Robert Stuart Salon

Very disappointed. I chose Robert Stuart Salon because of the rave reviews on CitySearch. So many people mentioned that Robert really listened, was patient, took the time to get a full understanding of what his clients were looking for & then executed that excellently. I was very nervous. I’ve always had a slight, unruly & untamable wave to my hair that made every style I’d ever had look bad. I’d found a stylist who figured out how to cut it so that my hair WANTED to & did lay exactly the way I wanted it to (total wash-n-go: no blow-drying, no product, just shake my head and…) & it was a miracle, regardless of humidity, for 8 years. Then the grey hair started to come in & it's much wavier-heading-toward curly & the old cut didn’t work anymore. So, I let it grow out for 3 months of ugly, & decided that I’d handle the transition with a perm until it was entirely curly/wavy on its own. I insisted that Robert & I talk before my hair was washed. I had brought pics of the fabulous cut I’d had for the 8 years, pics of how it looked now in various levels of humidity, & pics of the type of perm I thought was appropriate. Robert said that he could shape it to make it look good again without the perm. As he was cutting, I showed him where I knew my hair would react badly to the things he was doing.

When I got home & looked in the mirror, I wanted to cry. This was the most expensive haircut I’d ever ever had & it looked awful. Two days later humidity was low, so I blew-dry my hair, & it looked OK. Robert gave me a very nice haircut. For someone with straight hair. I don’t HAVE straight hair, even in dry weather. I was very clear about that (& he could see it when I’d come in), & about “NO maintenance.” I felt as though Robert hadn’t listened to a word I’d said, hadn’t taken into consideration what he saw & felt in my hair, nor paid any attention to all the pics I’d brought. And now I have to spend months growing it out again enough to get the perm that I went in saying I wanted in the first place.

The manager told me that if I was displeased with the cut within a week, Robert would re-do it for free. I called the next day & explained the entire situation to one of the managers, including the fact that I did NOT want Robert to cut a single hair more—I didn’t want even shorter hair or more layers to have to grow out. She told me that I should come back & that of course there would be a discount because of what had happened.

The next week I met with Robert, who could see that my hair was indeed curling & waving contrary to what I’d said I wanted, but said HE thought that it looked really good. I was very clear in our talks & with all of the pics I’d showed him that this was nothing like what I’d want. Mona, the woman who handles perms, discussed all of the pics I’d brought with me of the type of perm I wanted & thought would look best & she seemed to understand me. We agreed that I should grow it out so it could be styled properly after the perm.

When I asked Robert how the discount was going to be handled, he looked completely taken aback. He said I’d come in needing my hair restyled & he’d done that. And that he was willing to “fix” it since I was dissatisfied. I responded that I’d come in telling him that I thought I’d wanted the perm & that I only had him cut it because he told me it would be best to do that rather than get the perm. Very very reluctantly, he said he’d give me a 10% discount, but only since I asked & not because of any problems with what had occurred.

So now I have to grow out a very expensive haircut that didn’t work & wasn’t what I’d asked for. I really liked the feeling that I got from Mona, & (to the utter amazement of my friends & family who are aghast at this whole situation) am considering going back to her for the perm. It’ll be a long & uncomfortable several months before I have can even make that decision.…