Salon Zen — Local services in Charlotte

First let me say that this review is meant to be fair and unbiased, and that's my personal experience- for others it could be different and hopefully a lot better than what I experienced... I was so excited about finding this place and Tracey Torres was my hairstylist. Initially, she did a wonderful job styling and cutting my hair short and I was very happy with going back to her.

The trouble started when I got my hair styled into a quick weave. Before installation, I asked her twice whether or not it would damage my hair and she both times she assured me that it would not. After gluing the extensions directly onto my real hair using a hardening gel, the style lasted about 1-2 months and I went back to Tracey to get it taken down. She was rushing that day to get to her son's basketball game and did not properly condition my hair long enough before combing the extensions out. After rubbing the towel on my head, glue became matted onto my real hair and she snipped/tore it out, causing a HUGE shiny bald spot (about the size of a medium size candy bar) on the side of my hair. This happened on Feb. 06, 2016.

I waited a few months to see if it would grow back and used her advise of rubbing Jamaican black castor oil into my hair. Three months have gone by and I STILL have a huge bald spot with little to no hair growth. I went to the dermatologist and they said that they didn't see any hair follicles present for it to grow back, that there was scar tissue, and it looked like it was ripped from my head. They mentioned that it looked to be permanently damaged. I called Crystal to get my money back or receive treatments to grow my hair back in and although Crystal offered for the first one to be free, she said the rest I would have to pay out of pocket. That is unprofessional and super wrong. I should not have to suffer because of one of her employees lack training in versatile styles and had an error in judgement. Crystal was more concerned about the price of her business than any reparation made to a loyal customer. It's not right. I walked in with a head full of hair and now I have permanently damaged hair. Now I'm paying money out of pocket with steroid treatments to hopes that my hair will regrow and spending money on wigs to cover up Tracey's mistake.

In addition, as an unhappy customer I sought legal action. Crystal does not have business insurance, so watch out and be careful. If they ever make a mistake on your hair, you'll have to figure it out on your own and you may find yourself in my situation. When you walk into a hair salon, you're supposed to walk out feeling confident and great about your hairstyle. Right now all I feel is just extremely low and super embarrassed because of my huge bald spot. Salon Zen is more concerned about aesthetics than the actual health of your hair. If I were you and you cared anything at all about your hair, I would stay far away...

I don’t usually post reviews and decided to go ahead and post my experience. Scheduling was easy however service not good. I went at a time when most of the beauticians were at a hair show. I was doing the big chop so I emailed the lady the exact cut I wanted when I made the appointment. I came in for my appointment and I asked her did she remember the haircut I wanted. Her response was “oh yea I do that cut all the time” so I trusted her. Keep in mind I have natural hair no color or relaxer. Fast forward...it wasn’t even close to the cut I wanted and my bangs were heat damaged. I couldn’t wear my wet and go look bc my bangs were so straight and I had little straight pieces throughout. I dont ever plan to go back to salon zen bc I had to shave what was left of my hair off and start completely over. Recently I went to a beautician in Gastonia for a blowout and I received the exact results I wanted: NO HEAT DAMAGE. All I have to say is ladies do your research. Pic #1 is my hair with heat damage pic #2 was my hair after I received a blowout after doing absolutely nothing to my hair for a yr for fear that someone was going to damage it again. Goes to show you that some people know what they’re doing and others don’t need to be in...

The environment is comfortable and the staff is friendly however they grossly overcharge on hairstyles. I went in for a simple color and Rod set style. The color cost $25 and I was told that the rod set was $45 so I'm expecting to spend a total of $70, no problem. My hair is about 4 inches in length, I have a small afro.... so the hair stylist finishes my hair and proceeded to charge me $93. I asked her why am I being charged $93 for a simple color and a roller set (she used regular rollers nothing different or unusual, just regular rollers that I can buy at a Dollar store okay and I'm being charged $93 for this). I told her that I was quoted around $70 and I thought that was reasonable. They would not budge on the price.... that's ridiculous. I paid $93 for color and someone to put rollers in my head!! I could have did that myself at home!!!!! they are GROSSLY OVERPRICED and I will never go...