Things may have improved since I went to this salon about 10 months ago when they were still fairly new, but my experience was so bad I feel the need to mention it. I decided to try the salon and scheduled a highlight and cut with a "senior stylist", not wanting to risk someone without experience. First, the lighting in the salon was really low, so you couldn't actually tell how the color came out until you left. My color was just okay, definitely not as good as I have gotten other places, but also not the worst. The haircut was a different story. It was absolutely the worst haircut I have ever had in my life. My hair is quite long and I had decided to get more layers put in. The stylist cut the hair, but then started attacking the lower half of hair aggressively with thinning shears without even asking me. Once I realized what she was doing, it was too late to stop her. To make matters worse, she didn't even thin the ends evenly. She did this while talking to her "Grams" who had come into the salon, so I cannot know if it was incompetence or just a lack of paying attention, but I was left with a mullet-esque cut that was bushy on top and incredibly thin on the bottom, with random lengths mixed between the top and bottom. Her "Grams" even made a comment of "Wow, that's a lot of hair coming off".
In spite of having thick and pretty hair down my back when I went in, I came out looking like one of those people who has no business growing long hair because her hair is too thin. It was a stringy disaster. I actually cried for three days every time I washed it in the shower or saw it in a mirror, which I have never done before. I didn't even bother to call them and complain because I was well aware that the only way to fix it would be to chop my hair off. Finally, after a month or so of hating it, I happened to be back in Ohio where I'm from and went to my stylist there. She had to cut 8 inches off my hair to make it somewhat presentable. The Ohio stylist was absolutely shocked how bad the cut was, and she couldn't believe that anyone who worked in an Aveda salon, even a junior stylist, could have given so bad a cut, especially a cut as straightforward as layering long hair. My hair hadn't been that short in over 13 years, but I was forced into it by an incompetent stylist at Life. Even now, my hair is not back to the length or style I wanted when I went into Life.
As a side note, the hand massage that is included at all Aveda salons sucked there too. My stylist asked someone else to do it for her, so she could work on "Grams" and this person used no pressure. I actually found the massage annoying because the light strokes were irritating and not helpful. How hard is it to give a hand massage?
Needless to say I haven't gone back.
more