Hemlock Salon & Apothecary — Local services in Atlanta

This is an updated review:

I went to Hemlock 3 times for a curly cut and style between October 2023 and May 2024, all by the same stylist, Icie Rivers. I initially picked Hemlock because of their use of organic and high quality products as well as their good reviews.

The good: The Hemlock staff is kind and attentive. The facility is clean and sophisticated. Their apothecary beverages are delightful. The haircuts were generally good.

The bad: The salon has a strict policy about clients needing to be on time, which I respect and thankfully this was never a problem for me as client, but ironically, their own stylist Icie Rivers is never on time and especially bad, she was always about 30 minutes behind schedule, which is ultra disrespectful of clients' time. It's a bit baffling that she and the salon aren't business savvy enough to adjust her available time slots according to the pace at which she works. After my first 2 visits, when the salon was using strictly Oway and R&Co Bleu, which I would consider high end luxury products based on pricing and ingredients and the use of which was a main reason I picked Hemlock, they apparently decided to do a bait and switch on customers and become an Aveda salon sometime between my January 2024 and May 2024 appointments. This happened without any notice to customers and so when I went in to my May 2024 appointment, I expected the same high quality products to be used during my appointment as the previous 2 times. In contrast, all of a sudden, the same stylist that said that previously said that a certain Oway product and R&Co Bleu product are the perfect combo for my hair now says as of my third visit that Aveda is the way to go! She admitted that the salon was likely using it now mainly because of financial incentives and apparently Aveda has great corporate coaching. I was generally aware of Aveda being known for greenwashing. Looking into it after my appointment confirmed my suspicions and additionally, publicly available information confirms that Aveda is a low quality generic product that is significantly cheaper than the others previously used by the salon. Oddly, the price of the services did not go down at this third visit and in fact, increased, with a mystery $8 surcharge getting passed on to clients (again, with no notice). True to form for a lower quality product, my style this third time didn't last even half as long as the first 2 times when the stylist/salon used the higher quality Oway and R&Co Bleu products on my hair.

I don't plan on going back to Hemlock due to this significant loss of trust and the corporate sellout Aveda branding. It's completely hypocritical and deceptive to call yourself an Ayurvedic salon and then lower your quality to a generic brand like Aveda. It makes me question what products they actually use for their newly advertised Ayurvedic services. They've been able to keep my cash, but definitely get a zero...

I just left Hemlock and had to share how awesome my experience was! Not only do I love my Haircut, I enjoyed being in this beautiful salon that feels like a forest garden and a modern tree house had a baby. It’s open, clean and airy. The shampoo chairs are a spa treatment rather than torture devices. Yes, I did get some herbal calming drops under my tongue and a spritz of aromatherapy u dear my nose before having the best massage/shampoo of my life. Even the bathroom has surprises and treasures I didn’t know I wanted to experience until I did! Also, conversation with Erin was easeful and interesting and that, my friends, is a revelation in my Salon history. I drank a Rasa Latte during my appointment. Look it up, it’s worth stopping in to drink one of these and stand and soak up all the serenity and modernity wrapped in one location. Walking out I had to observe that the haircut was the best part of an overall supreme experience. Atlanta is lucky to have Erin and Hemlock...

Regular customer of the salon...wasn't able to make my appointment....cancelled via the text message but was still then charged 100 for the full price due to my cancellation. Life happens and yes it's their time as well and I could understand a fee of some sort but charging 100 percent for a service not at all rendered seems pretty illegal. It would be different if I'd cancelled multiple times....first time customer etc. But really....life happens to us all and on top of already having to cancel due to a loved ones illness now I get to pay out of pocket for something that never happened..its just bad business and there are too many options to deal with this type of customer service and zero level of understanding...will never come back and feel its just bad business and there are too many options to deal with this type of customer service and zero level of understanding. Will be sending notification to the better business bureau and disputing the charge...