V&O Salon — Local services in Boston

What was worse than my haircut and color was the way I was treated by the owner Olti, who cut and colored my hair. First he was late, ok that happens but there was no apology. Then he came in a looked at me and walked away. Then came up behind me and started to look at my hair. I asked him if he was Olti. Jeeze, you would think he would say hello at least! I should have got up and left right then and there, but I didn’t. Big mistake. Right off the bat he was insulting so I became quite. I think he then realized that he was going to have to try and be nice. I had photos of styles I liked and the kind of lifestyle I live to give him an idea, however he seemed extremely uninterested, like I couldn’t possibly know what I wanted. It was his attitude and pretension that was so off putting. That’s what happens when people have no clue and try to fake it to make up for their lack of experience. In fact I wonder why he even cuts hair because he didn’t seem to enjoy it one bit. I actually think he was angry. And the way he treated his receptionist/ helper was just as insulting. Then he started with the color and got bleach on my expensive pants. No apology and my hair is fried. At one point he made a comment about a roomful of naked ladies. There was complete silence from me. I didn’t come in to spend hundreds of dollars to have a male chauvinist insult me, the woman that work there and woman in general. It’s not 1950! Hello?! Your customers would like a little pampering and to leave feeling at least a little good about their experience at your salon. The haircut. I wanted a choppy and layered bob. It was the first time I had a haircut that hurt. He did a little sectioning but wasn’t consistent and missed big swaths of my hair. Nothing was cross checked. It seems to me that he doesn’t know the basics of hair cutting. I’m left with split ends and the worst hair cut of my life. He made grand and flourishing movements and random cuts in an attempt to give me what I wanted but you need to know the basics of hair cutting to them attempt a somewhat sophisticated and technical haircut. There was so much grand standing. At the end he just walked away. No goodbye, no nothing. In fact I had to ask to receptionist if it was finished and then I asked her if I could use some product because I had a ton of fly always going straight up from the top of my head because it was fried from the bleach. He came over and told me that my hair was sticking up because of the overhead light!!!! Hysterical! And put some hairspray on it. So, like I said, what was worse than the haircut and color was the way he treated me and others. I left feeling really bad, not so much about the sh*y cut and color but because of the abusive nature. After the Bill and tip out, which I shouldn’t have tipped him but I did, it came to $300 and I feel and look like absolute st! He has absolutely zero personality, he’s angry and full of himself. Olti needs to find a new profession or go back to hairdressing school with classes on how to get repeat customers and how to be a decent human being. On a positive note, his receptionist/ aide was very sweet and attentive and gave me a great shampoo and massage. She should leave and get a job at a REAL salon. Girl, you don’t have to stay in an abusive relationship. Go and get some real salon experience. Note to self. Never make an appointment with a hair stylist whose appointment schedule is wide open. Red flag! Also, there were many 4 star reviews however I’m now realizing that it is easy for “them” to write their own reviews. Maybe the other stylists are good there but it makes me wonder why they would choose to work at a salon where this attitude prevails. I think that their clients would be put off by the bad energy here and quite frankly be bad for business. Never go to Olti at VO salon on Newbury St. in Boston unless you want to pay $300 to be insulted and have your...

I was trying to let this go, but am still so annoyed so here goes. I'm newer to the area and was recommended here by a friend (happy she had a good experience!) so thought I'd try it out. I booked a haircut online with a stylist who has 5 years experience according to the website. I'm growing out my short hair from a pixie cut and just need the back cut so I don't have a mullet situation happening. It's really not complicated for experienced stylists.

I go in, the stylist was sitting at the desk and says she'll be with me in a few minutes. Gets me coffee, super nice. I'm waiting for 15 minutes and then the owner (I'm assuming but they didn't introduce themselves) walks over to me and says that "they have an issue. The stylist I booked with doesn't do short hair" ... Wait, what? He says I might be able to get in with someone at 4:00 (30 minutes after my scheduled appointment) if the person is willing to switch. I'm kind of dumbfounded and say sure, I'll wait since I'm already here. I wait until 4:05, no one comes over or gives me any update, so I walk out. Yes, I only gave it five minutes but I had been waiting over a half hour at that point, and was honestly so upset and perplexed at how a reputable salon couldn't do my hair just because it is a shorter length. That kind of cuts a lot of potential clients out, right? I knew even if someone could get me in, I was fuming and didn't want that especially when this haircut would cost $80. If I'm paying that much, I want to come out feeling like a million bucks.

When booking, there wasn't anything online to indicate stylists couldn't do certain hair types, and I don't think there was a comment section to give your hair length/type when booking (or if there was, maybe I didn't put anything because I assumed someone with five years of experience could do short hair). I'm not going to give the stylist's name because I don't want to drag any individuals in the mud, but I've never had such an oddly bad experience at a salon (I've been getting my hair cut and dyed for over 20 years). Of course I understand stylists have preferences and stronger skill sets, but should definitely make online booking more selective if someone can't or isn't willing to do something - especially if it's just based on hair length. I was also annoyed I had to wait for 15 minutes for someone to tell me the stylist wasn't comfortable with doing short hair. Shouldn't that conversation happen immediately? I would have appreciated the honesty and probably just booked with someone else on another day at the salon. I'm a full time grad student and work two jobs so this was just a huge waste of my time and energy. Hopefully I'll find someone who can do short hair well in this town, but it definitely...

I really debated whether or not to leave this review because I frankly didn’t want to damage someone’s reputation but with 2 weeks of thinking about it and speaking with other stylists about how to fix my hair it’s entirely fair. I went to Carmen for a partial highlight with my hair in fine condition and 2 full inches of grow out. Long story short she completely fried off pieces of my hair (photo shows the biggest piece I can’t even tuck into my other hair with gel) and tried to tell me it was like that and the pieces coming out were only from the back of my head. She then told me it was essentially my fault because I had damaged hair. Firstly that’s not true at all and hair that fried off as seen in the photo only fries because the stylist over processed my hair or over lapped with old highlights. For what happened I remained relatively calm in the chair I didn’t speak and got quite and even apologized to her at the end after she stopped being aggressive with me over what happened. I needed a trim with my hair so I let her trim my hair which was a mistake because it looks like steps in the back of my head. Over all people there are polite but this should have never happened. I think owners or management really need to step in.

Edit: after posting I saw a review from 6 months ago about the stylist I saw. It said she botched her hair as you can also see from the photos. It went on to say they took measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Clearly not. Training needed or have...