22 Pell Hair Salon Inc. — Local services in New York

This is a difficult post for me because I know folks work really hard in this salon, and there are some really talented hairdressers here. I have struggled for a month now but now I decided to share my experience, to help folks to make better decisions than I did. For haircut, I would recommend folks to ask for the highly rated and tested stylists like Steve and Elaine, I saw them doing fast and great job at cutting hairs, they usually have a wait but it’s worth it. I went for a less recommended stylist in the salon based on 1 comment on Google here, there was no wait for him to cut my hair but he basically ruined my hair. I have very very long hair (length is about middle of my bun), it took about 3 years to get to that length, it’s my pride and joy, I asked him to cut 5 inches, instead, he cut 10 inches. I wanted long layers, he cut the layers but they look like dog chewed over the ends, the layers are so empty and rough, my ends just fly out on different directions no matter how hard I try to style it. There is no blending no technique, he grabbed the ends and used the scissors to very roughly chopped up the ends, I am no stranger to hair salons and this is the 1st time I see someone so bad at cutting hair. At first I tried to comfort myself and thought oh it’s not too bad, actually it was worse than I thought, as time goes by it just becomes really clear, 1/ the ends are terrifying to look at 2/ it’s impossible to style it because the empty layers, i used to be very proud of my hair now I didn’t even want to look at them in the mirror. I went to another salon today to get it fixed, the other hair dresser did a fantastic job at cutting layers and ends, meticulously, he says my hair will need at least a few more haircuts before it can look good. I spent 3 years growing my hair, now 1 bad haircut, I need to spend another year and multiple salon visits with more $$ to fix it. Also, the guy at 22 Pell who did my hair was very slow at cutting my hair, at first I thought it was ok, that means he is working on it, Steve was right next to us, and he would already did 3 people and mine is still not finished, granted I have very long and thick hair, but another reason is that the one who did my hair was very bad at cutting hair so he probably just didn’t know what to do and ended up chopped more of my hair than I wanted. They also charged me extra, I paid $70 instead of the normal price, which I was fine with because yeah I do have way longer hair, but hey, not anymore, thanks to this man who doesn’t know how to cut hair. If one is not able to do something, do not promise, hair is not something that will grow back overnight, you are not cutting someone’s hair only, you are cutting...

I came for a wash, haircut, and highlights. This was about 7 months ago.

Wash: 3.5/5 The wash wasn’t bad per se but the lady washing my hair used so much shampoo and multiple times on my hair which I usually don’t like as that tends to dry out my hair, she also left some water in my ear a bit which wasn’t really a great experience

Haircut: 5/5

I got my hair cut by samsun. He’s really nice and did my hair so amazingly I loved the results of my haircut just wish he didn’t blow dry my hair into a bob at the end after my highlights lol but he was amazing and the only best thing about the whole salon.

Highlights: 1/5

I asked for purple highlights. They used bleach on my hair which I wasn’t really fond of since my hair is really damaged and I would have preferred lightener but whatever. The lady doing my hair did not wash off the bleach from my hair until a whole hour later which really concerned me as again.. it’s like bleach. After this, no one toned my hair and it just came out a yellowish orange but it’s fine. They dyed my hair purple and I left but when I saw my hair soon after I left and got home I realized some of my hair was not purple but rather yellow or orange which means they didn’t color my hair correctly. On top of this, after just the 2nd wash I noticed most of the purple just came off and became a semi metallic purple that looked more silver. At this point I go back to the salon to ask for them to redo it for me free of charge as they didn’t do it right. Only to then find out, that they told customers who were also dyeing their hair and heard everything I told them about my hair not being colored properly and whatnot a different version of story. Saying that I wanted highlights but told them I wanted something else and now I’m complaining but they’ll fix it cause their good people. Just not really sure as to why they would try and twist my story into something completely different and make me seem like I’m just a client who communicated badly when I wasn’t. That left a bad taste in my mouth. Thankfully they did fix my hair but again, after three weeks it just basically washed off and so I instead had to ask my friend to just dye it for me as at that point my hair was disgusting. Great for haircuts ig but not for coloring. $200 down the drain...

Advice to everyone: avoid this salon! Like many, I was enticed by its popularity on TikTok. I booked an appointment at 22 Pell over a month in advance to get my hair colored and cut. Upon arriving 10 minutes early, I was immediately put off by the crowded, impersonal atmosphere. The owner, managing the phones and appointments, did not even bother to ask what I was there for. It just felt like a cold, money hungry place.

Someone then led me to wash my hair without asking if I was there for a dye job, and I, inexperienced with hair coloring, didn't correct her. After the wash, I was seated in a stylist's chair who asked about my haircut. When I mentioned I also needed coloring, he became visibly annoyed. I was then moved to another chair for a blow dry before anyone inquired about the color I wanted. I specified red with no root touch-up and a subtle balayage, but my roots were dyed against my wishes. When I requested darker tones to be put in, I was told it wasn't part of the process. Fighting back tears, I was finally moved to another chair for the cut.

Thinking that my botched dye job could be fixed by a haircut, I asked the stylist for a butterfly cut. But, without even letting m continue more about how I style by hair, he was quick to say that it would not suite me. He then proceeded to ask about my dye job, asking me if I had done it at home. When I told him I had gotten it done at the salon earlier, he was shocked but still continued to laugh. I asked him to trim my bangs but he became annoyed. With his overall annoyance and me feeling like an inconvenience, I told him not to bother and that I would be leaving. The owner came up to me and I explained to him that I am not pleased with the results and it is not what I asked for.

In short, I will never return here ever again. The staff are unprofessional and treat clients like inconveniences. AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS. I later visited a reputable salon closer to home on Long Island and received exactly what I wanted.

I truly am shocked with all the positive reviews - it is hard to imagine that they are able to take time to listen to clients and give them...