Altered Ego Salon — Local services in Tempe

First off, what an incredible salon! Altered Ego is SO beautiful, unique and eclectic - a perfect fusion of modern and vintage, with a diverse, friendly and talented staff. A perfect place to spend a few hours & come out looking fabulous. The vibes are real.

Second, I have been THROUGH it with my hair (years of legit trauma after losing my lengths due to an over ambitious “blonde specialist” .. never having been able to fully recover, and then AGAIN being over-processed and losing my progress). I had begun to accept that I would simply never have beautiful hair again.

Alas, I found Tawni!!! She (the salon owner, staff mentor, educator & master stylist) brought my hair back to life! Not only did she listen intently to my traumatic hair history- she articulated the whole way through our process- clearly keeping my hair's integrity the top priority, all whilst supporting my hair goals (long, light and healthy) and helping me achieve them. If hair were a language, trust- she speaks it!

Our first couple of visits were foilyage services- we worked on gently lightening my hair for a brightened, “lived-in”, natural look. She easily got me feeling good about my hair again, definitely boosted my confidence… but- then came the extensions! TBH I had never wanted extensions before .. I’ve seen them over the years on people and cannot deal with how bad or fake they often look- not to mention the damage certain methods can cause. She and I discussed my fears & hesitations, but her confidence that I was a perfect candidate made me feel comfortable in giving it a shot. Of course I was still skeptical going in, but based on my experience with her so far, I trusted she would not lead me astray!

LITERALLY INSANE TRANSFORMATION. The install was fast (abt 2 hours) and painless. She used the “Rooted Method” which was developed by one of her staff members (a few other the stylists here also offer this service fyi). The wefts are sewn in (non-damaging! No tape, glue or heat required) and essentially invisible. They don’t inhibit you from styling at all… bun, ponytail, braid, hi, low, heat styling etc. anything goes! Her color matching skills are IMPECCABLE- completely seamless.

I have only been seeing Tawni for about 6 months now and she has completely changed my life. I cannot describe how good it feels to be back in some long tresses. And best of all- people have NO CLUE that its not my hair. It has made my daily life easier, as the hair is so high quality and holds style so well that I hardly have to mess with it for days at a time. Washing it is easy, styling it is a breeze, and most of all— it looks natural and beautiful every day. I must admit, I wish I had done its sooner! The compliments i receive on the daily are enough confirm- I’m not getting rid of these luscious locks anytime soon. Another huge plus is that since they look so nice and styled all of the time, my own hair can rest and grow in the meantime- double WIN.

Overall this review is more than just an experience “in salon”. To look and feel good about your hair everyday is a priceless feeling. It took me a long time to finally find someone so talented that I can trust will not promise me one thing and deliver another…much less have me leaving in tears or regret. If I could give Tawni all the stars I would not hesitate. She...

I got balayage from Drea over a year ago. The color was ok and she mostly achieved what I wanted (except for a large chunky highlight behind the money pieces was added that I did not like). I liked the haircut itself. The problem was that I was in the chair for 7 hours total, 6 for the bleach. My hair is a medium brown. It should not have taken that long and has never taken that long to lighten when bleaching before. She put bleach in the front pieces first and left the foils hanging in front of my face for the remainder of the time (about 5.5 hours).

After about an hour I started to feel very drunk and lightheaded. I feel it is important to mention that I did not consume any alcohol. Over the session, the feeling progressed to feel like I had a cloud in my head that has not gone away completely after a year and three months. My internal monologue stopped during this appointment and has only come back about 6 months ago with lots of time and various treatments. My work performance has greatly suffered to the point where I had to take a leave of absence.

It is suspected that from inhaling the bleach for so long I acquired a brain injury. I was too out of it for many months after the appointment to let the salon know or go to a neurologist promptly so we will never know for sure, but it seems pretty clear what the cause was. Drea needs more safety training and I am also disappointed and shocked that I was charged about $800 for this hair appointment. Again, I was not feeling like myself at all and was not able to articulate concerns after this happened. I hope that this doesn’t happen to anyone else since the last year has been such a struggle because I haven’t felt able to think...

If I could give zero stars, I would. After reading all of the great reviews I decided to give this salon a try, wow was that a mistake. I made my appointment weeks in advance and sent a photo of the balayage treatment I was hoping for. The stylist I was matched up with said that the balayage photo I sent would be super easy for her to recreate- great! I show up the day of and the stylist was running almost an hour late to begin with. Once I sat down in the chair we went over what I was wanting to get done and she showed me the photo I had sent her. I thought we were on the same page. Well after 3 long hours I was mortified to see how light blonde my hair was, I wanted a subtle brown highlight. What I received was a block of gold/blonde on my dark brown hair. The stylist admitted it was blonder than she had intended for it to come out and that I would need more toner? Well after paying $288.00 for a hair cut and a balayage treatment I did not want, I was told there was nothing they could do to fix my hair on that day. They said I would be able to come back and get toner or a darker color for an ADDITIONAL $70.00 at a later date. I am appalled that management has made NO attempt to make this right after spending almost $300.00 at their salon. I will be seeking legal action at this point. I would not recommend getting a balayage done here, I will stick with my original salon and...