Ariadne Hair & Esthetics

Ariadne must have turned a page. My experience, the first one, getting a haircut here yesterday was about as good as it gets. Expertly cut, friendly staff, courteous and reasonable cost. Maybe this business has been influenced to improve by Skype reviews, the bad ones? It’s seems likely, I must conclude. It was busy too, being a Friday afternoon, and when I asked the person waiting beside me for her opinion, she quickly said she was very happy with Ariadne, her hair being difficult to cut properly, in her view. Even the guy beside her chimed in. A lot people like Ariadne and it was hopping yesterday afternoon. So, you might like them too. I’ll be going back in a month for sure. They’re in Crowfoot, near Ricki’s, across from Harper’s Tire. Very handy for me and anyone in Arbour Lake, Scenic Acres or Ranchlands. Lots of free parking too.

I went here for a haircut and I believe the man who cut my hair was the owner (though I am not sure). It was one of the worst salon experiences I’ve had. He was rather rude and was more interested in talking with a lady he knew who was there with her child than doing a proper job on my hair. At one point he literally had me looking downwards while he pulled all my hair in front of my head and chopped it off straight. Not only was this ridiculous technique very uncomfortable, but it resulted in the most uneven haircut I have had. I was severely disappointed. And the price is much too high for such a place. For the same price you can go to a fairly nice salon with much nicer atmosphere, and properly trained, courteous staff.

I went into this salon asking for a trim for my long layered hair. I have never had a problem getting this cut anywhere else, its pretty basic. The stylist I went to, Eli, who assured me he cuts alot of women’s hair, basically cut my hair straight across at three different lengths. It looked very much like a mullet. When I asked for someone else to fix if for me, I was told «Eli has to do it, we work off commission here. He knows what he is doing.» I don’t think so! I had to go to another salon to get it fixed. It was an awful experience! I do not recommend this salon, they do not seem to keep up to date and have poor customer service.

The breakage at my scalp from the perm I received at Aridane worried me. It seemed that more and more of my hair kept breaking, I started to think I was going to go bald or something! I spoke with a friend of mine who is a stylist and she strongly recommended I speak to Emil at the salon.
I emailed the salon over the weekend, since they are closed on Sundays. I didn’t receive a response so I called the salon on Monday morning. Emil was not in that day, but I decided to go by the salon and see about getting a product that could help rebuild my hair. The girls that were there were very friendly and helpful. They tried to say that breakage is normal after a perm, which I realize. I showed them the breakage at the scalp that had me concerned and I could tell that wasn’t normal to them. They also recommended I call the next day and talk to Emil. In the meanwhile I bought a $ 25 deep conditioner to use at home. It was also recommended I try another product, so I went to another salon and picked up that $ 29 product. So I spent $ 54 on product to help restore the damage to my hair.
That afternoon I received a response from Anita, Emil’s daughter. She again said that breakage is normal, not to be concerned, the same thing the other girls said. I called her and told her it wasn’t just the hairs breaking, it was that I woke up the day following with fuzzy, almost bald patches! That made her realize that it wasn’t just normal damage, she said that could be caused by the rollers being too tight, causing too much tension at the scalp. Again she said to talk to Emil the next day.
I called in the afternoon the following day and spoke briefly to Emil. He again tried to tell me that breakage is normal, I said to him that this kind of breakage can’t be, its right at the scalp and in patches! I told him I would come in and see him then he could see for himself. When I went into the salon, I could tell immediately that he did not want to deal with me. Nonetheless, I showed him the bad areas of the fuzzy breakage. He said he did not know why this would happen, the perms they use have never had these results! Anita also took a look. Emil would not admit that he was at fault. He was asking me what he wants me to do about it, the damage is already done. Finally I almost got him to admit it may have had something to do with too much tension on the rods. Almost. I told both of them that I was happy with the curls! They pointed out that its good you can’t see any of the damage because of the volume, which I agreed with. Emil recommended a moroccan restorer and Anita recommended a curl definer that she uses, they would give them to me complimentary. After Emil seemed to flee to the back of the salon, without any actual apology. I did chat with Anita a bit more as she got the product ready. I did thank her for her help and told her that I would return, just not for a perm again!
I realize that the damage was done and there wasn’t much they could do. I am surprised though that the mistake wasn’t admitted and I didn’t receive an apology from Emil. Perhaps it was because I was a new client, he didn’t really care if I came back. The free product was fine, but it really only cancelled out the $ 50 I spent already on product. I thought maybe they would have taken more action, such as conditioning treatments or even refund me some money back. I hope the product they gave me does help get my hair back to the healthy state it was a week ago, still I’m a fuzz head for however long it takes for those area to grow back!
I am giving this salon a updated 2 stars since the mistake wasn’t admitted and I didn’t recieve an apology. Maybe free product is lingo for «I’m sorry I wrecked your hair». I would return to this salon to purchase product, they have a great stock of items and very reasonable prices! There is a chance I would also return to see Anita for services, she is very knowledgeable, but the chance is slim.