I’ll start by saying this isn't my first time at a beauty school. When I lived in California, I occasionally visited some if I had extra time. Not only were they budget friendly, but it also helps students get the practice they need before they graduate. I am fully aware that mistakes can happen and that follow-up visits might be needed to fix things (more on that later).
However, I am writing this review as both a reminder to myself and a warning to others.
The female instructors are terrible. Two of them were catty, gave backhanded compliments, and lacked professionalism. For example, I came in with photos of my desired hair color. While a student and the elderly female instructor complimented the color, a third female instructor (of a sturdier build) laughed mockingly, repeated "that's a wig" x3 when she didn't get the attention she wanted the first time. I don't recall her name, since it's been awhile since my last and final visit but I recall she wore pink when the school had Halloween event during my visit because a student complimented her.
Even after I showed her one of the salon's instagram where the color was done in real-time, she didn't back down. In fact, it felt like I’d made an enemy just by proving her wrong. When the student went to her for advice on how to proceed, the instructor gave directions that literally messed up my hair.
I ended up with patches of uneven color. To be clear, I wasn't upset with the student , as she did the right thing by asking for help, but the instructor just kept being un-professional in choosing to gossip instead of helping. My student often times just stood there, and my hair became unevenly processed. When I pointed out the patchiness, they told me if it bothered me, I'd have to book a second appointment to correct it- and I did.
That second visit resulted in even more damage. My hair became very brittle and straw-like, and they tried to push their own products on me to 'fix' the mistakes they made. The patches were still very noticeable despite the gaslighting they attempted to do, and begrudgingly scheduled a third appointment to correct it.
During that third visit, it was a male instructor who helped my student. Even he admitted he didn’t understand why the female instructor had given the instructions she had because he agreed with the student that they should had proceeded a different way. And thanks to him, my hair was "fixed". It wasn't amazing, but at least it didn't look terrible . The difference in color was more blended in so it wasn't as noticeable. But I was told I had to pay as a brand new visit and extra even though it was to fix their past mistakes.
I was so angry at the time , still paid despite the unfairness and when I tried to call the office to report this, I was given the run-around for days with their automatic system. Honestly at the time I just gave up on it since I just didn't have the energy to continue until I started writing this review.
Again, I'm not upset at the student or the male instructor, but the other teachers need not only better manners, but better skills .
And even though the review from Brenda Sanchez is from six years ago, her experience was the same as mine- but instead of leaving in tears, I was so upset from being gaslighted and treated unfairly while they failed to own up to their mistakes.
Now I know see why some hair salons in Texas struggle if their stylists are graduating from this school.
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