Alpha Studio An Aveda Concept Salon

Back again for a haircut, really love their low key attitude. No sales tactics to buy products… open late nights and weekends, and more importantly I always leave with a great haircut and blowout. I highly recommend Heather, she’s always patient and listens to what I want.

Super Expensive. Make sure you check the price before going there.

Had a great experience at Alpha salon and got a great cut from Heather! She was super friendly and professional, and worked with me to create a look that made me feel confident and happy with my unruly hair. I’m definitely going back!

I have been a client of this adorable salon Fells Point for 9 years. Colleen is amazing and I can’t imagine going to another stylist. She’s given me countless perfect haircuts, fabulous color, and phenomenal bang trims (free between appointments). She did my hair for my wedding and seen me through numerous changes in the style and color of my hair. She always listens to exactly what I want and then makes it happen (she also gives one heck of a scalp massage).
I love this salon. I’m a client for life.

Ruben Rocks! This salon always smells great and the customer service is excellent.
I lived close by so I was a loyal customer here for years. Everyone loved my hair.

Stylists vary

Good color and because of that, I’m not going to name the stylist at the salon when I visited. At the same time, though I had a pleasant time while at the salon, the customer service ended up being really, really bad.
On their website, it clearly says a blowout style is included with any color service. I got partial highlights (no cut) and was told, as I was sitting there with soaking wet hair, that a blowout would be an extra 40. Great. I told my stylist I’d like her to dry my hair enough so I could at least see how the color turned out. (I mean, give me a break – the ability to do so is exactly why the majority of salons include blowouts with their color services… how on earth else am I supposed to tell if the highlights are toned correctly and in OK shape.)
Went to pay, turns out they only accept tips in cash or check, though will take payment by credit card. Fine fine – even though I was pretty peeved at that point, I never feel right not tipping. So, with my mostly wet hair, I went walking around the block to find an ATM while checking to make sure I hadn’t misread the website in regard to the style thing – nope, says it right there in bold print. So I return to tip (a smaller amount than I normally do, but still) and let them know about the discrepancy between what I was told by my stylist and what it says online. They just said thanks for letting them know and then took my tip. No offer to comp, no offer to even completely dry my hair. I checked today, and the website still says a blowout is included.
As a note, the partial highlight cost was priced to include the blowout when you compare with other Baltimore salons… so I’m pretty sure I was overcharged and it was a mistake on my stylist’s end and not the website/​salon policy. (Also, I’m glad I didn’t have anything important to do after getting my color done – if I did, I would have been forced to pay for what I had read on the website before booking as being included.)
I hate writing negative reviews of places, but I feel like I got taken advantage of so wanted to issue a warning to other future customers.

I went here a few weeks ago after reading rave reviews. The salon is beautiful and everyone was very friendly. I chose Sara to cut my hair based on her profile on their website. She was very sweet and as a master stylist I assumed she would give me a great haircut. I have lots of fine hair that I am trying to grow out, which I expressed to her. We talked about only taking a tiny amount off, Im talking ¼ inch or less. I ended up losing 1 ½– 2 inches of hair and ended up with one of the worst hair cuts of my life. My hair hung straight down with no angles or layers. She talked about taking «the bulk» out of my hair but I have never had anyone talk about my hair bulk and was confused. Rather than explain it to me she began cutting. When I realized what she was doing, which was removing any body my hair had, I asked he to stop. I called the salon when I got home and told them how upset I was. The owner offered to recut my hair but I said no. They have said they will refund my money. I spent 2 weeks with my hair in a ponytail until Matt at Hudson & Fouquet could cut it.

I went in for a cut a few months ago, and Heather did a great job on my short hair. I just moved to Baltimore from California, and had a wonderful stylist out there who always gave me a good cut that grew out well… layers and all.
Heather’s cut was similar to that. Good solid cut right off the bat, and it grew out nicely. I opted for a different stylist for my next cut, at a different salon, because I wanted to check out a different neighborhood and explore Baltimore a bit. Boy was that a mistake. The stylist at the «other salon» gave me a bad cut that grew out in uneven chunky layers. I’m going back to Heather at Alpha ASAP!

I love this salon! Colleen has been my exclusive hair stylist for many years. I cannot recommend her or the salon enough. I must sheepishly admit, though, I don’t visit her as often as I should. Aveda is also one of my favorite companies; it is an environmentally-​friendly company with a great mission.
Overall, the salon has an inviting, relaxing atmosphere staffed with friendly, knowledgable and skilled people. I always look forward to my appointments.

Alpha Studio is in a cute little corner of a row house tucked away in Fell’s Point. Park on the street for a maximum of 2 hours because the parking cops walk around and patrol. Just move your car if you’re going to be there for a long time.
Alpha Studio is very relaxing with a wall of windows and they start you out with water or a cup of hot Aveda tea.
Heather is an emerging stylist (I also appreciate the emerging price list compared to a master stylist) and she did an awesome job on my hair for the first time. She started with a mini little shoulder and neck massage. Ahhhhhh.
Then she washed and cut my long hair, (chunky textured layers), styled it and had me done within an hour. I didn’t feel rushed at any point in time and usually other places have taken 1 ½ for that kind of service. Pretty amazing.

Mmmmm the BEST hot tea is served here! Definitely an authentic Aveda concept salon — greeted at the door with Aveda tea :)
This past Sunday my sister and I had back to back appointments with Heather who is a fabulous junior stylist with mad skills.
Being asian, it takes some serious chemical alteration to turn my hair blond which it has been for 9 months in recent history prior to being magenta-​red, brunette, and then back to black. So, needless to say I had a few split ends and frizzies that needed some attention.
Not only did Heather do a fabulous job of creating a sleek classy look, but she managed to keep the length as well (Im trying to grow it out), and improve the overall shape.
Thank you Heather!

My review is a little bit of a mixed bag, and I truly want to be as fair as possible here.
I saw a stylist named Heather. I don’t recall the exact term for her level of training. I think the best way to equate it is maybe something like a junior stylist — so trained, but shorter on perhaps experience (more evidence for this in a moment). From talking to her, I got the impression that she was telling me she was qualified to do my cut. I called for an appointment and asked for someone who’s good with pixie cuts, which I have. She offered a a master stylist appt. for $ 70, or her for $ 45, and I chose her. Perhaps that was my mistake, yet I don’t think I was informed of the information I needed.
I was 15 minutes late to my appt., and Heather was absolutely accommodating and just a mega sweetheart. Her head massage was to die for. Seriously, what a sweetheart. She seemed to understand the cut I wanted from pictures I brought.
As the cut went on, it was looking pretty good, except for my front of my hair, my bangs if you will, which when you have a pixie, is the most important part of your hairstyle. There isn’t a lot of room to play around here.
She cut them in a long-​ish way, and I said, hey, I’ll be adventurous today, let’s do shorter bangs, and I even had a picture to show what I meant. Everything was going fine when she said, «I’ve never actually done this haircut before.» Oh no. I told her I needed someone who can do pixies. Then, she cut my bangs bluntly, straight across across my forehead, but on top of that was a layer of fairly well textured bangs. It was the oddest thing and it really looked bizarre. I pointed it out, and tried to explain as best I could how all the hair in the front should be nicely blended together, I used the pictures to show her even that there should be no blunt straight across bangs. It wasn’t in the pictures and I didn’t ask for it. I asked if she understood, and she said, «Hmmmm … not really» and then just started cutting away. Woah. That’s not cool. Make sure we’re on the same page first. She turned my bangs into very choppy, uneven layers and a long piece was hanging off the side.
It was just terrible, I couldn’t believe it. I can’t even understand still how she didn’t understand that it was wrong. But they were so short and I could tell she didn’t understand, so I just said, «that’s enough, let’s stop there», paid for the cut and left. Cutting off more wasn’t an option.
So, it’s all explained, and my point is, she shouldn’t have taken my appt. if she hasn’t done a pixie before, and when she did, I needed her to listen more before cutting. When I go to a professional salon, I have an expectation that I’m seeing a stylist that has at least once cut a similar style to mine and will listen to me.

It’s downright shameful that I haven’t written a review about Alpha Studio and stylist, Sarah G. I’ve been seeing Sarah for about three years for color, highlights and cuts — everything she does to my hair is magic. She’s fabulous with color, has helped me transition my hair from a shorter blown out bob to long and naturally curly, and is a downright charming and lovely woman. I get compliments on my hair from strangers at least twice a month and I owe it to Sarah.

What an amazing salon. The owner and staff were wonderfully hospitable and made my entire experience a great one. My hair is pretty freakin’ curly and I am very picky about where I get my hair cut and hadn’t yet found a salon in Baltimore that I was a fan of until I found this place. To top it off, since it’s an Aveda Concept Salon, they offer a full range of Aveda products and I can buy my product there. (It’s not always easy to find Aveda products, you know.)
My hair cut turned out beautifully and was exactly what I was looking for. They also massage your scalp with oils before washing your hair which was nice and felt awesome.
Prices are a bit sharp, especially for my student budget. I think it’s worth it, though. If you’re willing to shell out a little extra to get an awesome salon experience, check it out! You won’t be disappointed.

I’ve been here twice, both times Barbara was my stylist. I found the atmosphere to be very relaxing, and I liked that they’re a little removed from the main strip of Fell’s Point. My haircuts were both great, especially considering that both times I came in pretty ambivalent about what I wanted, and Barbara had to coax some decisions out of me. I have short/​medium length wavy hair, for the record. She’s very nice and easy to talk to, and I think she has great hair judgement. As an indecisive person when it comes to hair, it’s important that I can trust the stylist to point me in the right direction.

I am very pleased with this salon so far. I am giving 4 stars because I plan to go back and I think one time isn’t enough to really judge yet. However, I will go through the things that I really loved.
I could walk in, the staff was helpful and nice. My stylist, Kelly, was attentive, not pushy, explained what she was going to do and then followed through. They follow the Aveda method and the setting is quaint and nice.
My only complaint would be that the space is pretty small, so gabby clients end up sounding much much louder because there isn’t a lot to muffle the voices.
Otherwise, it was lovely and I look forward to going back to see Kelly!
Notes:
— Tip in cash ONLY
— Free bang trims in between cuts

Amazing salon!
When you walk into Alpha, you are immediately greeted by friendly hellos and a pleasant and calming scent. If this is your second time at the salon, be certain someone will even greet you by your first name! Lisa is an artist when it comes to eye brows. She is absolutely phenomenal and makes the whole experience soothing and relaxing! Collen is a master with curly hair! I have never had such an incredible hair cut — complete with scalp massage!
Moral of the story, GO TO ALPHA! You won’t be disappointed!

I love this place! When I walked in I was greeted by someone behind the desk who was very friendly. My stylist, Reuben, came over to say hello, gave me a robe and offered me tea or water. I chose both. We talked about what I was thinking as far as my cut and color goes. He was very helpful during that consultation. Being that I was getting color this time, I did not get the stress relieving scalp massage but I highly recommend it.
So I got a very fun funky color (dark red with some lighter red highlights) and the cutest pixie cut ever. My hair is very thick and wavy which I’ve noticed over the years is really hard to work with. But Reuben had no problem doing what I asked as far as that goes. I have had so many compliments on my hair. It’s relatively easy to style and by the way, Aveda products are natural and not tested on animals.
Alpha Studio was a total treat and I will recommend this place to anyone, man or woman. It’s a very laid back atmosphere and professional at the same time. The other stylists and staff are so nice, none of that typical snooty salon stuff you get at other places. I had a very enjoyable and relaxed afternoon which I can’t say about other salons. Doing my hair has always felt like a chore to me but not anymore. Oh and they’re open on Sundays and the other stylists are wonderful too.

I have been coming here for about three years now. Always get a personal greeting and the staff is great. I keep coming back becuase this place is so consistent with its service and products.