Hershesons Fitzrovia — Local services in London

After consideration and having since had two colour corrections. I feel it’s important to share my most recent experience at the Fitzrovia salon.

In the past, I’ve had amazing cuts here and would still recommend it for that.The colour service I received left my hair in need of urgent correction. The first fix, carried out by another professional elsewhere, was essentially damage control given that I had recently had bleach applied. They were genuinely shocked at the application and that the work had been done at Hershesons.

The service on the day also felt unprofessional. The colourist’s attitude, combined with the assistant’s made me uncomfortable. After having my hair washed, I was then left alone in the salon (with wet hair), apart from the front of house staff member waiting to close. I would not have agreed to that time slot if I had known the situation, this also contributed to the colourists attitude towards me as they wanted to be elsewhere, which they made clear to me. Surprisingly this was also a rescheduled appointment due to their absence.

I had to make multiple phone calls and send several emails before receiving a real response from the salon. Despite clearly explaining the problem and the need for an immediate fix, the replies I received suggested a lack of training in basic customer service. When I first called the response to me was ‘your best bet is to email’.

The experience was belittling and disappointing. While I did eventually receive a refund having had the work corrected elsewhere, there was no phone call, no genuine concern expressed, and no interest shown in what went wrong. After I made clear several times I would be getting this fixed elsewhere, after the date I clearly outlined, they came back and said they’d give me a ‘complimentary service to look at my hair’- which by then was clearly too late.

This service was unprofessional from start to finish, and a sharp contrast to the positive experiences I’ve had here before. Everyone makes mistakes and has off days, but this experience was a series of choices made by multiple members of staff. I’m still working on fixing the damage and getting my hair to a good place, which isn’t great for confidence but also comes with a continuous price.

I think it’s worth me reviewing to give a genuine reflection of experiences here considering the salon puts a lot of effort into content online/ through...

I saw Dale for the first time this week and he was phenomenal. He was very accommodating about making sure I was comfortable and was incredibly professional and easy to talk to. I really liked how he took the time to explain how to maintain the style and manage my new cut at home, something which is really important. He made sure to create a style that looks good even after I washed it at home, away from professional styling. I also loved how he kept the density of my hair and length and also provided his professional opinion in a respectful way. Definitely recommend him to anyone who wants a new haircut and feel amazing - thank you Dale and the Hershesons team!

EDIT: Wanted to add this to my review - I am incredibly disappointed by the reception staff at Fitzrovia. When I went for my fringe trim in February, I was left waiting for 45 minutes. The staff who received me through the door knew I was sat there and not one of them had even checked on me or updated me with how long I needed to wait. When I was finally received by my stylist, they apologised profusely and offered me a drink - which I appreciated - but I couldn't help but feel that's what the front of house is meant to do. Instead, they were just standing there chatting amongst themselves. They felt very unapproachable. I wasn't going to mention this at all, but then the below incident happened:

I was unable to glean the name of the receptionist on the phone, but her customer service manner was horrendous. I called to schedule my fringe trim which is free of charge if you have been with the salon before. I was told in a very rude manner "Have you been here before? You know you can't get a fringe trim if you haven't been here right?" - to which I explained I had not only been there before, but had also referred my partner who is scheduled to attend the salon. She then proceeded to mispronounce my name when clarifying who I was three of four times (despite me correcting her). It's left a bad taste in my mouth. Hershesons, please hire polite and respecful customer service people! I'm newer to the salon and this is making me question coming back. If it weren't for Dale, I would not give this place my...

I wish I'd listened to the negative reviews. And, while it seems they agreed with me that their pricing was misleading, they didn't e-mail me back or follow up with me like they said in their response, just updated their website to include the complete price for services. But this is little consolation to someone like me who already had at least 140 pounds in surprise fees added to their bills.

My first cut and colour here were fantastic. But as other reviewers have warned, this salon has a misleading way of sneaking in charges on top of what is already an expensive appointment.

To be honest, I did not realize this sooner because I knew it was an expensive salon and was so happy with the first service I didn't ask questions. However, after my most recent colour appointment, which ran late due to all staff appearing to be overbooked and the colour requiring adjustment, I learned that toners for highlights are an additional SEVENTY pound charge on top of the colour appointment. It's not included in the over 300 pound highlights price, even though this is obviously part of the colouring process.

When I reached out to the salon about the charge, they pointed out I'd paid it once already. I explained this was not clearly explained in their booking site and I would expect it to be included with the highlights price, and I didn't receive a response. Blowdrys are also not included as part of the colour process, and is not one fee for all blowouts, so be sure to ask how much it is if you call or book in the salon. This is to say nothing about another haircut I received that I couldn't look at without crying for the first 24 hours.

In short, while some of the mistakes here were mine, at this price point I can't help but feel that it would be better to go somewhere else with more consistent results and customer service that isn't seemingly oriented towards making as much money off you...