Hairmates Salon — Local services in Stoneham

I was in this salon THREE TIMES in one week.

I was in town from out of state to help my boyfriend move, & I noticed I had an issue with one of my extensions. I've worn extensions for nearly a year and had recently gotten a new set of extensions a few months ago. I've never had issues with extensions, but I knew this was because I slept with my hair down one night.

I scheduled an appt on Tuesday with a stylist, whose name I cant remember. She was very nice, gentle on my hair and fast, as re-adjusting extensions should be. This stylist told me to come back in or call if I had any other issues and also told me that my extensions are in good condition. Okay, great, but then I had an issue.

Maybe my skin was sensitive or the extension was too heavy for that spot, idk. I made another appt for a few days later, on Friday. My initial plan was just to get that same extension adjusted again, but at the last minute, I thought, "What the heck. Maybe I'll move a few others too". I thought the extensions had not been looking as long as normal, maybe placed in the wrong spot by my original stylist back home.

My appt was with Nikki because the first (blond) stylist I saw was unavailable. Nikki was very nice & chatty, but things quickly got bad. First, when I was scheduling this appt with Nikki, the receptionist told me that each extension is $15 to remove/adjust, but it is also $100 per hour, whichever is met first. Okay, great, sure. So I tell Nikki, let's remove 5 or 6 of the 10 I have and place them back differently so they actually look like extensions.

Nikki proceed to putz around, chatting with a colleague about ordering coffee, where her phone is, etc. After spritzing the extensions with the alcohol solution, she attempted to jam the end of a comb in between the tape on each extension. Except she missed, like every time. So all I could hear was that thunk of her not being able to separate the tape on each extension and just feel my hair being yanked on from her missing.

Second, Nikki starts telling me that my extensions are frayed and not in good condition (total opposite of the other stylist). Nikki told me that there may be a few extensions that they had around the salon that would match, and I was down to see what they had. Nikki is gone FOREVER and I'm realizing we are at least half past the hour.

Third, she finally comes back with the extensions, which do match, but Nikki has nearly a full set. She says it is $15 for each extension or just over $100 for all (maybe 7 or 8?). I asked for two, since I have another whole set back in my home state. I tell Nikki, please dont put them super close to my ears or too high to the top of my head. So she starts putting back my 5 or 6 extensions and the 2 new ones. I'm facing the mirror the whole time, as you normally would for extensions (!!!), up until the last 2 or 3. She turns me away from the mirror and I can feel what she is doing, but I'm hoping for the best because I was very explicit on not putting them in near problem areas (that are problem areas for others, not just me).

She put one extension directly behind my ear, one directly above the same ear and then a third one right on my hair line (like cheek bone height). The last one I had her take out and move back, but because she was so rough with taking them out, I didn't want to ask her to take out the others.

At this point, we had passed the hour mark, so I'm thinking, "that would be $100, plus the $30 for two new extensions, no big deal". Whatever, I finish up and my bill is $239!!!!

My third appt was the following day (Sat) with Nikki again to take one of the extensions out because it was pulling so hard on my scalp. I am just going to have them all re-done at another salon. Nikki should NOT be doing extensions, seriously. I have extensions because my natural hair is very damaged, but the way Nikki handled my hair and installed extensions made my hair even worse. My scalp is very irritated, and I just threw nearly $300 down the drain. This may have been the worst salon experience...

Be very cautious when getting bleach here. I trusted the process yesterday and ended up with severe damage — my entire right underside is visibly fried and missing. I’m not naming the stylist because she is genuinely kind and gives great haircuts. But she talks a lot during appointments and seems to lose track of time, and I believe that’s exactly what happened here. There was no timer used, and my hair was washed out in sections, far too late.

From the beginning, I made it very clear that avoiding damage was my top concern. I even said I’d rather tone darker and use less bleach if needed — and that was totally ignored. After the rinse, I parted my hair for the cut and immediately noticed stringy, broken strands. I panicked and expressed my concern, but was told this was “normal,” which I know from past experience it is absolutely not.

I continued pointing out the damage, and rather than acknowledging it, the stylist became visibly annoyed and shifted the conversation to distract me. I was devastated — and still am. I only received a 10% discount and a take-home treatment, which I honestly don’t think will help at this point. I paid $278 and was in the salon from 12 to almost 5 p.m., which is excessive, especially considering my hair isn’t even that dark anymore. It had grown out to medium brown with some coppery foils left — this shouldn’t have taken that long, and it definitely shouldn’t have left me with missing hair.

I’m sharing this not to be harsh, but because I’m heartbroken and want this stylist (and the salon) to learn from what happened. Timers must be used. Hair integrity needs to come before conversation. Clients deserve to be heard, not dismissed. I never write reviews like this, but I’m truly shaken by the result. I don’t know...

Well, I am still growing out my awful haircut from this place (2nd visit). I went for a touch up and foil the first visit here. I usually like to relax when getting my hair done, but there would be none of that. My stylist was pleasant at first and then continued to try and hard sell me everything in the shop. I understand that they are probably on commission and I would have bought something but the selling was so INTENSE that it made me uncomfortable.

Kara tried to sell me on the keratin treatment to straighten my hair and when I didn’t bite she pushed the Deva curl line and expensive Deva haircut (that she learned in ONE class). Oh, and as I sat there to “relax” She bragged about her business degree (hmm, don’t they cover the “soft sell” in those classes?) and how much money she makes and then began making fun of people who make less – NICE. This woman was emotionally draining.

BE CAREFUL - ASK THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING HERE. DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING!!

Well, the color and foils came out okay but a bit brassy, but this is one of the few places open on Sunday and it’s hard to screw up a root touch up so I decided to go back again. HUGE MISTAKE!! I asked for a trim (new hairdresser so just being careful with my curly hair). She cut off about 3 – 3.5 inches off the back in her “trim” used thinning scissors to blend the layers leaving me with a head full of frizz. My whole haircut looked like someone used a dull butter knife to cut it. It was embarrassing so I went to another salon to have it fixed. Kara (the Deva curl/cut expert) did everything you’re NOT supposed to do to curly hair!!!!!! RUN FROM...