Blue Mambo — Local services in Houston

Blue Mambo, you know this review was coming. This is 9 months in the making...

March 2023-I saw Erica Baldwin for a full highlight + cut. I have seen Erica about 5 times within the 8 years I have lived in Houston, for mostly color, but never went regular due to how expensive she was. (Full highlight, cut, tip=Over #$400) This time, I was desperate since I was leaving on an important work trip that weekend. I showed her a photo OF MYSELF with a cut I loved (photo #1) in the past with a different stylist. I was shocked at the end result. The layers were not only unblended, but there was a legit hole on both sides of my face. (Photo #2) The whole front was beyond awful...I had a shelf of on both sides and could not put it up in a ponytail correctly. (Photo #3) After driving away and realizing the scope of how terrible this cut was, I immediately returned and met with the owner, Ronnie. Ronnie tried and fix it as best as he could, yet there was no good solution except to let it grow out. Ronnie said for my next haircut, to come back and see him in which the cut would be on him.

November 2023- Almost 9 months later, I grew my hair out without anyone touching it. I took Ronnie up on his deal and met with him, he was the owner afterall and spoke like he knew what he was doing. We discussed, IN LENGTH, how I wanted my hair to be even, keep the long length, and some face framing layers...but key notes were to EVEN IT OUT and KEEP IT LONG. After getting washed, Ronnie made the first couple cuts around my face. Immediately, I got a gut feeling I should leave when he put a hole in my hair, similar to what Erica did in March. After voicing my frustration of how the point was to keep it LONG and EVEN, I realized there was a possibility I needed to get a long bob. We were in agreement for a LONG BOB with equal length all around that would touch around my collarbone. Ronnie repeated it all back to me. 1/3 through the cut, I feel uneasy again, the back of my hair, which had NOTHING WRONG WITH IT, now has extremely short layers. The damage was done. He kept going and said he left the other side longer because he felt my frustration. After repeatedly stating make it equal, even after the butchery, it still remains unlevel and unblended.

I ended up walking out of Blue Mambo after a heated debate with Ronnie, out of disgust and immediately went to Dry Bar to access the damage. Ronnie was claiming that it must have been 'miscommunication'. Photo #4 is after a DryBar employee dried it. Photo #5 is after they blow dried it, straightened it, and curled it. Photo 6 is how my hair dries naturally and clearly it is just royally F*ed

Not only did Erica disregard my desires, but Ronnie, the owner of the salon, did not take ANYTHING I said in to consideration and was truly on his own agenda. I can positively say that Blue Mambo has ruined my hair, for what will now be well over a year and has truly affected my confidence.

Save yourself the time, money, and grief and go literally anywhere...

I had my hair cut by Melissa back in January. The salon is cute, and I was happy that they were open a little later than other salons, which is why I booked. First of all, I was not very happy with how they managed to usher me in and out within 30 minutes flat. This included a wait, a wash, a cut, and a drying/style. She was moving FAST. She seemed incredibly irritated that I was there. And she spent the entire time talking to some woman who opened a psychic shop downstairs and told her at least twice "just give me about 20 mins to do her hair and I'll be down there to talk". I felt ignored, and she didn't execute what I asked for. Definitely not worth the 80 dollars I spent once I tipped. I think the thing that made me angriest though was the conversation that was happening while she was cutting my hair. A comment was made by another stylist, that she reacted to, ranting about how women need to "chill out" when people make sexual jokes, and that "it's not sexual harassment if someone you work with wants to comment on how your body looks." I wish that had been the end of it, but she continued on, saying that, that sort of thing happens all the time at the salon, and that one girl even quit because someone made her uncomfortable and that she felt like women are just "way over reacting". THEN she said that she "grabs men's penises, just joking around and stuff, and none of them ever complain "..... It so incredibly uncomfortable. I honestly couldn't tell if she was being literal, or if she was trying to make a point. But it crossed a line with me.

I will say this- especially in the present climate we live in, it is absolutely NOT acceptable to shame people who feel they are suffering any type of abuse.

I will never set foot in this...

Came in for "the big cut" with only a picture of the cut I wanted, and a general description of color. Mikey helped me out, and it was a great experience. He listened to me and got a good idea of what I wanted, and then used his creative skills to adapt what I wanted to what my hair could handle. Fantastic results, whoever says hairstylists are not artists is crazy.

Now, I will say that the first round of color wasn't effective enough, most likely because I said I didn't want a high maintenance color job, so he didn't "lift" (aka bleach) prior to applying color to my medium brown hair, so the color wasn't very strong. He said I could come back anytime within a week and he's redo it to my satisfaction if I didn't like the color job. I texted him the next morning to ask if he was serious, and he said absolutely, tell me what time you can come in. Bam. I came in a second time, and walked out with EXACTLY the hair that I wanted. Like, EXACTLY. It was amazing.

The salon is modern and vibrant, with a slightly industrial edge. The bathroom is very farmer-meets-manufacturing chic, and there are very well-placed mirrors everywhere to make the space seem larger, which also lends an interesting angle to your view when you're sitting in a chair for an hour or two. The front desk is manned by either stylists who have a free hour or by a front desk person, so you are very well welcomed when you enter. The product selection is excellent, lots of fantastic product families to choose from. You are not committed to Bumble & Bumble exclusively, or another product, just because you choose this salon.

Overall, I think I found my home salon. Mikey was amazing, the space is fun, chic and welcoming. Worth a drive from the `burbs into town for a...