quote a price once she had looked at my hair. That's exactly what happened. I paid what she asked for, no negotiations were done.

I can share text screenshots, but I am choosing to not go that far.

Businesses should work with integrity, not with lies. And they surely should educate themselves on basic manners on how to talk with customers. The texts she sent were very petty! And why, because I expressed my disappointment with my haircut. Extremely unprofessional and rude. Never have I had such an experience with any...

I went here 3 times. Emily is quite passionate about hair care. The place is conveniently located on my way home from work as well. The interior of the salon looks quite nice.

Want to know why there are so many 5 star reviews? Well, I found out.

She was very pushy with me leaving her a review each time I was there, the last time sitting across from me while my hair dye was setting and asking me again why I hadn't left her a review yet. Now feeling obligated to do so right then and there, I had to do a 5 star as she was in the middle of working on me. She also has very strong sales tactics for the products she carries that I did not appreciate.

She also had difficulty matching my hair color (blonde to dark brown) each time I visited. I finally just went darker than normal and switched back to my normal hair person who's further away. Her reasoning for not being able to color match? She says she's an artist (personally, I want the hair professional).

She's probably done fantastic work on some and has some happy clients, I'm just not one of them.

As a person, she's incredibly lovely and very sweet, which is why I debating so long changing my review and why I'm now giving 2 stars...