Rinse Salon — Attraction in San Diego

This review has nothing to do with the hair stylists, as they've done an exceptional job on my hair every time I've gone there, but more to do with the lack of transparency and incompetence from the receptionist staff.

I was a loyal customer to Rinse for over a year. I had been seeing one stylist there for awhile before she left, so I went and booked myself with someone else as I wanted to stay loyal to the salon. This was around 6 months ago. When I called the receptionist to ask if the pricing would be similar to my previous stylist, I was told yes. I ended up getting charged over $100 more than I normally paid for the same service. I understand that prices have gone up with inflation, but I was never notified on the price changes. There could've been an email blast, but I wasn't included in that.

I was definitely shocked that I had to pay more than I usually would, but one of the owners Mike did an exceptional job explaining the price increase, even comparing receipts saying that it was a possibility that the previous stylist I went to made a mistake with charging me. I know it was his goal to be transparent and he was, which I appreciated.

Fast forward to recently, I inquired about coming back for another service. I had plenty of questions to be asked since I had to see a different stylist again due to scheduling conflicts. The receptionist did a decent job answering my questions at first via text. She initially gave me wider ranges of prices and I asked her to be more specific with pricing based off the stylist/service I wanted to receive. The estimate was more expensive that the last person I saw at Rinse so I went on to ask why that was and even asked if I could receive an itemized receipt from my previous visit to compare why the prices could've gone up and I never got a reply.

I understand things get really busy and it can be quite tiresome to answer detailed questions, but as someone who has worked in customer service at a front desk, the competency and customer service aspect at this salon needs to be improved. I feel that the receptionists did not go above an beyond to make sure the prices between the two stylists I saw would be similar 6 months ago, which is why I made sure to ask more detailed questions this time around and I still feel they still didn't do the best job with that.

As a paying customer who already has to spend a lot money here, I wanted full price transparency, a better response rate, and a better sense of efficient customer service from the receptionists no matter how annoying my specific questions came off. I unfortunately feel that I still didn't get the full transparency or customer service competence from the them. I will not be a returning customer in the future, which is unfortunate because the stylists did do an amazing job on my hair whenever I came to visit. If Rinse is going to be raising their prices, the customer service from the receptionists need to be...

I have never left a bad review on a business but I'm really disappointed in my experience with Rinse salon. Photos on their social media looked great, and since I wanted a pretty simple cut and color I didn’t select a preferred stylist when I booked online, but did put a note that I wanted a Senior Stylist.

I have medium brunette hair that is 100% virgin, and I wanted to dye it much darker, borderline black with cool tones. I was very clear about what I wanted, brought in photos and everything. I also had cut my own layers previously that, no surprise, ended up not being even so I wanted the stylist to fix these as well. I stated that I did not want super blended butterfly cut layers, but clearly defined layers with fringe and again showed photos. I also said she could cut as much as she needed in order to fix the layers.

The stylist barely trimmed my layers without reshaping them at all. I asked her to add a shorter layer and she said it wouldn’t look good and so she didn’t. She never showed me the cut from the back, which I didn’t even realize until I got home and had someone take photo of it for me where I saw how uneven the layers still were. They honestly look horrible, really uneven, a blended mess and super heavy in one area. The attached photo is my hair immediately after my appointment.

When I saw the color in different light than at the salon, it still looked really warm and not dark enough. It’s clearly not even close to black and has a lot of warmth still.

When I went back to the Rinse site to find the email to ask to have my hair touched up, as is there policy if you are unhappy with it, I saw that the stylist I had was the least experienced stylist in the salon, only ranked “stylist” even though I requested a senior stylist, 3 or 4 ranks above that. This makes sense since she struggled to style the sort-of fringe she cut and actually just gave up on trying at one point.

I was really upset when I saw that, and sent an email asking if the owner would consider fixing my hair since I wasn’t given the level stylist I asked for, and didn’t feel comfortable having her cut my hair again. I also didn’t want to request a different senior stylist to redo my hair without getting fully paid, obviously.

I emailed twice, tried calling, and almost two weeks later no one from Rinse salon has gotten back to me. Really unprofessional. I’m fed up with the lack of care they gave to a new client. I won’t be going back and would advise others to try a...

This is not a review from someone that went once and had a bad experience. I've been a loyal customer for over a year, as I get my roots done about every 6 weeks. I'd always loved and raved about this salon to everyone. Well, most definitely not anymore. I'd heard complaints about the manager from various people in past but never paid attention because I'd never had a problem, until now.

My stylist left, and no one even called to tell me that either. Apparently the notes "disappeared" as to what she used on my hair. So that stylist sure won't be getting my business anywhere either moving forward. Not knowing this, I tried her new salon and hated it so I brought my business back to Rinse. I asked for the most color experienced stylist and they gave me someone who was very nice but she told me she was just an assistant not long ago. That's the most experienced stylist you have!?? When I confront the manager about this complete lie all she kept saying was she was well trained. Experience is objective - I specifically asked. So! My hair came out way darker than I came in with which is the main thing I told them I didn't want. She was obsessed with fixing some band which I never brought up (I literally don't know what she was talking about but obviously it didn't bother me). I told her not to use a specific level, she did it anyway!! From the reviews it seems like there is always an excuse. Even though it's my hair and I know it better.

When I called to have it fixed the manager just kept telling me to wash it....Um that is the most unprofessional response I ever heard. And I tried that many times. She then consulted the owner to offer me color remover which is what I first asked for but they didn't know how to apply it without getting it all over. Like what ? Is this because your most experienced stylist has 1 year!!? Lol

On top of it I listened to the manager ramble about herself and her own hair half the call. Gag.

I wasn't mad it came out wrong; it is understandable with a new stylist and sometimes it takes a bit to get it right. But to make me pay when RIGHT when she started blow drying it I Said oh hell no...she knew I hated it and now they don't even know how to fix it.

They did refund me for the root touch up but not the toner which I'm going to obviously have to get done again (even they said it).

This is how I'm treated after going there a year. I can't stand businesses that wonder why they don't have more business but treat loyal...