Koi Salon — Local services in Jacksonville

I have never been so disappointed in a business as I was in the service I received at Koi Salon. We did a consult before starting, she looked at my pictures. We looked over everything, and had a plan. She asked several very pointed questions, as in “do you want bold, chunky blond pieces”? Yes, I did. “Do you want a dark root”? Yep, I did. “How short do you want it”? I showed her. The plan was to do an angled bob, (shorter in the back), with light blonde chunky balayage with a money piece framing the face, and a dark root, pulled through randomly to give lots of dimension. Not difficult. She mentioned foil to make low lights, so I didn’t think it was odd when she put some foils in. During the entire appointment, she was either on the phone, talking and texting, or stepping into the back room to talk. There was an issue with her child’s school and a Chik-Fil-A order for lunch she bought, it was a huge deal apparently. I would have been FINE with that IF it didn’t distract her. All I felt was that she wanted done and out of there. After a while she said it was time to rinse. When the towel came off I noticed she was getting her blow dryer, so I said “whoa, when are you going to do the balayage”?? She said she already did it. What?? When?? I asked. She stated that she DID do balayage, she just did it in FOILS. Hello?? That is called FOILS, not balayage! I have questioned many stylists since then and the whole point of balayage is to paint the lightener on. This is from Google:

“There are no foils used in balayage-only painting. With balayage, your colorist hand selects which sections or strands of hair will have lightener applied to them. Typically, lightener is more highly concentrated on the face-framing pieces of the hair, the ends, and the top layer of hair for a more dimensional look. Jul27 2021”

And:

Does balayage involve foil? “The French word balayage means "to sweep." Stylists use a freehand technique to paint the color onto the hair. The result is usually a beautiful sun-kissed color that blends naturally into the base color. The stylist doesn't use foils for the balayage coloring process. Feb 17. 2021”

So, I asked WHERE was the blonde?? She said my hair was wet so it looked dark, and it would show up once it was dry. It did not. I was getting quite upset at this point, but gave her time to finish before saying anything. The “haircut” that was an additional $35 was literally her combing my hair straight down, and cutting a little off the ends, straight across. No sectioning, no angles, literally done in less than 2 minutes. I told her my hair would need flat ironed after drying for it to be silky and smooth. She said “I don’t usually do that”. What?? Style the hair?? She seemed very put out but did run a few pieces through with the iron. I said well I still see NO blonde, and certainly nothing like what we agreed on! She told me (and this still just blows my mind!), that I needed to GO OUTSIDE with a mirror to see the blonde pieces, as the salon was so dark! Seriously?? A client should NOT have to go outside to see their blonde hair! The salon was not dark!! I was speechless. I declined her offer to go outside! First it was because my hair was wet…..now the salon was too dark to see the blonde?? I had to ASK if I could have some product to put in my hair as I had places to go after this! I asked for styling cream or a pomade, and she said “only men use pomade”! She said she was going in the back because she was “Hangry”! Very very professional. 🙄 Luckily I found some styling cream I had in my bag that I had to use to smooth the flyaways and give my hair a finished and piece-y look on my own. I was charged $235 for mousey light brown hair with a few very thin blonde pieces FOILED in, and a trim. No offer to fix it, no offer for the owner to speak with me, not even a goodbye. Just “I’m leaving, I’m h’angry”. Very very disappointing, plus I WASTED $235!!! I should have waited for Nina who was my first choice, but she was booked solid, and BA had multiple openings....

To owner: Sorry if it was misconstrued to the other Sarah! If there is anything you can do for me and my bad experience. I know Nina contacted me and said she is willing to do something but I don't see it as fair for her. First visit.......absolutely horrid. I was very very VERY disappointed -.- Sarah did my hair. My hair was growing out from being bleached. I have dark dark brown hair and I have it bleached either by my mom or when I go and model for JPM. I let her know i have never had anyone touch my hair but them and needed the blond faded into my brown for my wedding to make it look more natural. She says she feels intimidated. (Not something I want to hear from someone doing my hair) She starts to do my hair with bleach from Guy tang who is really big on YouTube for doing hair......the bleach was thick and dry. By looking at my hair, as someone who knows alot due to my background, but am not at all a professional. You would use a wet bleach so it can actually pull more color out. ANYWAYS she puts the bleach in tinfoil and lets it sit for about 20 min and comes and looks at it........nothing. She is very condescending when she says, "I thought you said your hair pulls color fast." Starts to blame me for not telling her correct information about my hair and insinuating that it's not the bleaches fault. The guy right next to her asks what she is using and HE! ANOTHER STYALIST! Tells her that stuff never works and she tried to tell him that It has worked in the past. She goes in the back and gets new bleach. She applies it in about 60% of my hair and I'm reregretting so much letting her touch my hair. She then puts my head under a heater......A HEATER! Ok first of all you already have had bleach in my hair for....what? 45 min to almost an hour and NOW you want to put new wet bleach in my hair and blast it with heat......again I'm not a professional so I let her do her thing but I already know that my hair is going to be so dry and damaged after I have done so much to keep it healthy and fix the old bleach damage by trimming and treatments.We finish up after about an hour and a half and she washes my hair. I sware to you that I have never in my life, not even from my mother, had someone rip through my hair with there fingers as she shampoos it like she had. Again that is very dangerous for bleached hair. It can cause even worse damage and breakage. She finishes up....starts drying my hair.......it looks really bad. She finishes drying it and starts throwing it around and messing with it......I'm quiet.....she asks if I like it. I let her know it's not what I want. That it's not faded properly. She says ya she knows and there are some places in the back that are uneven. We make another appointment but she makes me pay for it on the spot......I am so pissed that she made me pay FULL PRICE for that crappy hair color that looks like a 13 year old did it from a box. Needless to say I get in the car and I start crying and am very upset. I almost don't go back, but she txts me and lets me know Nina will be helping her fix the hair. Ok.......Nina I love you so much. You are seriously a life saver and if Sarah didn't work there I would be coming back to get my hair done with you alot. Nina is incredibly friendly. She is very gentle. And after a little while of messing with my hair and trying to get what I want I give her control of the entire thing. I don't even care anymore I just want my hair to look somewhat ok for my wedding. NINA! Omg I loved what she did with my hair. It was beautiful and it looked incredible when I put it up for my wedding. Thank you so much Nina for saving my hair. I'm very upset I paid Sarah instead of you. And I'm EXTREMELY upset that I paid full price for having to come back TWICE to have the mistake fixed. Again if anyone goes here PLEASE use Nina. Even if you have to wait a couple weeks......do it. Or at least use one of their master hairstylists they have on their website. i would not recommend Sarah. if i could post a picture I would. I will on...

BUYER BEWARE! My daughter went to this salon this weekend to get highlights done. She’s got a toddler and her husband is deploying with the military in a few weeks. She was exited to get her hair done. She asked for highlights. That’s it. She scheduled her appointment online for full highlights. That’s it. She did NOT get a consultation with the stylist about what was being done and what the cost would be. Nearly 7 hours later she was hit with a $545 bill (plus tip)! When she asked the stylist why the bill was so outrageous, she was told she had “baby lights” done and was charged for the time and supplies used. She didn’t ask for baby lights!!! She didn’t know they were being done either !!! She didn’t even know these services were being done on her until AFTER, when she was hit with this exorbitant bill. She had to split the payment on 2 credit cards. She was too embarrassed to say anything at that moment and felt put on the spot. Upon contacting the stylist and owner she was told that yes, she was NOT asked or informed of these charged services, but the stylist thought it would look better to use baby lights. She took it upon herself to do a service that took more time, while charging for that time. She used products that cost more without ever asking her client if it was ok. It was not ok, and was well beyond my daughter’s planned budget. Being charged for services you didn’t authorize is unacceptable. It wouldn’t be tolerated from a mechanic or doctor or any other professional. It should not be tolerated from a hair stylist. I’m floored by all this. Even more so because I’ve read several other reviews on Google from clients of this salon who experienced the same thing. To me, this shows a pattern of exploitation and fraud. When the stylist was asked to refund the services that weren’t authorized, she refused. I’ve seen all the conversation texts and I’m disgusted by the lack of professional conduct at this salon. The owner’s continued excuse is that they rent the booths to these stylists and don’t control their prices. That’s just ridiculous. You own the building so set some reasonable standards of conduct! Please, if you decide to use this salon, get your pricing BEFORE you get any services. Beware of upcharges for services you aren’t aware of. In all my years of having my hair done professionally I’ve never seen such unprofessional behavior. A stylist should ALWAYS do a consultation, with costs, BEFORE starting any services on your hair. To the salon owner, I highly recommend you institute a policy where clients approve services on a form with their initials or something like that. It’s a simple solution, especially for customers who have never been to your salon before. It’s also very deceptive to have prices listed on your website, but then claim you have no control of stylist’s prices.

PS: Customers, don’t take high ratings on a review as fact. Look at the lowest reviews and you’ll likely find the truth and what you should be wary of. Be wary of the business practices...