Gusto Hairdressing Covent Garden — Local services in London

I’ve never left a negative review before, but my recent haircut experience was terrible. Despite my efforts to guide the hairdresser AFTER SHE ASKED ME WHAT TO DO NEXT when she realised she'd messed up, she still cut unevenly, leaving me with a choppy, short and uneven, unblended fringe that is twice the thickness and half the length it should be after all the salvage attempts. I felt overwhelmed and sad by her comments blaming me by saying it's just my hair being too fine or she doesn't know why it's jumping up shorter so only i would know how to style it (and kept trying to stick in down with mousse?!) She also said i wanted it just above the eyebrow... so its what i asked for... yet the shortest bit is nearly on my hairline!! And i never asked for full fringe. This isn’t even a full fringe, i dont know what it is. I was asked to pay extra for her blow dry on top of my prepayment (totalling £50) after Antonia said it would work on showing where the fringe could be blended. It didnt work, obviously and she said there was no hair left to blend with??? She wouldn't stop cutting because that was the only way to even it out, I told her several times "we can leave it now, thank you". I had to get out of there and have never felt this bad after a cut but really shouldn't have paid. I paid simply so i could leave.

I don't know what to do with this Manny ice-age / Lord Farquard combo, it's genuinely so awful to have to go to work with this and I've also cancelled a date because of the cut until I can figure out how to make it somewhat acceptable. It looks like a mushroom when my hair is down.

We had agreed on a simple trim and reshape, feathering the front which my curtain bangs would blend into (which is the cut i went in with), with a middle part as I've always had. But she instead cut my hair far too short and failed to blend it properly, turned it into a full fringe, then tried to force it to side part and I reminded her we had it split in the middle which she acted surprised at even though we'd cut with a middle part!!! When I politely pointed out the unevenness she dismissed my concerns and even blamed my hair after agreeing she could cut it and follow the shape I already had! The final result looked amateurish, worse than when i cut my own hair at 7 years old. She didn't measure the fringe before cutting, she just went in with one hand, judging by eye and didn't even stretch the hair out to check angle and length. I didn't even get the chance to stop her. She randomly just snipped before even checking the hair or checking with me. There's also a really blunt cut at the bottom with no feathering so now my hair sits like a frizzy rectangle. I've never come out with a whole new (awful) style after asking for a trim.

I hope the stylist Antonia takes a class on curtain bangs or looks at her colleague's work, as this experience was unacceptable. This is genuinely constructive advice as no one should feel like this or pay for this lack of skill and service. I will not return and hope they can see this pic and offer a refund because no one can justify this. Now that I've come to terms that I can't fix it, I'm going to demand a refund. I hate that I have to post before and after pics but they speak for themselves. Reception was also awkward, I had three people ask me the same questions one after the other really abruptly as they just weren't checking the right name or hair length that I'd specified, acting like I hadn't paid the correct amount. AFTER...

DO NOT GO TO THIS PLACE!!!! From the start my experience with them was unpleasant. I needed to get my hair done before my trip and found this place via Treatwell. I saw it had a 4.5 star rating out of 5K+ reviews and assumed it would be a decent place to get my pre-existing balayage topped up and toned and have my hair trimmed, since my usual salon was booked out for the weekend. I called the salon directly instead of booking it through the Treatwell app and explained to the lady on the phone (who I assume is also the manager) what I needed, she was rude from the start. Before I got to the salon I called and advised I was running 10 mins late due to traffic and spoke to the same rude lady who sounded very annoyed with me and said how I may not be seen to if I'm more than 10 mins late, or that I just won't get the blow dry I asked for. Once I got to the place (only 9 mins late) and I wasn't even greeted for 15 mins, because my hairdresser was running behind. My hairdresser was an older lady who could barely speak english and was a fill in for the day (a fact I only found out about later). I explained to her a few times what I wanted and how I only needed a slight balayage top up and each time she assured me by saying she understood perfectly. She struggled with the whole procedure, from brushing my hair, to sectioning it and of course bleaching it. It was quite obvious that she had never done balayage before and whenever I questioned her worrisome techniques (such as blending the bleach with her finger) she assured me that she has 25 years of hairdressing experience and that I should trust her. Once my hair was washed and toned I raised my concerns as there was a sharp line of orange bleach on my roots, she tried to convince me that it looked "beautiful" and got very shaken/upset with me when I made it clear that I wasn't happy at all. When she cut my hair I literally wanted to cry because she cut it in 5 mins and made it so uneven despite me telling her to trim only half a centimetre. I should've gotten up and walked out of that salon the moment I got there, but I was constantly reassured by this lady that she was an expert and that she understood perfectly what I wanted. This below is what my hair looked like after... The rude manager lady only gave me the toner for free and a few discounts for my next visit (lol). I shouldn't have payed for this, but it was my own fault for booking a place that seemed too good to be true. You cannot have prices like that for a decent balayage. Because that requires a lot of time, skill and expertise. This salon does not take that into account when booking in their fill in hairdressers for the day. Please do your research and only go to places you trust. If you sense the stylist is a little off, just stop them and walk out. Never again will I...

Horrible Horrible experience! I feel I just threw away £200, not only they are for no reason expensive they have extremely pushy staff who want u to accept what they did is what u had asked for, although tou are showing them the picture to compare themselves. They can gang up on u to make u feel what 'you are feeling' is absolutely wrong because they apparently know more! I had sent a picture before booking to ensure they can help me achieve the look I want and they confirmed that they could on the phone. I went twice wasting my time traveling all the way because on day 1 all that colouring & cut wasn't possible! There was no proper communication as to what they will do exactly or what will be the colour outcome, they only showed me the current colour of my hair and what they will do is a mix of colours! Clearly I was NOT happy of the outcome which they could see ,but all they would try was to ' make me believe that it looks awsome and I am mistaken on understanding that this is what I asked for! I mean simply put, if u did what I asked for I would have been Happy.. so apart from lack of giving clarity the attitude was horrindous where they pushed me to believe that ask others it looks nice on u, but about about me ? I look at myself in the mirror and I need to like myself not others??? It was sooo senseless to me... the name itself doesn't sell , it the write skills & attitude your staff must have to be successful! I feel the staff there is too old and think what they're doing and knowing is the best! I can literally see the bleach in my hair and the colour , cut and look is nowhere close to the picture I showed, they totally ruined my special day as I told the. This was for my birthday I was treating myself..I was told I should ask my guests how great I look, I mean hello really? I need to seek validation from others on my look where clearly I am not happy..they offered me a solution to tone down the colour but that meant staying back another hour which wasn't possible for me or come back after the weekend in which my birthdaywas already ruined..anyway I am not gonna go back to such unprofessional people again ever in my life. I already booked at Tony & guy to...