Oceanic Hair and Beauty

If it was possible to take stars away from a business, this would certainly be one of those times.
My husband surprised me with a massage here since it is close to where we live. I was in the area one day and walked in to schedule the appointment. The receptionist was extremely rude while I was attempting to book my massage, the interior of the place was beyond dated so those should have been red flag warnings right there. No, I figured I’d still schedule the massage.
Two weeks later I arrive for my massage and the attendant asks for my voucher. I tell her I don’t have it, we don’t own a printer and it was already paid for, so why does she need it? She points to a faded, wrinkled sign (that wasn’t there when I scheduled the appointment) that says all vouchers are required upon check in. She tells me that iCafe down the road has printers and I should go there. Again, I should have just said screw it and left, but no. I was determined to relax and enjoy this massage.
I walked to iCafe, printed the email from my husband, walked back and checked in again. I confirmed that this would not change the hour massage I had booked. She told me it would still be an hour, despite the fact that it was now 20 minutes later than my scheduled time. The «massage therapist» walked me into the massage room and told me to undress.
The room was dirty upon entry. There were used towels in one corner, a slow cooker in one, and a ton of oils on the counter just scattered. The table was covered in the world’s tiniest brown towels. How were they supposed to cover me up? I’m an average sized woman and I felt overly exposed. Now please keep in mind, I have had many, many massages throughout my life. This was most certainly NOT my first rodeo.
The woman giving me my massage barely spoke any English at all. She didn’t ask me a pressure preference, or if there were any specific areas I’d like her to focus on. No, instead she walked in, did not wash her hands, put an insane amount of oil on my back and started rubbing. At no point was this experience relaxing, comforting, or enjoyable. When she rubbed my limbs it honestly felt as if she was practing to give a male friend a h-​job if you know what I mean. The force and speed she was using to rub my legs and arms was ridiculous. At time I had to stop myself from laughing because I passed the point of rage into hysterics.
She stopped the massage after 40 minutes and told me to get up and get dressed. Apparently telling time is not her strong suit either? I felt filthy, greasy, and the exact opposite of relaxed.
I will never be going back there and hope that others do not fall victim either. They provide horrible customer service, the «massage therapist» is clearly not educated in massage, and the facilities are less than appealing. Stay far, far away.

I was so excited about the great Groupon deal I found for this place, however I ended up paying twice as much to FIX my hair at another salon the very next day.
I had to wait for an hour when I arrived at the salon (West End location), the girl seemed confused about my appointment and didn’t realize she was meant to be giving me highlights. When she finally did put them through my hair (without asking me any preferences for colors/​shades!), she left me to wait for yet another hour… when she finally rinsed me off, I was BLONDE. From brunette, wanting a few lighter streaks, to full on blonde!
The haircut that followed that was worse, the girl kept on cutting it shorter and shorter because «my hair just doesn’t stay straight»! and she couldn’t get it to even up on both sides. At the end it looked like someone had butchered it with an axe and it wasn’t even straight. I was horrifed, I ended up going to another salon the very next morning and they fixed the cut but… never again!!!

Worst ‘massage’ ever. Paid full price (£32) upfront for a full body massage and left feeling 10 times more stressed than I did going in.
Although friendly, the massage therapist, Angela, was unprofessional. She overemphasised «I don’t do feet» whilst putting a towel over them and proceeded to give me dieting tips.
As for the ‘massage’, I had oil slapped over my body with no pressure or actual massaging. Hot stones were then placed over my back, despite not paying or asking for a hot stone massage, and I was left lying for over half an hour. Apparently this was for the «heat to penetrate my muscles», however, if I had wanted heat, I would have taken a warm bath!
I honestly felt as if the therapist could not be bothered doing her job, fobbing me off and trying to do as little as possible. All this did not not make for a nice experience, so much so, I actually got up and dressed before my ‘treatment’ was due to finish.
After communicating my disappointment with my therapist, which included asking for a refund, I was advised to email the manager and refused the same. I did so immediately and did not hear anything back for approximately 5 days. When I did receive a phone call, I was advised that providing a refund was not policy. I was offered a further treatment but, as you can imagine, I advised that I did not feel comfortable accepting this offer. The manager was very unhelpful and spent the duration of the phone call informing me that they had «never had this problem before» as opposed to actually listening to my complaint.
I have never complained about a service before, but felt it necessary to warn others to try and prevent the same experience happening to them.

Where do I even begin? My boyfriend got me a massage (among other things) for Christmas and I was over the moon thrilled about it! That’s about the only positive thing about my whole experience with Oceanic Hair and Beauty.
I called their Southside location thinking that was the only location that gave massages. According to their website, they are. When I asked, the lady on the phone made me aware that their west end location also offered massages. Perfect, because its closer to where I go to uni. So, I call the west end location and spoke to the most rude girl (who I later encountered once I walked in to the salon). She gave me an attitude when I mention I had a gift certificate and told me that the first available opening would be in a weeks time. Ok, maybe they’re busy, so I agreed to the available slot.
Fast forward a week later and I’m super excited to finally get this massage. It’s not often I get massages and I live a stress free life, but lately I’ve upped my workouts and felt completely ready for this massage.
I walked in to the salon early and there were two girls standing at the wee reception desk. One looked at the clock as though to suggest I was late (I wasn’t) and the other (who I spoke to on the phone) just stood there with a smug look on her face.
Me: Hi, my name is Carolyn and I booked in for a massage.“
Smuggy: Do you have your gift certificate? You wont be able to get the massage if you don’t“
Wow, really?
So, I handed over the certificate and asked for the toilet. She points and says ‘yeah, through there.“
I walked back through their hangout area that resembled a dirty student accommodation kitchen. Crisps and open food everywhere, it was really manky. The toilet was just as disgusting, so it was in and out and back to the waiting area.
The pictures I posted do this place so much more justice than it deserves. The place just felt dirty and run down. The floor was all ripped up near the entrance and the tv was blasting tacky music videos.
Back to the two girls standing waiting for the world to spin. None of them looked like they were prepared to give a massage, so i was hoping the massage therapist was back in another room. One of the girls, who actually ended up giving me a massage left the salon right when I was meant to start the massage and came back a few minutes later. She disappeared in to a room and came back out and pointed at me and said «come with me».
We walk into a swelteringly hot room, where I was to get undressed and up on the table and covered with a towel. Now, I’m not the smallest girl, nor am I the biggest, but the towel I was given to cover myself up, barely covered the important bits. Before she left me to it, she asked me if I was wanting the full body massage my boyfriend paid for. Out of curiosity, I asked her what that entailed. Before she told me, she told asked me if I’d rather just my shoulders, back and neck done even though my boyfriend paid for an hour massage. She was trying to downgrade me to a half hour massage!!! I told her no, I wanted the full hour massage. «are you sure?» whaaa?
The girl came back in 10 minutes, because apparently it takes people that long to strip. She put a whole bottles worth of oil on her hands and started to rub down my legs. Without going in to detail, it was basically an hour rub down with way too much oil. There was no pressure applied, she may as well just told me she was going to lube me up with oil and send me on my way. The whole time, any time I would open my eyes while on my back, she would say «relax and sleep». Yeah right girl!
It was, hand down, the worst excuse for a massage I’ve ever gotten. Makes sense since she mentioned that she has a masters in marketing. She would stop to take rogue hairs off my skin, the cd stopped, so she stopped to start it again, and she stopped to adjust her watch. All in all, I did not get a full hour massage. Once she was done, she told me to relax before getting up. Nah. I checked my phone for the time it was 1:50pm. She started late, piddled about during and stopped 10mins early?
When I came out of the room, the girl who massaged me was no where to be found and the smug girl asked how it was. I said ok. She smiled and I was on my way.
As much as I appreciate the gift my boyfriend gave me, honestly, I really think he should be given his money back. This was the worst experience I’ve had in a long while.
I can’t speak for the hair salon aspect of this place, but there are loads of places in the area that are so much nicer, clean and have staff who actually practice proper customer service.
Stay away from this place. Don’t waste your time or money.

Been meaning to post a review up for this place for a while, so here goes…
I was fed up with paying an absolute fortune to get my hair done and wasn’t always happy with the results. Stumbled across this place on Groupon and decided to give it a bash. I’m very fussy about my hair, so changing hairdressers is a little scary for me. So glad I took the chance!
Steph always does my cut, colour, blow dry and she is fantastic. Always understands exactly what I want and I’ve never left unhappy. There’s always loads of chat too, the girls are all really nice. Plenty of magazines and tea if you fancy any of that.
The prices are very reasonable and they usually send out an offer email in the winter with a few excellent deals on it. Very much appreciated before and after Christmas, check out their website for prices. It’s also very close to Kelvinbridge subway station.
Think they also do some treatments like massage, nails etc but I’ve never tried out the in-​shop beautician.
A great little place, would highly recommend it!