Empire Beauty School — Local services in Milwaukee

I went in for an appointment a while back, and let me just say… this place is a complete mess. I am not the type to leave bad reviews, but this experience really bothered me. I understand it’s a school and the students are still learning, so I’m not even complaining about how the students do hair. It’s about how people are behaving, and it’s honestly embarrassing and SO unprofessional. Students were yelling across the room, cussing, being loud, and just acting wild in front of paying clients. That’s not a learning environment, that’s chaos. I saw teachers walking right by like they didn’t see or hear any of it. It’s clearly been going on for a while because everyone just acts like it’s normal. Then to make it worse, a few students walked right past me and my children smelling like straight cigarettes and mamajuana. That’s so disgusting and not even legal here. How is that okay in a school setting? It’s unprofessional and extremely disrespectful. The front desk was no better. No organization, no communication, and they just seemed lost. Appointments were all mixed up, people waiting forever, and nobody seemed to care. The whole building feels like it’s being run with no structure or supervision at all. I left there shaking my head. This place doesn’t need small changes… it needs a full reset. Better staff, actual discipline, and people who care about their jobs. Right now, it’s an embarrassment to the Empire name. I would never recommend this place to anyone until they clean house and get it together. It’s sad because some of those students might really have talent, but in that kind of environment, they’re not learning professionalism, they’re picking up bad habits. Somebody from corporate needs to step in before this school completely...

I came in for a root touch up and they did not tone my roots at all and my stylist Crystal said that I never asked for toner. If she would have given me a proper consultation and listened to what I wanted she would have known this. Why on earth would I want my platinum blonde hair to have yellow golden roots. She knew she messed up and tried saving it by saying it's "cute and two toned/ombre" when I NEVER wanted two toned or ombre hair, I just wanted my roots to match my level 10 hair! They left me a level 7! My stylist asked her teacher multiple times to assist her, even getting into a slight argument about it before the teacher helped for a few minutes after it was pointed out the time spent arguing about it could be time spent helping. I should have had the bleach left on longer and I probably should have had a double process done right away and would have been happy to pay for the extra work but my stylist was too busy thinking about what to have for lunch, talking on her cellphone, and asking me personal questions about my identity. The teacher knew I was unhappy and had the audacity to tell me to come again in a dismissive tone. I left and cried in my car.

UPDATE: I went to VICI Beauty School in Greenfield and left extremely happy and they understood exactly why I was left in my condition after telling them I came from Empire Beauty School. Never go here. I recommend VICI and will continue...

Today was my first time ever at Empire beauty school. I was coming to get my hair trimmed and one of the girls cut off 4 inches of my hair, and on top of that cut my hair un even. One side was long and the other side was short. When I stopped the young lady to tell her about what she did, she catched an attitude. AND blamed her mistake on me! I was really upset about how my hair looked and how SHORT she cut it.....so a nice intelligent lady named Cody fixed me up. I didn’t want my hair any shorter then it already was but Cody made everything look better for me. I thank her so much for her service and appreciated What she did. But I will never come back here to get any kind of service. Some students don’t even know what they are doing, and shouldn’t be working on a real persons hair, especially if they’re not CONFIDENT...