Aveda Institute South Florida — Local services in Davie

I never write bad reviews (i know, that sounds like a line from someone who ALWAYS writes bad reviews but honestly I never do. I write positive reviews usually because i feel people mainly focus on the negative) but I am going to for this experience. So I went in for a color correction. Backstory - at my fault i tried coloring my hair blonder. It came out how i wanted it except my roots. So figured I’d go get them done properly instead of putting more chemicals in my hair and not knowing what I’m doing. I made an appointment online - easy enough. Showed up to my appointment and was greeted very friendly. My student (not going to mention names because she was very sweet) took me to my seat and asked what I’d like done to my hair. Then the teacher came over for a consultation. I explained my backstory. Basically my roots came out a little ginger. I didn’t care what they did as long as i wasn’t ginger anymore (nothing against gingers- i just don’t rock it well). She gave me two options , they could completely re-dye my hair but would damage my hair. Or they could do highlights and tone it which might make my hair a little darker then i wanted but less maintenance and damaging. So i went with option two. Like i said i honestly didn’t care as long as it wasn’t ginger anymore. Of course, the teacher tried upselling everything and products. I agreed to a hair cut and a conditioning treatment. As a heads up, It takes a long time but i was well aware of that and made sure i didn’t have anything planned. Anyways, the teacher came over a few times to check up on the student and told her what to do. Then they washed my hair and put toner in. They had another teacher decide the toner. And then the conditioning treatment (which don’t think was washed out properly as my hair was still covered in it when i left) We go back to the seat and I’m shocked. It’s the first time being able to see my hair (had foils on before and then was being washed) and it looked ginger still. The student did a fine job cutting my hair , i just had a trim but have no complaints about that. She then blow dried it. My ears and forehead still had dye on it but i was able to wipe that off myself. Not a big deal , figured she’ll pick up on that with experience. The big deal was my hair - it looked ridiculous. It was grey ! I am 26 years old and had grey hair. Except the roots... the were like a golden/ginger color. I looked like i belonged in the circus. The student takes me to the teacher, who looks me dead in the eyes and tells me it looks good. I mentioned i wasn’t thrilled with it and it was not the color i wanted but she explained that if i wait 4-5 weeks i can get it redone again and it’ll look better. After 5 hours of being there, i just wanted to go home. I was in tears. I think there was a clause that if you say something within 24 hours they will correct it for free - but honestly the teachers were the ones telling the students EXACTLY what to do and then told me it looked good. No thanks , can’t imagine they would do a better job. If I’d left with brown hair, i would of been happier. I’ve been going to the same hair dresser all my life and recently moved within walking distance to Aveda. My expectations weren’t high so i figured how bad could it be ?! I was wrong . It can be a disaster. I’ll take this as a lesson learned. Hoping this review will help other who may be in a similar situation. I have a professional job that there was no way i could show up to work with my hair the way it was. I ended up having to go to a salon and getting it fixed. Save yourself the money and just go straight to a salon. On another note - for trims, or maybe even facials it might be worth it. I’m giving two stars - only because of how friendly the front desk was and the student. And...

03/28/2019- The appointment I made in person 3 days ago for today was not honored. As others have outlined on Yelp, I showed up 45 minutes early for an appointment that did not exist. A woman at the desk said she'd look into what happened to see why my appointment with Jessica L.- in addition to Jessica L. leaving early for the day- did not go forward. She never advised me of a reason so I told her I knew why. Specifically, I told her the person at the desk named Kayla (with the big necklace Ashley made for her) wrote my appointment date & time on an appointment Card, handed it to me, but never input the appointment into the computer system. Then Kayla herself appeared today (03/28/2019) and claimed "we've been having problems with our system." I didn't buy Kayla's excuse. I felt bad for another woman customer today who showed up for a supposed appointment, as I did, only to be turned away.

The woman at the desk who wasn't Kayla had told me early on today that if any 5 o' clock cancellations took place she would try to get me in but she would NOT know until 5:15 PM because Aveda has to wait fifteen (15) minutes after a scheduled appointment to dock someone before giving the appointment to someone else. At 5:15 PM I approached the desk again to ask that woman if she new whether she could get me in or not. She says "yeah, yeah SHE knows." I had to ask who the SHE was that she was speaking of. Soon my new cosmetologist came to get me. In another hour and a half I was done. This was a terrible fiasco for me and even worse for that other customer, a school Teacher, who was completely "turned away." I find it interesting that the person who made the reservation mistake- Kayla- is the only Aveda person who spoke of numerous problems with "the system." No accountability here.

At my recent appointment (March 2018) I was told something here about what service is included with what I reserved for. In the past, I was told a Hand Massage comes with colour. Now I am told there are a variety of De-stressors to choose from so a Hand Massage is not necessarily automatically included. Do Aveda employees just make this stuff up as they go along? Anyway, when I arrived I asked for a Hand Massage. The Master student tending to me sure did not know how to do Hand Massages. She barely put any lotion on it so it was a near dry hand massage lasting about 45 seconds per hand. A complete joke for a so-called hand massage! The actual colour and cut service seemed to go okay EXCEPT for the part where my student left shampoo suds in the back of my hair that the Educator (Teacher) detected so I had to go back to the bowl (sink) to have my hair rinsed a second time. A few days after my service I looked in the mirror and noticed colour coverage is really lacking at the temples where sideburns are close to my ears. I will have to make sure that doesn't happen next time I go. Yes, I will come here again and have been a Customer here for about ten (10) years. Just wish I could look forward to a nice Hand Massage at my appointments but actually getting a Hand Massage can be a...

Highly dissapointed with my time here. My first disappointment was the most expensive. 2,500$ for a below standard equipment kit that was highly overinflated in price to make them an extra buck. I work in salon retail and when you sell a 190.00$ blow dryer, IT DOESNT COME BACK! The one they gave me had to be replaced 3 times because they are cheaply made by a partner company of Aveda. The only thing worth its price in the kit was the ipad. Oh and ¼ of the kit you will NEVER USE.

The second nerve struck was the promise of a small class to have 1on1 learning time with an educator, only to have 32 people in my class!!!!my entire class was always behind schedule in our learning curriculum because the educator never had time to make it to all of us. We stayed behind for more then six, yes SIX MONTHS and they just pushed us forward with an oh well.

The most disappointing thing in my time at Aveda is that I would keep my mouth shut, I would work the ridiculous hours and let them scald me to work faster, I would be fine with the lack of curriculum met or the daily treatment from the educational staff, I would be fine with the inability to experiment with my own hair inquiries in the non existent free time during an 11 hour day, I would be fine with all of that coming from the "best school in america" as long as we learned what we needed to know to become a licensed cosmetologist.

BUT THEY TEACH YOU LITTLE TO NOTHING ABOUT THE STANDARDS YOU NEED TO KNOW TO PASS THE STATE BOARD!!!!!

Their idea of universal theory is skimming through a chapter once a week saying "highlight this!" and then testing on it once, before moving on. They TEACH nothing about universal theory.

THE ONLY THING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET YOUR LISCENCE... THEY MAKE NO EMPHASIS ON!

But they sure do want you to learn how to sell Aveda products....

I have more than half a mind to warn anyone coming in for a tour of the school to run the other way. From MY personal experience... Educators have poor moral compasses. They will lie to you, try to win your trust by claiming they want to do nothing but help you, then quickly jump on any opportunity to make an example out of you for any minor offence causing you to lose school hours, waste your time and gas, and "big boy" you into keeping quiet and not speaking out against their actions by repeatedly singling you out. I cannot wait to leave this place, it's miserable....