Penelope’s Vanity

Just used a living social deal last week for a facial with Selam. The facial was very relaxing. I was a little disappointed that Selam didn’t do extractions. Maybe I feel like I need them done more than she does. Ha. Overall a nice little shop.

Management of customer time seems to be the issue here. I made an appointment for a haircut and when I showed up they had me scheduled for a consultation, no hair cut. Hey, if I want to talk about my hair I can do that over the phone. It was absurd and I’ve never gone back.

I just had a facial here and loved it! Great products and great service. I will be back.

Similar to the other reviewers here, I went to Penelope’s Vanity for an Aveda Beyond Keratin treatment. I was really hopeful that the treatment would prove to be beneficial for my curly frizz-​prone hair, and the fact that Penelope’s is an Aveda salon instilled confidence. However, I would not go back here no matter how much you paid me.
First of all, the stylist (not sure if she was the owner or not, mainly because she did not even attempt to make conversation with me — more on that later) could not find record of my appointment on the schedule. There was someone else on the schedule who never showed up, so it’s possible they just wrote down my name incorrectly, so I can look past that. I was passed along to an assistant who did an amazing job washing and preparing my hair (she alone is why this place gets one star rather than zero, if that were possible). Then the Keratin treatment was applied. While I was waiting for the treatment to set, the stylist informed me that she would be juggling me with a few other clients, so I may need to wait a little here and there. No big deal. Apparently however, «a little» translated into MORE THAN 3 HOURS.
After the treatment was washed out and my hair had been blow dried, I sat and waited while the stylist worked on several other clients from start to finish. She was extremely friendly with all of them (they were all clearly regulars) and asked them about their families, weekend plans, etc. Totally ignored me the whole time. I’m sorry — juggling does not mean I should wait for hours while other people are in and out! Juggling means you go back and forth. When the stylist FINALLY got around to flat-​ironing my hair, she did not speak a single word to me.
When I made my appointment, I was specifically told not to cut my hair ahead of the treatment because they like to do it with the Keratin treatments, since they can be very drying and cause split ends. However, the stylist never got around to cutting my hair! And I was there for more than 3 hours!!! I didn’t even mention it by the end of my appointment because I was so ready to get out of there.
When I settled my bill, I was told not to wash my hair for 24 hours (seems to be a discrepancy with another reviewer who was told to wait 48 hours), and pressured to buy the expensive shampoo and conditioner for sale in the shop. No thank you. I have never been so tempted before not to tip, but I did anyway. Sigh.
It has been several weeks since my appointment, and my hair still smells TERRIBLE every time I wash it — like extremely strong old-​school perm chemicals! Also, the treatment does not seem to have had any positive effect whatsoever on my frizz, but rather served only to exacerbate my split ends. I’m currently searching for a new salon to do damage control.
I will never, ever go back here, and will recommend the same to all my friends.

The owner is knowledgeable and easy-​going. Unfortunately, I was there a long time (2.5 hours) to refresh my Keratin treatment from another salon 2 months prior. My hair smells horrible after the Aveda treatment performed and finally washing it seems to have made it worse. The smell of it wet burned my nose/​throat and made me pretty sick. My long, think hair is now damaged, and it wasn’t when I went in… hair broken and sticking out… all-​over dry. It is discouraging because I thought I found a new gem that could fix my high/​low-​lights and provide reasonable facials. I am guessing that due to the juggling of multiple clients (there were several of us that they stated they had to «juggle»… which I am sure happens), the chemicals were in my hair too long and the flatiron damaged it. If you are knowledgeable enough to time the chemicals yourself and monitor the drying/​flatironing, this may be a good spot for you. I really wish it had gone better… the owner was an absolute delight and the location is great. I will update this review if my hair improves with time (it has only been three days). For now, people at work are asking me, «What happened?» That is never good… but it is only hair and the owner meant well. I hope others really like this place, because it could be amazing… just didn’t work for me this time. :)

The woman who owns the salon is very nice and seems to know the business. But she allows «temp» stylists to operate in her domain without fully checking them out. I also went on a Groupon for «Beyond Keratin» smoothing treatment which is, I assume, a type of Keratin treatment. I was leery about the treatment, but because the salon is Aveda, thought it would be a safe bet.
She introduced me to a male stylist (whose name I don’t recall), who was nice and expressed that he wanted me to move my business to that salon. It was clear that he was new to the salon because he asked the owner where the supplies and products were; that in itself wasn’t a concern until the owner had to tell him when to take off the treatment. Then he halfway dried my hair and was about to go after it with a flat iron… which raised red flags because (thank you Mary!!!) I had read the prior review, which warned about doing so when the hair wasn’t dry. I asked the owner to intercede and she confirmed to him that the hair must be completely dry.
When he was done drying my hair, he said, «you’re done.» Not one word about care measures, when to wash, anything special I needed to do to protect my hair. I had to ask the owner again what to do about that (and the newly found cowlick that was sticking up at the hairline – fortunately it only lasted for a week or so). The owner told me to wait 48 hrs to wash it, but if I hadn’t, I would have wasted my investment.
This is the first time I have ever left a salon without tipping the stylist, but I was so frustrated that I had to restrain myself from tipping in the form of advice in front of the other clients – such as, the stylists who work in your salon represent you… you need to make sure they know their stuff before releasing them unsupervised so that they don’t tarnish the reputation of your salon.
Fortunately there weren’t any serious negative effects from the treatment (although I’ve read about some from this and other keratin treatments); the other side is that there was very little effect from it at all… maybe a slight reduction in frizz for a week or so but I still have to do the same routine – blow dry to straighten it and hot curl to get body.
My suggestion would be that if you schedule any service, be certain to ask: «who is my stylist and what is his/​her experience?»

I used a Amazon Local voucher to get a Keratin Smoothing Treatment at this salon. When I walked in to this quaint salon the 2 ladies that were working there immediately greeted me and started on my hair. The woman that washed my hair did a very thorough job and took her time scrubbing my scalp with warm water.
The hair styllist also took her time in parting my hair to make sure that the checmical got on all of my hairs. She was very friendly and personable throughout the whole experience.
She did a great job and I would definitely go back.

UPDATE: I washed my hair 24 hours later and the Keratin didn’t take. I talked to my stylist who said it might not have taken because the «stylist» (I use the term loosely) did not blow dry my hair all the way.