Gene Juarez Salon & Spa - University Village — Attraction in Seattle

Tl;dr: UW girlies, women with standards, & anyone without an established stylist - do NOT waste your $$$ or time here!!

I'm highly disappointed in what'll be my last time coming to GJ. This is the WORST customer experience I've ever had at this specific location. The unprofessionalism from my stylist was baffling to say the least. I asked for simple curtain bangs, face framing bits, and a trim on the ends (with reference images shown) and left with choppy hair so short in the front that on one side it is a literal SIDEBURN. Singular. Meaning the cut wasn't even symmetrical even after all of the irreparable hair damage from over-straightening my wavy-ish hair. I wear a baseball hat now to work and anytime anyone asks why, I tell them the name of this location and to NEVER go there. I contacted management 3 weeks ago and haven't heard back once. I don't want to see y'all comment under this post for lip service. Do better.

From the jump, I noticed how poor my main stylist’s communication and methods were. They seemed to be awkwardly picking up pieces of hair and cutting so close to my skin I was afraid I was going to be poked in the eye by a pair of shears. The sectioning of hair was also done absolutely haphazardly, not cleanly throughout all the steps of the cut and style.

After a while of them guesstimating what they should do next, they began to rough blow-dry my hair. Things took another turn south, as this person clearly didn't care to be gentle with me. My hair was pulled and ripped to the point where I saw so much of my hair stuck on the handle of the round brushes used. During this time I got smacked in the face about 5 times by the hair dryer cord, and only 2 of those times came with a “sorry about that”.

After they were done drying, more mistakes from their work became visible that they thought would be solved with more cutting and straightening my hair to death. My haircut was turning out so poor, and the hesitation from my stylist as they cut off more and more of my hair until it had turned into an asymmetrical abstract piece forced me to recommend bringing another stylist around for another set of eyes.

As I waited for someone to come and assess the situation, they began joking around as if there were anything appropriate to be laughing at in that moment. Specifically, to cut the tension (that they had created by barely talking to me during the visit) they playfully asked “so… do you like dogs? I don’t know what else to say ahah” as I was contemplating how I was going to cover up the mess I’ve been put in for the next months to year of growing out this painfully awful haircut.

After I pointed out to them that they needed to follow their mentor’s demonstrated technique, they slowly apologized to me and literally said, “sorry for giving you sideburns… it’s been one of those days.” Bad work is bad work and their off day shouldn't come at my expense—especially for the price I’m paying at this salon. I feel so dismissed as a customer that this stylist admitted to their mistakes but didn't seek help independently, nor was much communicated with me unless I directly said something to them and even then nothing changed the outcome.

After a certain point, I gave up on trying to point out how asymmetrical my haircut had become and accepted fate. When I stood up to get out of the chair, hair trimmings were still all over my neck, collar, and face AFTER the bib was taken off. I had to ask for a towel so I could clean myself up, as the stylist did nothing to help. Almost all of what’s listed above was avoidable, but proper steps weren't being taken and corners were cut at my expense.

I’ve waited weeks to cool off from that appointment to see if the effects of that haircut have changed. They haven't. I still have an awful haircut that isn't suitable and still had a nightmare experience at your salon. As the weeks have passed, I’ve noticed beyond normal breakage created from the blowout, which is a constant reminder of this stylist's messy handling of multiple tools in hand, and disregard for...

This salon is very unprofessional. I was treated so poorly by the staff here. Tina who I scheduled with, and other staff members were actually listening in on the phone call, where another staff member called me to cancel my appointment. They laughed at me in the background of the call as I became upset about it. I was doing everything I could to prep for my appointment the night before and this morning after driving over an hour away to just get into a consultation. Because that’s where the call center told me to go. Allison who saw me at the Bellevue location (where the call center told me to go) said that the only availability for my timeline was with Tina, but she was located in this salon. I was actually excited because it was a better location for where I live (which I asked for a Seattle location when talking to the call center).

Tina called me that night and talked to me for 15 minutes about my hair and was obviously feeling reluctant about the appointment. I offered to come in early before my appointment so she could look at my hair, but she told me it would be fine. Instead of seeing me she asked someone else to call and cancel with me, laughing with other staff who were listening in on the phone conversation when I became upset.

I feel so mistreated and like I’ve been tossed around to multiple locations and ultimately treated like a joke, when I was so hopeful to have my hair finally done by professional for my birthday. My partner was going to help pay for it as a present for me which was so sweet as it was going to cost $175 an hour for Tina’s hourly and the treatment would be over 4 hours. But I was told by the staff who they made call me, that Tina was a ‘new colorist’ and worried about ruining my hair. With the laughter in the background and the fact that she declined my offer to come in early for her to do a consult it’s clear to me that she actually just didn’t want to do the work. Instead she wanted to treat me like an unreasonable ‘Karen’ with her coworkers and laugh at my frustration after I followed Allison’s instructions to prep my hair for the appointment the night before and morning of.

This experience just reinforces to me how people in the beauty industry can be so petty and mean. Don’t go here and support people who...

What a disappointing experience I had at this location. As a long time Gene Juarez client, I’ve been super happy with previous services but hadn’t been in in a while due to serious health issues. I was very excited to schedule a full foil after months of basically living at the hospital and looking and feeling my worst ever. My colorist Dylan, was a little unfriendly and seemed to be in a bad mood. No problem, we all have off days. I realized I was in trouble when she literally left me with my head in the shampoo bowl for more than 5 minutes with freezing cold hair to wait for her assistant to finish the shampoo( huh???) and then never returned after my haircut to check her work. This is a senior colorist. The color she gave me looked terrible and was not a full foil but a partial balayage. Feeling pretty out of it (still in recovery & a little light headed from the appointment) I paid over $500 and left without realizing I completely overpaid and I did not get the service j paid for. It’s now over a week later and even though I’ve called multiple times and emailed photos to prove I did not get the service I paid for, I still don’t have a refund or any resolution to this simple, straightforward issue. Extremely disappointed.

*update 03/05…still no response at all from Gene Juarez so I’ve formally submitted a dispute of charges with my credit card company. I’m shocked at the total lack of accountability for essentially stealing money from me with such a gross overcharge and zero response (other than an initial offer to “fix” my hair—no, refund me the difference like a normal business would)

FOLLOW UP:

Despite the business response I never received any communication from them or resolution and my credit card company just returned the money to me as if a thief had stolen it. Absolutely amazing in the worst way possible. Shame on you,...