Salon Eighty8 — Local services in Chicago

Hi, I went to Ingrid for a partial balayage on Thursday. I attached the photo here of what I wanted vs what I got. I was aiming for an ashy blonde tones with dimension, and I stressed that I did NOT want any brassy/orange tones in my hair. My hair is very black so I completely understand that it may take a while to get to that stage, but Ingrid said that she can do it and made no mention of coming in for multiple sessions. She did a decent job and at the salon I did not notice anything at first. Once I got home and saw it in better lighting, I noticed that there was a giant clump of color on only one side and it was orange (I was fine with the other side). I went back to have it corrected and both her and her manager agreed on the issue that it was not blended and was a completely different color.

Once corrected, the dimension was fine and blended properly, but it still looked a little orange. I mentioned this at the end to Ingrid and she just smiled and said nothing. I showered 48 hours after the correction (as reccomended) and my hair looks so orange and brassy in random places. Especially the area she corrected, it’s now a completely different color than the back (it’s brassy and the back is more blonde). Also, my whole left side is darker and more brassy/orange, while the other side is more blonde and brighter, so both sides of my head don’t even match. You cant see as much in the pictures but I tried to highlight the areas attached. I had mentioned that I REALLY DONT want any brassy/orange peices and she said that’s fine, she’ll make them cooler tones. This isnt the color I wanted at all and now i have to go to a different place to correct it because I don’t trust her to correct, especially since I have already gone back once to correct it and it still looks brassy and orange. I feel bad writing this because she was very sweet and kind and spent time to fix it, but I would not recommend her for black hair as I don’t think she is able to achieve a balayage on dark hair without it looking brassy. Im currently okay with one side that is more blonde, but I am upset that the other side is brassy and does not match.

(First photo is what I wanted, the rest are my hair)

EDITING in response to the salon: I want to stress that at the time of the correction, the rest of my hair looked fine and even the chunk that turned orange was only a LITTLE brassy at the time, and when I mentioned that and Ingrid didn’t say anything, I said whatever it’s fine. My hair AT the salon was not an issue.

The orange tones showed up AFTER my first shower, which should not happen. I have gotten my hair bleached a variety of colors/times and never has it turned orange after the first wash. Also, I was never offered any home care products to combate brassiness, she only offered me treatments for dry/damaged hair, not the color. And I understand that aftercare includes blue shampoo to combat brassiness, so that isn’t the problem either.

Again, I understand that the exact replica cannot be achieved, but hair turning complete brassy/orange after the first shower is not a good testament of a proper balayage job.

I also think some responsibility falls on the stylist to do the best job possible and correct any errors they see. When I went in for my correction, she noticed it was chunky and orange but didn’t say anything the day before. She also even had a photo to show the intern what it looked like before the correction (she took photos after the balayage job the day before). She said “here you can see the chunky and orange, this is what it looked like before and this is what we’re correcting”, so if she agreed there were wonky pieces and had photos of it, as a stylist some responsibility falls on her to have said the day before “hey this looks a little wonky let me fix it” and do the best...

I found this place on tik tok and then carefully went through everyone’s instagram and chose someone who had more pictures of what I was looking for.

Eventually, I booked online. I sent in a reference photo and committed to a 40 minute commute.

When I arrived, it was pleasant , but when I sat in the chair, the consult was 10 minutes and the stylist convinced me to basically not get what I want. I wanted a shorter shoulder length cut and said it would be hard to achieve the layers I want and then proceeded to tell me it was an extra $30 for thick hair. Okay, I’ll get a bit more length. I had already commuted 40 minutes so I agreed to the extra length and cost.

At the bowl during my shampoo, she just kept bringing up my thick hair as if it was an inconvenience. She was sweet but to be bringing this up again and again I just felt so defeated. I specifically picked my stylist after careful research and wanted to support a Latina stylist.

We get to cutting and that was fine. The convo was fun and good, but we get to the bang territory and that did not bode well. It’s very short and kept cutting after styling because it wasn’t falling well. Eventually we blow it out and I just was like “it’s fine, I style it differently at home”

She eventually asked me to look in the mirror and tell her if I wanted anything fixed , but at this point I would’ve cried. I wanted to bolt out as fast as possible and did not want to be in that chair any longer. I decided to just say it’s fine and pay and get out because I was so overwhelmed with disappointment and definitely would have had a meltdown and cried.

I washed and restyled after I got home and it does not look any better or anything like I wanted. I basically got my hair trimmed for $120 (71 for the cut, 30 for the extra for THICK HAIR, and 20 in tip).

I will not be coming...

When I first arrived, the staff was very friendly and quickly greeted me. Throughout my service, the management and stylists asked if I could use refreshments. They certainly created a very welcoming environment.

My hair stylist, Ingrid, asked me numerous questions throughout my partial balayage/highlight appointment. I found that I had never been asked some of these questions during a service. She was very resourceful and helped explain in detail. I could tell she valued my opinion and has been training diligently to perform well.

I love to go blonde. Certainly, my hair is not as eye-popping blonde as I have been in the past (view first photo compared to second), but the color tends to fade as my hair loses the tone. I do add toning shampoo to help reduce the ashiness. Nonetheless, I think the color looks very pretty. My only concern is I may need to do another follow up visit sooner than my previous. After reviewing my photos from earlier in the week, I noticed she did a very good job keeping the color consistent (compare the third and fourth photos). There’s not a lot of change, but you can tell she fixed my money pieces and brought up the color a bit so it looks natural and the hair can continue growing out for a few months. Overall, I think she did a good job and the service was wonderful. I would definitely...