Francis Salon — Local services in Philadelphia

$325 spent for balayage , showed pics 3x, and all i got was same look as I started and burned hair!

After some careful searching online, I landed on Nicole Francis salon based on some good reviews online. The price was a bit higher than I normally would spend but I chose to go that route believing I would pay a premium price and get a premium outcome....to me that would be worth every penny. I went ahead and scheduled my consult. During the conversation, I explained that I wanted to get a balayage and touch up my roots...overall to have darker root, pulled down low light and have my ends lightened. Also to have some chunky blonde in the front...but also have some chunks throughout so it matched up and looked natural and not skunky. a Alma had told me that she could get me to where I wanted to be but just not in one session. I was ok with that, I knew I might not be able to get as blonde as the photos I had shown her, but overall I could get closer to the look I wanted.

On the day of my appointment I made sure I again explained exactly what I wanted and showed the same pics from the last time. I even went so far to ask before we got started if I could show them again a 3rd time just to be sure but Alma said I could but she knew exactly what I wanted. Ok, in good hands. So we got started.

I started having foils placed around my head and didnt give too much thought to what was happening. I didnt see any "painting" done on my hair like a balayage look and didnt see close attention being paid to my ends but figured she knew what i wanted so I'll let her do her thing. After being blown out I noticed that the ends werent lighter at all and the darker root wasnt pulled down like i wanted. I mentioned that to Alma and she said we could do it on the next time and that once the toner washed out it would look alot lighter. Ok...so I paid the bill of $325! Not exactly thrilled but giving her the benefit of the doubt that once I washed it, it would be closer to what I wanted.

After washing it multiple time, not only did it not lighten and look anything like I asked. The front of my hair...that was down to my chin, was fried and broken off to above my eyebrow.

So I called Alma and she told me that she was trying to create dimension. I didnt ask for dimension!! I asked for dark root pulled down, and light roots pulled up! She advised that she explained to me that it wouldnt be exactly like the picture. Although I acknowledge it wouldnt be exact, it looked nothing like what I asked for. If she had told me in the beginning that all I was going to get was all over highlights and not lighter ends and that natural balayage look, I wouldnt have signed on for $325. I would have went to the hair cuttery. During my conversation with her, the only peace offering she offered to make was that she could add more blonde to the ends to get me closer...FOR AN EXTRA $125!! LIKE REALLY?! I would have to pay yet again to get what I asked for in the first place?!

Overall, go elsewhere. Not the look and calibur of service I would expect for those high center city prices. And now I'm out $325 and just have highlights and...

I came into Francis Salon only asking for a full highlights/root touch up on the grown out roots of my previously highlighted, level 8/9 blonde hair. I left the salon and unhappily found myself with level 5/6 dark brown hair. When I scheduled the appointment, I told Alma that I was happy with the current tone of my existing blonde, and would prefer to leave it as is.

However, she insisted on an all over toner and we agreed on a neutral/slightly warmish blonde. My hair is extremely thick, so I ended up paying over twice the amount for toner that turned my hair dark brown and that I specifically did not ask for in the first place.

This covered my beautiful highlights that I have spent thousands on in the past year, and even after washing with clarifying shampoo and purple shampoo over 6 times, has not been restored.

Furthermore, I requested a heavy highlight/blonding (as I was paying for a full highlight and head of foils) over my two inch grown out black roots, and was left with barely there thin slivers of blonde. It looked like my roots had never been highlighted, and now the rest of my previous blonde was dark brown.

When I tried to resolve this over the phone, Alma invalidated my feelings and refused to fix it unless I rescheduled a new appointment for a partial highlight.

I am extremely dissatisfied, disappointed, and upset over my ruined blonde hair, and do not recommended this salon. I had my objections and concerns during the initial consultation ignored, and had previous expensive...

I made an appointment for balayage a week in advance and was asked to confirm my appointment by email prior to showing up. I showed up on time. The salon is small, somewhat dirty but that didn’t put me off. The woman working there sort of greeted me by telling me to have a seat. She didn’t ask me about my appointment or anything. She had one other customer she was working on. 15 minutes passed as she continued to work on the other customer. I asked her if she knew how much longer it would take because my appointment was at 12 and she told me “people have to wait”. So when I replied that I had scheduled this appointment in advance and that a business should honor customers time she glared at me and told me “ I don’t think this is going to work out”. Shocked I left because there was no other choice but I have never experienced this kind of treatment in a customer service setting. It felt as if my business wasn’t wanted and no one even had the time to tell me that. It really ruined my day since I had been looking forward to getting my hair done for months. The woman who was working there was rude mean and unprofessional. I can’t believe this place has any customers at all. The woman never one apologized. Such a terribly...