Xcellent Hair Plaza — Local services in New York

Had a terrible experience that left me sobbing after being in the salon for 8.5+ hours. I came in for balayage and left with an entire head YELLOW and no dimension at all which is the point of balayage. They put bleach in my whole head for 6 hours adding no dimension after.

Lack of Attention to Reference Photo: I had brought in a reference photo which was looked at for 2 seconds before the dye process began; Daniel did not pay attention to what I wanted and was focused on upselling different services (e.g., Keratin treatments) Throughout the process when toners were applied I asked if they wanted to see the reference photo again and they did not take me up on the offer; this led to 3+ toning processes in which my hair today does not even remotely look like the reference photo

Lack of Dedicated Staff to My Dyeing: Through the process I had 4+ different staff working on bits and pieces of my hair then leaving to go to a new walk in customer; this resulted in bleach being in my hair for 6 hours because staff were not attentive!! (Google says 45 min max for 1 session of stripping) At one point a staff member quoted 5 minutes for a piece of dye to sit before washing and I timed it and it took 17 minutes before we washed it because staff were taking care of others and not paying attention to my hair

Lack of Care with Hair: They brushed it roughly while wet multiple times complaining that it was too thick etc. (in Chinese which I can understand but staff did not realize I could) There was bleach sitting on my forehead that I had to clean off myself and bleach that was slopped on to my hair in bucket loads (I have been to other salons for balayage and this has never happened before)

Lack of Expertise with Balayage: I came in for balayage which is a hand paint color technique to create a more natural blended look; THEY BLEACHED MY WHOLE HEAD and did nothing to add dimension back into it

Lack of Respect: I understand chinese and the whole time I just heard complaints from staff to "cut her hair shorter" because it would then make dyeing for them easier or "her hair is so thick" multiple times complaining. I am paying you $400 for a service so hence you should be doing what I am paying you for not trying to take cheap shots out by "cutting her hair shorter" to make it easier for you Also the massive attempt to upsell when my hair isn't even done yet is crazy ; they had tried to sell me on Keratin while my hair was yellow and not balayaged They asked for tips while I was visibly sobbing in the store after telling them this is nothing like the reference photo

Overall: I had a terrible experience where my hair needs were neglected and not even close to what...

UPDATE: I tried to give them a second chance and was willing to return so they could make things right. After scheduling an appointment to fix my hair, they asked me to delete this review BEFORE the appointment, BEFORE even having the opportunity to correct their work. I had already planned to update it after the appointment, depending on how it went. It's just wild to me that they would even ask me to take it down beforehand. I was already stressed about going back, and this just made it worse. It just shows that they only care about their image and not their clients.

I came in for a consultation to discuss achieving a copper/orange-brown hair color. I spoke with a male stylist who confirmed that the color I requested was achievable, describing it as a "warm brown tone." I made it clear that I wanted a copper brown result, and he assured me it was possible without needing a high level of bleach.

Given the time constraints (the salon closes at 8 PM and it was nearly 4 PM), I asked whether there would be enough time for the service without it being rushed. He confirmed there was.

However, once the coloring process began, I noticed the color in the bowl was purple — which was never discussed during my consultation. Despite my concerns, I trusted the process. After a long wait, the stylist applied the color all over my hair without showing me any results mid-process. When my hair was washed, it was dark purple, not the copper brown I had requested.

When I expressed my dissatisfaction, I was told the color was "red" and would lighten once dried. I reiterated that I asked for a copper brown, not purple or red. Although I was offered a corrective toner, by that point it was nearly closing time, and I declined as I was already uncomfortable and upset.

Additionally, I was repeatedly asked if I liked the color — FOUR TIMES — while multiple employees stared at me, while walking past me and looking at my hair thinking “what is she even complaining about” making me feel extremely uncomfortable and humiliated. I overheard the stylist that was cutting my hair and the one that did the consultation discussing about my hair in another language laughing and that same stylist that did my consultation asked me AGAIN “do you like the color?” in a mocking tone after talking about me to the stylist that was cutting my hair.

This experience left me feeling overwhelmed, embarrassed, and unsatisfied — not only because the result was far from what I requested, but because of the behavior of the staff.

While I was offered a correction within 10 days, I do not feel comfortable returning to a salon where I felt mocked, uncomfortable, and...

Really wished I liked it here but sadly my experience wasn’t well. I came here a month ago for my birthday because I heard that there place was really good with hair color and I waited a year to do my hair again. I came wanting this style and came out with this, now the person did say to add red so later on it can turn to this style but I washed it later and it didn’t lml but when i told the manager I didn’t like it he did offer to do my hair again and he said he would color it any color as long as it’s darker than the hair color I have, I had someone with me that witness him saying this and he also told me he’s here all the time so when I want to come back he’s gonna be here. I came in one day to do a style and and he wasn’t there lol but when I wanted to do the darker style they were gonna charge me 240 extra to fix the hair when I came in to fix the hair…they did tell me the manager was here the next day so I decided to come the next day. When i came I even apologized if the day we say each other before if I was being hostile or aggressive of a sort because of the frustration of what I’ve been going through with my hair and this place, he ignored it and told me if I wanted to do the style I want I have to pay extra when he just told me if I wanted ANY darker color it was gonna be free, turns out he was only talking about the bleached part and not the rest of my hair.. which he never specified for. When I told him he never said this we started going back and forth and when he said he would get the cameras, I actually told him to because I have two witness! When I agreed all the sudden he backed out with seeing the cameras saying “I don’t have time for this.” When in reality he just didn’t want to admit there was a miscommunication on his part. Honestly I don’t think this place is poc friend because I seen the way they treated me then other people. At the end I decided to just dye the bleach part of my hair brown and call it a day, and what’s crazy is that when I left they shooed me out the door and when I even left a tip and they laughed… so safe to say I’m never coming here again, if your a poc I also wouldn’t recommend coming here because of the disrespectful environment. I’m just very disappointed because this place looks so good with colors and I heard so many good things, I also payed 340...