I had heard complaints about Aveda before I went but decided to try anyway. The first time I went I had to get used to their "style" of doing things--which includes a bunch of visits from your stylist's overseer/mentor person during your haircut. This is not too big of a deal because this is a school for beauty students, and they're still learning...but you do have to get used to being treated like a guinea pig. The first girl I had on my first visit did a great job. I was so nervous because she seemed a little out of it...sort of spacey, maybe just too casual, and the last part of the haircut she didn't let me see the mirror because it was a surprise. I was scared but she showed me the final product to my amazement: The best blow-out I've ever had! She really took the time to make my hair voluminous and wavy like I asked. The haircut itself was even perfect--can never get it that way again. As much as I try to explain it now, I havent had my hair cut like that since then.

This leads to my next haircuts, which as I said, were not as good as this one. The second hairstylist/student I had was nice but she wasn't the greatest. It kind of felt like she didn't wash all the shampoo out of my hair before she started styling. This made me really irritated during the haircut because it was like parts of my hair were heavier and greasier than others and she didn't notice. When she blow dried my hair she didn't capture all the pieces and it looked half-assed (even though I do believe she tried). My hair felt unwashed and REALLY frizzy all day...and your hair is supposed to feel nice after a haircut. At the end of my visit, I went to pay the cashier and I recognized the lady behind the counter from my first visit--must be a manager or some higher-up. She was really short with me while I was paying...like I didn't press the Credit key fast enough for her...or something like that, I don't exactly remember. But basically it should have been an easy customer service experience where she could have smiled and taken her eyes off her computer for two seconds, instead of pushing customers through like cattle.

Last, and worst of all, was the third stylist. I made haircut appointments for my fiance and I, and he was really resistant to coming, so I was just hoping that we would have a good experience. They called me for my appointment, but didn't call him for another 25 minutes even though our appointments were at the same time. By the way, the two of us finished at the same time..and I have shoulder length hair, whereas he was just getting a buzz...

So, I sit down and my stylist starts talking at me for like ten minutes, and I just want to hurry because I don't want my fiance to wait forever for my haircut to finish. She is asking a lot of questions about how I usually style my hair, the products I use, and she's kind of lecturing me about hair care, not in a mean way---she means to be helpful and friendly---but it felt awkward. I was just nodding along until she said, "You know you can FEEL the grease on your roots!" and I was like, "Well yeah, sorry I just came from the gym", or something, which I had. And then she comes back a little too enthusiastically, "Oh, no honey. It's from your shampoo!" After that I was kind of offended. I know they have been trained to say stuff like "Store bought shampoo is bad, our shampoo is good, " but she took it too far. How could she know it was from my shampoo and not something else? My hair didn't even feel that greasy. She was making something out of nothing to prove a point.

She told me her ideas for my hair, then had her mentor come over to approve her plan. The mentor had a different idea about what cut and shampoo she should use, so she told the stylist to use some other style of cutting, some other (more expensive) shampoo. When the mentor walked away, the stylist seemed defensive of her original decisions and started talking a little smack about the mentor. Not anything overtly bad, but for instance she said, "You know, I recommended THIS shampoo, and not the other stuff because you know, THEY just seem to forget that the reason people come get their haircut here is because they can afford it. Like who's willing to spend $20 on shampoo!?" This remark made me feel weird, almost like I was cheap and poor for going to Aveda. But mostly it was just unprofessional to talk about her superior.

That wasn't the only time she talked about her supervisors behind their backs. Different ones came over each time with more tips and stuff, and each time she'd defend her own actions and make some comment on theirs. When we went to wash my hair, she kept telling me how fabulous this one product was, and how it was even good at cleaning jewelry. She and I had talked about my fiance when I arrived so she knew I had a ring, and asked me--while soaping up my head--if she could clean my ring for me. I felt really weird handing back my engagement ring to a stranger standing over a sink, and have her put some unknown chemicals on it. The ring looked fine and everything but asking somebody to hand over their precious items like that really puts them in a weird position.

A few weeks ago, by the way, I dumped Aveda for good and decided to just shell out $60 (including tip) for a nice haircut. The REAL stylist at the other salon almost seemed to laugh at my hair when I told her I wanted to re-shape and add layers. She described the layers in the back of my head (that I had been given by the last Aveda stylist) as very cut-and-dry...boom, boom, boom--three staunch layers. Not cool. They should have been of varying lengths and integrated better.

Ok, so anyway, back at Aveda I finish the haircut and the stylist is making a fuss about finding me the shampoo that SHE recommended, even though I didn't ask for it. She seems to annoy the people at the front (including the bitchy lady from before). I hear the other staff members make some annoyed comment about how this stylist is behind on her appointments, "again." I thought it was really unprofessional of these manager-looking people to make mean comments about a stylist. The stylist was talkative, flightly and energetic, which I can see may come off as annoying, but all in all I think she was trying to be nice, helpful, and relatable. But the staff, especially this one lady behind the counter, didn't seem to have such good intentions. They were just mean.

While I was paying, this same bitchy lady was again short with me. No smile, no hello, barely any eye contact. She always seems to be angrily busy with something behind the counter and barely looks up to give you your total. Only grunts it at you. Ultimately, it was this lady--who is obviously some kind of higher-up--that made me stop going to Aveda, not the stylists. If you have a customer service job and you expect to keep it, then you should be the type of person who always has a smile on and looks approachable enough that I can ask for help if I need it. How do these kind of people get through?