Rod Sickler Salon & Spa

I can’t believe I missed reviewing them. I have visited this salon/​spa twice. Both times were for eyebrow waxes. It is wonderful that I can schedule the same day for this service. And usually they have multiple openings.
I did have quite the hiccup on my first visit. The person that was supposed to do my wax was nowhere to be found. I waited around for a while wondering what was happening after I checked in. Then I had to wait more until they could find someone else to do my service. Luckily, the girl who did was wonderful. Oddly, we did not go back to the waxing room. She did my wax at one of the shampoo bowls. She gave me some great advice about lip waxing. She said that I should try a cold wax since I blister. They offer this service there and if I had asked for this far enough in advance, they could have done it. I haven’t found a spot in Atlanta that does this yet.
On my second visit, there were no issues and I was scene quickly. The girl again was very nice and did a lovely job on my brows. This time, we were back in the waxing room. In the end, I don’t think it matters much where it is done since I am not getting anything private waxed.
Overall, the staff are nice. Last minute scheduling is no problem. A bit pricey for eyebrow waxing– I pay more here than I do in Atlanta surprisingly. But since I don’t have to use their service too often, I am fine paying for the convenience.

I’ve been to Rod Sickler twice and my experiences were very different. I get waxing done when I go there and the first time I went my hair grew back very quickly after I got waxed. I was angry at first, but after a couple months of going elsewhere I decided to give it another try.
My second experience was much better. The hair did not grow back for awhile after the wax. I am not sure if they used different types of wax on me, but mixed experiences here!

This place has a great atmosphere. I used to go to another place close in town and got my hair colored here and they did a horrible job. I came here and they fixed it. I’ve been coming here sense for color and cut and am always very happy with my results.

Fun place with several stylists that are up to date on the newest trends. I love that they offer deep conditioning shine treatments that even have SPF protection! Lots of great hair products and the stylists are pro’s at «blonding»! Also, they carry skinceuticals and color science for skin care. The color science SPF powder is a fave!

I just had my second appointment with Paige. When I arrived I found that Paige had went to the effort of saving the picture out of the magazine I was paging through at my first visit. She also had made several notes regarding our initial conversation and then went back over them to ensure she was going in the right direction. Her goal was to make sure I was truly happy with the cut and color and I was. Again I like the job she did and the effort she making to make sure I am satisfied.

Rod is supposedly a big deal in the hair world. Not just Champaign hair world… but LA hair world. He does crazy shows where he’s cutting hair to loud music and kissing girls. I figured going to him would be the answer to not having to drive to Chicago for a «big city» hair cut. Champaign haircuts seem to be at a sorority girl or hillbilly level.
I have short black hair. I love my short black hair. I like wearing my hair in a pixie cut … usually cut with a razor. I like my hair looking elegant and not boyish. I told that to Rod, the one time that I was there. He said that he had more of a vision for my hair. I came out looking like Spock. ‘Nuff said.

Yesterday I got a signature facial from Rod Sickler and it was the best hour of my life. Tamara, the esthetician, was really nice and cleared my face a lot. I definitely recommend these people. It was definitely worth the money.

Not satisfied AT. ALL. I’ve been here three times and don’t plan on going back. The reason I’m giving two stars instead of one is that this place is pretty nice in some ways – they have a comfortable waiting area and the staff are very friendly. I had no problem with the people working there or the cleanliness of the place or anything like that. My problems are with the quality of the service I received and with the prices.
Let me start with the prices: the first time I came here, I got a Brazilian for something like $ 45 dollars. I thought this was really reasonable and I was happy with the service. No problems so far. When I went back a few months later, I got my business taken care of and went to the register. The total was something like $ 100 dollars with tip. I was dumbstruck, because I hadn’t realized the prices had gone up – much less gone up by THAT MUCH. I know that being uninformed is my fault and I can’t blame anyone else for it. But seriously! I was not counting on such an insanely steep price increase. Looking at the website now, it says that a Brazilian is $ 65, so maybe their prices have gone back down. Still too expensive, in my opinion.
It’s one thing not to go back because their prices are too high (hey, that’s just the reality of being a poor student!), but the real clincher for me was getting a very bad eyebrow wax. I’ve been getting my brows done at salons I trust for a while now because they’re thick and fussy and because they look jacked up if I try to do it myself. Well, Rod Sickler jacked them up real good, possibly even more than I could have done on my own. The esthetician was really nice and we chatted the whole time she was working on me. I thought it was taking quite a bit longer than usual – after she’d waxed, she kept stepping back and evaluating my brows, and then she’d go to town with her tweezers. Seemed like an awful lot of tweezing. I’d told her I wanted to keep the brows’ natural shape and that I really just needed a clean-​up. When she finally felt satisfied with her work and handed me the mirror, I almost cried (but I managed to wait till I got into my car to burst into tears. I know, I know, not the most mature reaction). I looked like… a drag queen or something! My arch was too high, my brows were too thin, and their natural asymmetry had been accentuated, not mitigated. It took me something like two months and the help of estheticians I already knew and trusted for my face to start looking like MY FACE again.
I can’t vouch for the haircuts or any of the other services. But I was kinda traumatized and won’t be back.

I just have one word– Don’t. I really wanted to like Rod Sickler and I kept going back, bad haircut after bad haircut. Every time, I went back, it seemed there were new staff (lots of turnover) and excuses for why my hair was cut incorrectly. One time, I actually had someone take a picture of the back of my hair after the haircut and it was completely uneven.
Not to mention the fact that I was paying over $ 200 for a cut, highlights, and color. There are so many better places and I am so much happier with my new salon!

I decided to get my head shaved in celebration after my dissertation defense, and my first instinct was not to go to Rod Sickler because I thought the stylists would probably give me attitude about it. However, the first place I went to didn’t have any walk-​ins available and I’ve always had a good experience with Audrie so I decided to give rod sickler a try anyway. I should have gone with my instincts.
I ended up having to pay 44 $ to sit through being mean-​spiritedly heckled by brandy while she attempted to roll her eyes at me behind my back to another associate. It turned a celebratory ritual into an unnecessarily negative experience that, despite my fondness for audrie, will prevent me from going back to rod sickler, or recommending it to anyone else.

Brandy colored my hair for my wedding and it looked fantastic. She also gave me a nice cut and did a great job with my eyebrows. I later went back and had a bikini wax and eyebrow tint from Jen. I am extremely pleased with everything and will never go anywhere else for my beauty needs from now on (:

Jen is the new esthetician — in case anyone is wondering, Mary Kay left the salon and has moved her business into the Senator’s Inn B&B.
It was $ 10 for an eyebrow wax with Jen and she uses hard wax which I prefer to strips. Decent job… fair price… semi-​quick and easy.
And on a side note…
What are you nuts? Rod Sickler is not the ONLY place around town with a website… it’s 2008 people… if you’re looking for something — google it:

The list goes on and on and on and on…

–his is the only place in Champaign-​Urbana to get your eyebrows done. Mary Kay is amazing– she actually gets out a ruler and measures them. Plus, she uses a hard wax which is much less irritating on the skin than the usual wax they have.
Skip the haircuts, they are not worth the price. But this is the best place to get eyebrows done and not walk out looking like a 45 year old lady.