Too Groovy Salon — Local services in Atlanta

They call themselves a natural hair salon, but if your hair looks anything like Lupita Nyong'o's don't bother going in for a trim and style! They apparently aren't trained (except for the one barber) on how to cut such hair. What they seem to know how to do really well, is take your natural hair and straighten it without chemicals. That's it! If you want to wear your hair like Lupita, that's beyond their expertise. Here's how the fiasco started...

I went online and booked for a basic haircut and put in the comments that I have short natural hair and would like a trim and style. I got a 3:00 appointment scheduled on 5/4/14 with Vashonda K. When someone called to confirm the appointment I again explained that I have very short hair and would like a trim. They assured me Vashonda is a skilled hair-cutter. When I got there, I had to wait 20 minutes before Vashonda came to talk to me. I showed her pictures on my phone of Yolanda Sangweni's (from Essence Magazine) short do which I really liked. Vashonda waved her hand at me and said she can't cut my hair because it's a "barbering" cut and she doesn't do those. It requires clippers and she can't use those. I had no idea what she was talking about. All I needed was a haircut; and yes, of course it requires clippers. Where's the challenge?! I mean these are supposed to be hair experts right? Apparently, the use of clippers takes extra training and the stylists do not get that training. Can you believe that crap?! Then she said I should've mentioned I needed a barbering cut over the phone. I should've mentioned?! Nevermind that I'm not a hairdresser and don't know phrases like "barbering cut"! All I know is I have short natural african hair and need a haircut. Simple. She then left saying she'd see if the barber had time to see me. Then a manager came over and told me they had me down for a shampoo only, not a haircut, She apologized for the confusion and said the barber could see me in one hour, at 4:30. So I sat and waited because where else was I going to go. My appointment was originally set for 3:00 and I had plans with friends at 4:00. So I called my friends and told them I was running late. I sat and waited. Another employee came and said the barber Andre would stop over and introduce himself to me shortly. Guess what, he didn't. In fact he walked right past me to get his next client. 4:30 came and went. At 4:40 there were no updates from any of the staff about my haircut. My time waiting was of no concern. It's ironic how when you book online, they call you to make sure you're coming, they send texts for you to confirm your appointment, they send another reminder text on the day of your appointment. But when you're sitting in the salon wasting YOUR time, and not theirs, they don't give you any updates. It's OK for you to wait, but don't keep them waiting!! I had to flag down the same manager from earlier and ask her what was up?! She said she'd go check with Andre. She then came back and said sorry but it would be another half hour. That's TWO hours after my appointment time. Needless to say I said thanks but no thanks and walked out. I told her they should be explicit on their website when they say they do natural hair, that they CANNOT do my version natural hair.

Sad and pathetic for a black hair salon specializing in natural hair to not know what to do with my hair and to have me walk out of their salon two hours later, unserved. If all you know how to do is manipulate black hair into making it straight and wavy, you're not a natural hair salon! I'll never recommend the...

I hate to leave a 1-star review because the other stylists at Too Groovy are genuinely amazing. The vibe of the whole salon is great, and Courtney makes getting your hair done feel like a spa day. But my experience with Dyvn was so frustrating it ruined everything. When you’re spending your time and money on a service, one bad stylist really can ruin the whole experience. And that’s exactly what happened here.

A few months ago, I got knotless boho braids. The braids themselves were fine, but Dyvn refused to cut them to shoulder length like I asked. I asked her several times, several ways, and she kept saying they would unravel. I explained that every time I’ve gotten braids before, I’ve cut several inches off and never had a problem. She still wouldn’t do it. I had to go pay $30 elsewhere just to get them cleaned up. See picture 1 from the day I got them done and picture 2 after a month of wear… no unraveling at all.

Trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, I went back for boho passion twists, making sure to clarify the length ahead of time. But this time was even worse. First of all, I’m pretty sure she was on her phone looking up a tutorial for at least 10 minutes in total of our appointment. According to my family friend who’s in cosmetology school, she should’ve used hair glue to secure the boho strands and dipped the full style in hot water at the end to seal them. Instead, Dyvn told me they shouldn’t be dipped. All the human hair boho strands fell after one rinse. Both my family friend and my aunt, who gets passion twists styles all the time, said dipping them is standard—and you should be able to swim and live your life without your twists falling apart after day one!!! I’ve attached a screenshot showing Dyvn’s reasoning for why my passion twists were coming undone.

To say the least Dyvn was shocked I got passion twists so I could go swimming in the summer. 🤨🤨 as if its not a protective style.

Not only was the quality of both styles disappointing, but the prices made it worse. The passion twists were $330 (including the hair) and the knotless boho braids were $370 not including the hair. While those prices aren’t unheard of, they’re definitely on the higher end—and for that, you expect professional results. Instead, I left with styles that weren’t finished properly and had to spend extra time and money fixing them afterward. At that price, sloppy work and excuses just aren’t acceptable.

Courtney is by far the best hairstylist I’ve ever worked with. I’ve learned so much about my hair from her and I always leave feeling better than when I walked in. I would give her 10 stars if I could. The other stylists at Too Groovy are also amazing, and the salon itself is super fun and welcoming. But unfortunately, as long as Dyvn is braiding there, I won’t be back for braids.

Oh, and she’s also consistently about 20 minutes late 💀. Please charge teaching school prices for teaching school work.

Edit: If there was any confusion as I forgot to mention this, the passion twists that she re-did came undone as well. I had to twist and dip it myself, and pay $30 elsewhere to get half my...

I got my hair done at Too Groovy a few days ago and dissapointed would be a gross understatement.

I scheduled my appointment online and followed up with a phone call to confirm that the style I had booked was the correct one. I asked the lady I spoke with if I could text her a picture of the style. She agreed, so I sent her a picture of my hair and the look I was going for. She confirmed it was, and said that the stylist I was booked with was one of their best.

My appointment was scheduled for 8am. I took a half day off of work to give myself ample time. The stylist was 30 minutes late due to traffic so the manager agreed to give me 25% off of my service.

I have naturally curly hair and wanted to achieve a more elongated large curl for a special event that I was hosting the following day. My hair was washed and put into flexi rods. I sat under a dryer for an hour and a half and when the rods were removed I had little tiny curls stuck to my scalp that resembled starter locs. Several people commented on how cute the coils were but all I kept thinking was - this looks nothing like what I asked for! I told the stylist how I felt and she said she could try to elongate them. She brushed through my hair with her fingers until my hair became an afro. Then she tried curling the back with a curling iron. I could tell she really wanted to fix it but at this point I had spent 4 hours in the salon and had to go back to work. She then told me that the look I wanted all along could be achieved with the right product. Really?

I got another shampoo and she put a gelee product from design essentials in my hair. She said it would dry into an elongated curl (It didn’t) When I checked out (while holding back tears) the lady at the front desk looked up at me, stared for about 10 seconds and said- “you tell me”. She took the stylist to the side for a brief moment and came back with the price of $30 dollars for the shampoo. In hindsight I should have refused to pay anything at all. I spent 4 hours at a salon to get my hair washed and my curls “enhanced” only to spend 60 dollars the very next day to get my hair styled somewhere else.

Too groovy has a a gorgeous shop and people you can tell are trying to get the customer service thing right, but if you know that you can’t do a hair style or a certain technique is not your thing- you really do owe it to your customers and stylists to get that part right because people don’t have the time and certainly not the...