Athena Salon And Spa

I came here for a haircut with a groupon and I was pleasantly surprised! Roberto did an amazing job with my haircut and style. When I came to the salon I was in a bad mood from a rough day but Roberto completely turned it around by giving me a fabulous haircut, I was smiling ear to ear by the end. He not only made my day, but made my week! I am still getting compliments on my hair. He listened to me closely and made sure that I was satisfied with his work. He was very friendly and extremely professional. It was really a lovely experience and I would recommend going to Athena to all of my friends.
Roberto started right on time and carefully consulted with me about my wants and needs for a hairstyle. When I showed him a photo of the style I wanted, he offered expert advice and suggestions of how best to achieve the style with my hair. I decided to get bangs, and I appreciated how he made sure first to cut them with a delicate hand and then when he dried it I could see how I liked it and decide whether or not to get thicker bangs (i decided to go thicker). Also, even though I was his last client of the day, he put time and energy into the experience, massaging me during the consultation and even actively listening to me vent about a rough day. He was so considerate and kind. I cant recommend Roberto highly enough. Thank you Roberto and I will be sure to return to Athena for my next haircut!

Sarah does magic. I was really scared to go get my haircut, after I got a really terrible haircut previously at a different salon. I also have pretty thin hair, so I get extra anxious about my hair. She listened and did a fantastic job.
I won’t go to anyone else anymore, she’s my hair hero.

This place is the worst. If you value your time, you’ll go elsewhere. I had an appointment for a wax booked at Athena. The day prior to the wax, they called to cancel. When I asked to find a time to schedule, they said they could squeeze me in a couple of weeks. I told the receptionist I would have to find another salon. After we hung up, the receptionist called back and offered me an alternative time on the same day that they had previously cancelled. Guess what? I showed up at the salon the next day at the time committed and I apparently didn’t have an appointment. 5 phone calls later, one trip to the salon, and still no wax.
Find a place that has a higher level of respect for their clients and a higher level of customer service.

After trying different salons in the Boston area I finally found one that I can go as long as I live in Boston. The esthetician was VERY good at distracting me and it was way less painful than I always experienced through my 15 years of brazilian bikini waxing. They were able to fit me on a Saturday. The place was very clean and everyone was SUPER friendly. The esthetician had her own techniques and skills and made me feel the minimum pain possible. I’ve been a regular brazilian bikini waxing client for a long time, and maybe that’s why I didn’t feel so much pain, but I still think that something in the blue wax or her skills reduced the pain that I usually feel. She was detail oriented and used tweezers for the small and ingrown hair. All the places I’ve been before used tweezers, but not for ingrown hair. I’m so happy I found this place. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!

This might go down as the worst nail experience I’ve ever had. It started out 30 minutes behind schedule, no one even tried to rectify it or apologize for the delay. I had a stress relief shellac manicure, but she just did the regular manicure. Because I was in a hurry and wasn’t expecting to be so late, I didn’t ask her to add that so I just lost out. The shellac manicure itself took over an hour, and she kept the curing machine on the whole time, with the light blinding me and the machine itself getting so super hot I couldn’t keep my hands in there for long. I also had to ask her to redo some nails, she kept getting towel fuzz in the nail, but she kept saying she couldn’t see it, so I left it alone and I still have fuzz in the nail. On top of the poor service, it was extremely awkward. She kept asking me how old I was, and how many kids I would want to have. What??? Definitely not coming back here.

I had by far the worst experience in my life with a business and business owner. I had a Brazilian wax, the women did not know what she was doing at all. after 1 hour and 20mins I still had lots of pubic hairs. The women started to tweeze the hairs which I vehemently objected to (I never heard of anyone ever using a tweezer in this area). I left in pain, my skin was ripped in many places. I had scabs of skin coming off this area all week. I have not been able to wear pants for a week because of the pain. After my treatment I went to my nail salon and I asked the esthetician there to look at my public area and to tell me what she saw. She was horrified by the damage done to my skin and surprised by the amount of hair left.
I had to go the doctor because my skin was infected. I called the owner and asked to be paid $ 500 to cover the doctor visit, and my pain and suffering and they declined offered to send me an email with an offer to pay me $ 75. Never received it.
She also defended her esthetician? I double the women has a license.
UNLESS YOU LOVE PAIN DO NOT EVER GO TO THIS SALON THEY SHOULD NOT BE IN BUSINESS!!! NOT ONLY DO THEY HAVE INCOMPETENT STAFF THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF CUSTOMERS

Received a color treatment, they messed up, said they would redo it and then, after paying them and trying to schedule a redo, they cancelled on me. Overly priced, untalented colorists. Never again.

I see Sarah, and she’s badass. She’s super smart, and I went 6 months in between haircut #1 and haircut #2 and she remembered exactly where my unusual side part was instantly. She’s a great listener, and I’ve had plenty of terrible hairdressers who I think are listening and end up destroying my hair. I’m working on growing it out from a pixie cut and Sarah is great with long term planning and never pushes me to buy anything I don’t want or do anything I don’t want. They’re in a convenient location, decently priced (a wee bit expensive but worth it; I paid 70 + tip for my last cut and it wasn’t a major overhaul, but that’s worth it over a Supercuts for sure) and very friendly.

Do NOT get your nails done here!
I bought two groupons for a manicure and pedicure, stupidly, before I used their nail services. The first time I received a manicure pedicure, the pedicure came out well. However, the manicure took over 30 minutes to dry and the tech had to touch up my nails because I tried going into my purse after 20 minutes and the polish smudged.
After this experience, I did not want to return for nail services. However, a few years later, I needed to get shellac polish removed, and I decided why not use the promotional value (my groupon expired) to pay for the removal. Never again. First of all, the tech only placed acetone on my nails for about 3 minutes. She then proceeded to painfully scrape the shellac off with a metal tool. She then filed the shellac off and cut my finger. Ultimately, there was still shellac on my nails.
Since the tech was running late, I told her that I no longer had time to get a manicure. Oh well… she did not like this one bit! Her slight smile turned into the face of someone who wanted to kill me! She stopped talking to me and looked pissed! She mentioned I could get a nail color change for $ 5 and I agreed because I did not want her to scream at me and because there was shellac still left on my nails.
So then the nail color change happened… and I had the same experience as before. The woman painted my nails but did not leave enough time for the first layer to dry. I walked home (40 minute walk) and did not touch one thing! Then, assuming that my nails would dry in 40 minutes, I reached into my purse and the polish smudged. What a shame!
I do not recommend Athenda Aveda salon for a regular manicure. I do not even want to use the rest of my groupon’s promotional value because of my horrible experiences, but the manager said I could transfer the value to another service.
On the other hand, my roommate who has gotten a shellac manicure has not had such a negative experience. I say go to a place down the street where they only charge $ 35 for a mani/​pedi and do a much better job!

This place was awful. I came in with a gift voucher for a stress fix mani/​pedi. I arrived 10 minutes early and was told to sit in a chair and wait. The receptionist offered me disgusting warm water that had clearly been sitting out all day. The receptionist wasn’t rude but definitely not nice.
I was taken around 25 minutes late which was ridiculous enough, but I had also been there 10 minutes early. So I total I waited about 40 minutes.
The mani and pedi weren’t bad, but absolutely not worth more than the typical $ 35. The woman didn’t even use the products I came in for, and the whole thing took about 45 minutes. For the normal cost of $ 75 I would have demanded my money back. The «spa» was a hole in the back wall, the chair was broken, and the massage lasted about 5 seconds. They also don’t have hand dryers, so the woman sprayed my hands and then said I was good to go. I clearly wasn’t ready and she stood over me until I finally got weirded out and left.
This place wasn’t worth it even with a voucher.

You may be tempted to purchase the Gilt waxing offer… DO NOT DO IT.
At this point, I’m simply going to finish off the Gilt (3 visits). Yes, the location is nice and has a spa atmosphere… I don’t know what the salon’s expertise is (hair, make-​up, nails) but waxing is not it. Each time I’ve gone, no matter who I see, it’s painful torture and takes forever. Avoid unless you’re into paying $$$ to have extreme prolonged pain inflicted on you.

I came in for a gel manicure and pedicure. The pedicure station was very uncomfortable the chair didn’t work well, and the nail tech barely filled the tub with any water. The gel manicure station was also extremely uncomfortable all the colors were dirty and had little to no product. While sitting there I observed several girls come in and get some of the worst haircuts I have ever seen.
Overall I will not go back

I have been an Aveda girl when it comes to my hair for over 15 years, in three different states and 5 different salons. I had never had a bad experience and previously had been complimented on my haircuts.
Athena Salon and Spa has failed to live up to the Aveda experience. Their cuts just do not seem to match my previously experience with Aveda style, cut and quality. My first cut was horrible, the hair dresser didn’t do what I asked and didn’t seem to understand my hair. When I went back I tried to correct any mistake I may have made in my communication and this did help to improve the process, but my cut was just that a simple hair cut … lack luster and didn’t hold its shape very long (which in this case may not have been a bad thing). The second girl I had was very nice and seemed to understand hair though I think her expertise was more in color.
Sarah does seem to know a lot about color and have a real passion and flare for picking colors that look good on a person. She seems to be a really sweet person and was friendly and professional. When I am looking for a hair colorist, I would definitely giver her a try.
Overall the salon experience was just okay from atmosphere to cut. I am looking for a new salon.

This review is for waxing services.
I’ve visited this salon off and on for about 3 — 4 years for waxing, and never had an issue. However, this time there was a new girl. She was very nice, but it was the most painful, awful waxing service I’ve ever experienced. She was using a huge amount of wax, and ripping huge chunks off. This meant that each strip couldn’t be done quickly. At the end of the session, I still had a decent amount of wax left on my body, despite being applied with baby oil.
After the session, I realized that she had pressed on my pelvic area so hard after each strip came off, that I had pain urinating and had occasional bleeding internally. WHAT?! I emailed the salon, politely telling them about my experience, not even requesting reimbursement. And I never got a response.
So clearly, this salon doesn’t care about their customers. I wonder how they are still in business; I won’t be going back.

This place does not even deserve one star. Horrible quality and horrible customer service.
I came here with a Groupon for a color (Groupon cost $ 40) and booked with Renee. I asked to do a subtle ombré, going from black at the roots to brown at the ends. Renee said that would cost an extra $ 80, to which I obliged. Apparently Aveda’s organic colors are very ineffective because at the end of the service, it looked like nothing had happened to my hair except it had a slight burgundy tint all over. This is not what I asked for and I said so — to which Renee responded that she did not know what happened, she mixed the color correctly and blah blah blah and «doesn’t it still look good though?». I don’t want excuses or justifications — this isn’t what I asked for.
Without being offered a refund, I am booked for a ‘fix’ with Renee for the following week. After I arrive, Renee informs me that color can’t lift color, and in order to get the ombré I want, now that she has (incorrectly) colored my hair, she will have to bleach the ends. Which will cost me an extra $ 40. EXCUSE ME since when did you charge me to fix the mistake you originally made? Now I am sitting in the salon chair, I’ve already blocked off hours in my day to have this done, so fine, I pay $ 40 and I hope it works out. Seems Renee is upset she has to fix this at all, so she proceeds to put streaks of bleach in my hair at varying heights on my head, and does not do a toner until I ask her to. Throughout this experience, she is giving me attitude and arguing with me. Her ‘fix’ made things so, so, so much worse — it left me with black and orange streaks at various places in my hair and with the dry and crunchy texture of straw. It would lock up when I washed it; I had no idea that the texture and color would be so awful, and I cried a lot in the days after. Several people asked me what happened and if I had tried to color my hair on my own. I wish I had photos but I was so embarrassed after this experience that I avoided all cameras and kept my hair up in a bun at all times.
I let Groupon know about my experience and they refunded me for the original voucher. For the rest of it, I call the salon and ask for my money back. I finally get through to the manager, who promises a refund on the $ 40 ‘fix’ after I reject his offer to have it «fixed» yet again. No thanks, the last ‘fix’ didn’t work out so well. Guess what — I never got my money back! Subsequent messages for the salon manager were left unreturned.
I spent somewhere in the range of an additional $ 750 to have my hair color corrected, conditioned and keratin treated to remedy the texture. Color correction is very expensive, and I will need to continue to manage the bleached/​damaged ends until I can cut them off. The hair colorist who fixed my hair was appalled that any salon would have let me walk out looking like that.
It was one of the most stressful and embarrassing situations I’ve ever had. This salon is TERRIBLE and you should STEER CLEAR!

Best pedicure in all of Boston. Seriously, this woman truly CARES about what my feet look like. I never want to go anywhere else!
Massage chair, private pedicure nook, amazing attention to detail, great foot massage, amazing polish application. Perfection.
The only slight thing is they don’t have too many colors, so maybe bring your own if you’re picky!

One of the new additions to Athena’s is their massage therapist, David.
He’s fantastic at working on trouble spots in my shoulders and lower back and is always super friendly and helpful. I’ve had several appointments with him so far and I’ll be back for more!

I came here with a Gilt City voucher for a $ 40 hair cut — coming down from a $ 70 value. I used to go to the Aveda salon in the Pru and figured that the salons had to be similar. This deal had to be too good to be true. Be wary, discount shoppers.
Upon entry the woman at the welcome desk was the furthest thing from welcoming. She was very brief, didn’t offer to hang up my coat or provide water or tea as they normally do, and didn’t even ask for my name. Okay. Normally I’d disregard this as these people are irrelevant to the service provided but I guess it’s just another item to add to my list of disappointments.
My service started about 15 minutes late. The girl who cut my hair and the woman at the front desk claimed they didn’t see me sitting there. Ugh. I really liked my hair stylist while I was there. She was sweet, chatty and had infectious energy. I cut off between 3 – 4 inches and she blew out my hair really well at the salon.
So where did we go wrong? I work in a small office of 3 people full-​time so I rarely do my hair — it’s always thrown up in a ponytail or a messy bun. I also went to PA over the Thanksgiving break to see my family so about 2.5 weeks went by before I had to actually make my hair look presentable. In doing my own hair I discovered it was uneven. The left side of my head was longer than the right.
Before bringing this to Unilocal I had called the salon and had spoken to a much friendlier associate at the front desk about this. She had said she would pass along my information to the salon manager as she couldn’t address the problem herself and I never heard back.
I have since gotten the problem corrected elsewhere, but what could have been corrected went ignored. This doesn’t standout as the best customer service to me which is why I wouldn’t recommend the Athena Salon to anyone.

This review is for their laser hair removal treatments. Coming from LA, I have experience with laser treatments.
The Groupon CLEARLY states the coverage area includes the shoulders. When I got there the aesthetician REFUSED to do my shoulders and instead did a much smaller area of the top of the posterior deltoids. Further, the aesthetician had no idea about what she was doing and would be shocked if she is licensed. She didn’t use any power in the laser. The aesthetician was VERY RUDE constantly complaining during the 5 minute session that my shoulders were too large.
Most states require that you have at least one physician on hand to oversee the facility protocols and be available for emergency consultation. I highly doubt that this place is properly licensed or has facility protocols. I suggest that Groupon check that places that perform medical procedures are properly licensed.
By the way, this is mostly a hair salon and there were NO customers in the 20 minutes I was there despite being in an ideal location.

Meh.
I just spent $ 140 for a base color and a quick 5-​minute trim. I get it — It’s Boylston Street. Also, the results were what I was looking for. I don’t like to try anything daring the first time I go to a hair salon. But, did I just pay over $ 50 for a 5-​minute hair cut? Also, I didn’t realize it when my hair was down, but they dye stains created a pseudo-​helmet line along my hairline and an elvis sideburn along my right temple. I would have expected more of a clean up.
The prices are outrageous for the time spent, but the cut was to my standards. Decide whether this place is worth the money for yourself.

This review is for their laser hair removal treatments. Coming from LA, I have definitely experienced many many beauty salons and laser treatments. Ladies know laser hair removal becomes a maintenance thing, so I’ve been looking for a good substitute in Boston. I got a Groupon for 3 laser treatments here and since the reviews were decent I decided to check it out.
Everyone working here is really nice, and I didn’t find it hard to get an appointment. The laser technician is also a really sweet girl. BUT, the laser treatments here do NOT work at all. At all the other laser hair removal experiences I’ve ever had, generally your hair falls out a week or two after the treatment, and then it grows back slowly a bit sparser than before. I didn’t notice any difference at all after any of my treatments which was really disappointing. My Groupon was basically a waste of money. So, I definitely would not come back here or pay full price. I can’t speak for their other services, but definitely save your money and skip the laser treatments here. Ugh.