Salon Mario Russo - Seaport — Local services in Boston

If you have long, dense, fine hair, read this.

I honestly feel really bad writing this review because the stylist (Julie) was very kind and friendly, and I do think she tried. Unfortunately, I don't think this salon was equipped to deal with my hair type -- it's quite long and straight, very dense (there is a lot of it) and each strand is quite fine, so it struggles to hold a curl. I came in for a blowout ahead of a black tie event. I came 15 mins early and ended up waiting for quite a while as the appointment before me was running late -- this was no big deal, but I had another appointment 2h after my scheduled start time, and I think this ended up being a contributing factor. I explained that I was hoping for big, bouncy hair, with lots of volume, and I was hoping some large curls / waves (think 90s supermodel hair). Julie let me know that with my hair type, large curls would be difficult as the hair is heavy -- I was a bit surprised, since other stylists had managed before, but said ok, that's fine, as long as I get volume. The wash seemed fine, until I was back in the chair and my hair got very tangled. It took a long time to get that sorted - that should've been a red flag for me since my hair doesn't usually get THAT tangled unless I am getting it bleached or something. After Julie got my hair semi-dry, she tried blowing it out with a medium-sized round brush, but the hair didn't seem to hold the shape, so she opted for a curling iron. This is where my biggest disappointment came. First, the shampoo / conditioner combo left my hair feeling both dry and sticky at the same time. Julie said that the washer had chosen the wrong conditioner for my hair, but that this was good and would help the curls hold (? not sure the logic there). Julie spent a good chunk of time using the curling iron and created some nice-looking curls, but not at all what I had been looking for. There was absolutely no volume anywhere on my head (I think the shampoo / conditioner combo made that even worse), my hair was quite frizzy and dry, with the back of my head feeling really sticky. I asked Julie if there was anything we could do to add volume (I was thinking maybe use a large round brush, or curlers or something, because my hair looked practically slicked to the top of my head), but Julie said it wasn't going to be possible. To top it off, my hair smelled really bad (like fishy, or burnt hair smell), to the point that I commented to Julie that I think it smells burnt, but she said its just the hair spray. She ended up putting a load of nice smelling hair spray on it but it didn't cover up the scent. By this point, it was already 2h after my appointment was supposed to start, and I was in a rush to get to my next appointment. I think if we had started earlier, maybe something could've been done, but it wasn't possible at this point. By the time I got home an hour later, my curls had completely disappeared and my hair was bone straight, feeling sticky, and smelling absolutely awful. The worst bit was it felt dry and damaged, and I noticed that some of the tangles weren't properly brushed out and ended up just getting curled over, resulting in a mess on my head. I was very sad, spent some time crying, as I had no styling tools (not even a hairdryer) at home, and was at a complete loss of what to do, with washing my hair and letting it air dry not being an option ahead of the event due to timing. I am left very disappointed as I paid $80 for what is supposed to be a pretty basic service at any...

Abysmal experience, the staff need an immense amount of training before they allow anyone through those doors.

My appointment was with Kathleen. It started with me being unhappy with how my hair was being washed and suggesting how I like it to be washed. Instead of listening to what the client wants, Kathleen snickered with her male colleague above my head.

After being seated, I was positioned facing the wall. In my entire 62 years of age, getting my hair done professionally for at least the last 45 years, I have never been positioned facing the wall for my entire appointment, like a punished child in a classroom. Not only is this utterly disrespectful, but when I asked if I could face the mirror, Kathleen’s response was “it’s easier for me this way” and she locked the seat! If I wanted to face a corner for my entire hair appointment, I would not have picked a high end hair salon.

In spite of this, I kept quiet and distracted myself with work emails on my phone, only to be interrupted with the curling iron burning my ear. I understand that to err is human (we all make mistakes at work in spite of our experience). However, what was totally unacceptable was how this was handled when I impulsively held my hand to my ear and described that it burnt; Kathleen’s response was “no, I didn’t”. Not only is it incredibly patronizing, when a mere apology would have been totally fine, there wasn’t even the slightest acknowledgement of my pain. Instead, utter denial and her voice being raised in a rude way that I don’t think would have happened if anyone senior was supervising.

As you know, a luxury hair salon experience is one that actually underlines the importance of the experience from beginning to end. I felt incredibly unwelcome, and so I asked my obviously disgruntled hairdresser Kathleen if she would prefer that I leave, and the response I got back was “if you want to leave, then leave”. This is not the kind of professionalism I believe you train your staff to conduct themselves with. The entire ordeal ended with Kathleen hollering at me like a banshee, in front of the entire staff and customers, again just because I made the mistake of booking a standard blow out appointment at this far from classy establishment.

If it wasn’t for Anna who witnessed everything, and even tried to calm things down, I’m pretty sure things would have escalated and compelled me to call the police given how fiercely and loudly Kathleen was attacking me. I have only compliments for Anna, and much respect for her maturity, professionalism and...

After having to reschedule when incorrectly booked at the wrong salon, my second appointment was cancelled when colorist took Ill. Was assigned a different colorist that was promised to be great. I arrived and informed colorist of preferred look. I know that sometimes coloring needs to be done in stages to achieve desired look and when I explained this upon original booking was given adequate time. On this occasion, I was not and hurried with a color result that was not only opposite of what was requested but was really what the colorist felt like doing. Pretty color, but not what asked for. The shampoo woman attacked my head. Water everywhere, jerky grabs at my poor little dome, I thought I was going to have to ask if she was ok. And while waiting to bask in my color results, (in between their loud lunch eating and gaggle gossip which was so loud I felt like I was in a high school cafeteria) the colorists kept peeking in telling me just how trendy I was going to be. Bizarre. I just wanted blonde hair. The blow out at the end was the best I've ever gotten so one star there. I begrudgingly accepted the hair result because I knew who was going to and how it was being fixed and then I got to the register to pay. Now, I am willing to pay for good color but my jaw dropped when hearing how much. Not worth it. I was never even consulted for a follow up to get my preferred look. Another star for...