Avant Garde Salon

Absolutely love the haircut that I got from Samantha today! She really listened to what I wanted to do with my hair and made sure I liked it in the end. Plus she is super sweet and the salon itself is very chic, modern, and clean.

One of the few places in town that has a barber! If your a guy then Greg can get it done. A true barber that is professionally trained and knows how to cut. Can’t advocate him more. No worries. New York attitude with laid back southern ease. You found your place.

*LGBT/​QUEER FRENDLY**
One of my biggest anxieties about moving from Oakland, California to Gainesville was finding a new stylist. I had been loyal to and grew to love Ami Goot at Bang and Locks, an Aveda Concepts Salon in Oakland.
I began researching stylists right when I got to Gainesville. My first cut was at Salon at 716, which was mediocre at best. I attribute to lack of chemistry with the stylist I saw. It just wasn’t there to the fault of no one.
Avant Garde brings it from the time you walk into the door and are greeted with a beer/​wibe/​soda/​fancy coffee, until you leave with your next appointment and a haircut that leaves you feeling fierce.
My partner Shanti get her amazing cuts by Greg, the Barber at Avant Garde who recommended the AMAZING master stylist Courtney to me.
All I had to do was say 4 words to Courtney: Assymetrical, Short Bangs, and Texturizing, and she ran with it, and brought it BIG TIME.
Courtneys vision, technique, and intuition are golden, and I am 100% happy with my cut, and cannot wait to see how my hair evolves as she works on it. Courtney is A+. I am scheduled for color this coming week and will post photos of color then.

It was a dark summer when my previous hair stylist moved away to New York City (look up Jordan Streezel if you are ever there… she’s a dream). Since then, I’ve been to Avant Garde three times and I’ve never had an issue. Everyone I’ve interacted with has been sweet and accommodating. Michael, at reception, is efficient and never keeps me waiting. At one appointment, my stylist called in sick. My cut and color were divided between two people and both were great, considering they probably had to work double time to accommodate their fallen comrade. Sammie, who colored my hair last time I was in, was super sweet and listened to what I wanted. She was kind enough to offer me a beer to take the edge off while my color was developing (I wasn’t hiding my hangover very well). Courtney is my absolute favorite. I recommend her to everyone who asks for a good cut in town. She’s not the warm and fuzzy, talk-​your-​ear-​off type… which I so appreciate. Her strong suit is just being a hair-​cutting genius. This is really what she was meant to do as a career. She is up to date on the latest styles and knows exactly what I’m talking about when I mention a style I’ve only seen on the runway a few times. I have never once left here feeling taken advantage of for what I pay. They’ve recommended products to me, only per my request, that have transformed my hair. The UF/​Shands employee discount is a plus.

Great customer service! Had pixie cut done by Paige it came out really beautiful! Would recommend her to everyone!

I just got the best haircut of my life. Tyler had a cancellation, and I lucked into his chair! He cut 10 inches of long hair into the cutest (age appropriate) pixie. I absolutely love the cut, the style and the color (foils). I don’t ever write reviews, but Tyler deserves five stars! I am thrilled, and I have already booked my next appointment !!!

Courtney and the head stylist were great! Fun conversation and a hair cut exactly like I wanted.

Best salon in North Central Florida! The entire staff is very welcoming and friendly (even if you’re not their client)! Bryan Sepp is THE BEST STYLIST AROUND!!! He listens to what you want, makes suggestions to help you achieve the best look possible for your face and skin tone and he delivers amazing service. You can tell how much he cares about his clients. Every time I go in I love my hair even more and he manages to make it «pop» in a whole new way!
They have every service you could want from a spa, a membership program for discounts and free massages! And on top of everything I just mentioned they carry fanastic products that won’t damage your hair, skin, or nails because they have no harsh chemicals in them. Safe for color, smoothing systems, etc. Do yourself a favor and book an appt today!

I have only used their massage service so far, and highly recommend it. The facility is very high-​end looking and the massage rooms are above average. The front desk staff and massage therapists are professional. The front desk is always staffed, unlike other places where I would have to leave a message and call back at awkward times. All summer long they were moderately busy, so with school starting it may get busier. Massage table was extremely comfortable with aromatherapy candles and soothing music. Overall, I had a great experience and have been there twice already.
The location is also very good with parking in the UF garage up above with validation.

I’ve been coming here for years. I’ve had everything from a cut to a massage to a pedicure. I keep coming back because it’s the best place I’ve found in Gainesville for any beauty services.

Bryan is my guy for color and cut. He is heads above most stylists in creativity and knowledge. He keeps up-​to-​date on the latest style and color trends, and thus my hair always looks great when I leave the salon. I have been going to Bryan for 5 years and he is the only person I trust to touch my hair. Plus, he is fun and a genuinely good person.

I’m new to the Gainesville area and went to Avant Garde in hopes that I could receive a great eyebrow wax. Considering it’s a salon with extensive waxing services, I figured it would be great. The first time I went, the girl who did my eyebrows was so pleasant and gave me great tips on how to keep my eyebrows in the best condition between waxes. Although she was nice, I wasn’t «wowed» by her services or the salon. I’m a firm believer in trying things twice to firmly say I don’t like something, so I returned two months later to get my eyebrows done. I had the same girl that originally did my eyebrows. My appointment was at 3, so I got there at about 2:50 to wait. She didn’t end up taking me until 3:30 because her previous customer had gotten a french manicure and apparently that takes 30 extra minutes. While I was waiting, the receptionist staff were cold, unwelcoming, and dismissive when I told them that I had been waiting for a half hour and wanted to know how much longer it would be for my waxer to be ready for me. Once she was able to take me, she set me up at one of the hair-​washing bowls. Mine was nice and clean, but the 4 on either side had remnants of old hair laying in the washbowls. That is completely unacceptable for any hair salon, especially one that touts it’s «upscale clientele.» While I was sitting and having my eyebrows waxed (in the open area for all of the clients to see), I observed two stylists sitting and talking in their chairs while piles of hair sat around their stations. I understand that they do have down time when they don’t have customers, but it looks bad for a) to have left over hair to be sitting around a station and b) to be sitting and presumably gossiping in the open for the customers to see.
Since I’ve tried this place twice, I can confidently say that I will not return for any waxing or hair styling services at Avant Garde.

The salon is beautiful! I checked in and was offered a drink while waiting-​I enjoyed the atmosphere too. I got my hair colored and dry cut with Lori, and I was thoroughly impressed with her knowledge and expertise. In addition to listening to my needs, she was kind and friendly. I did ombré, so was a bit nervous, but she knew exactly what she was doing & nailed it! I was only visiting, but if I move to Gainesville, she will get plenty of referrals from me :)

Went in for a color and cut because I’d heard a few good reviews of the salon in general. Very happy with my color. However, I asked for layers with a slight bang, and left the salon looking like a child. The bottom of my hair is as straight as a ruler. No layers in sight. I even brought in pictures of what I was looking for and the poor girl couldn’t follow.
I told the receptionist when I made the appointment that I have A LOT of hair and that it usually takes more time than usual to color/​cut my hair. This extra time I am always willing to pay for (and I let that be known), because I recognize that my stylist has to not only forgo additional clients, but put forth extra effort. I assume they didn’t believe me because the woman tending to my hair was unable to finish the cut/​blow-​dry because her next client came as she was cutting my hair. Fortunately the girl who finished my bangs and the gentleman who styled my hair did a wonderful job at both!
Additionally, for the majority of my consultation and during the coloring of my hair, my stylists was either bickering about logging some color something in the color room with the other stylists there, or talking to me about very personal matters such as her now-​ex-​husband and how he wasn’t attentive to their two children.
Overall, I would go back to Avant Garde but I would definitely request a different stylist.

Many years of getting haircuts have endowed in me a healthy distrust of upscale salons. Every time I’d been in the past, the woman cutting my hair may have been a real talent with women’s hair, but just shut down as if she’s never touched a guy’s hair in her life. I always ended up walking out feeling like my hair felt not quite right while my pocket felt substantially lighter. In spite of this tradition of getting bad haircuts at upscale salons, I decided to give Avant Garde a shot since they’re so close to where I live and work. You would think that AG would put someone with more experience cutting guy’s hair on the job for a new guy customer, but instead I got a girl who acted like she was terrified of my hair. She spent the first ten minutes trying to sell me on their shampoo and oh-​so-​tingly «after-​shampoo» shampoo, chatting up a storm, and then proceeded to gingerly snip at my hair at a rate that would’ve taken hours had she not gotten a consult from a girl working another guy’s hair. This other stylist stepped in and basically taught her how to cut my hair, doing about 50% of the work. Shouldn’t they learn this in hair stylist school? I felt like a guinea pig sitting in a fancy chair. In spite of this crash course, my stylist continued to snip and pick at my hair as if I were a topiary at Versailles. The one thing she did right was to get that consult, because my hair actually wasn’t terrible at the end. However, it took an hour and a half from the time of my appointment, I missed dinner, I was in a bad mood, and I spent way too much money for the cut I got. For less than half the price, I get an awesome haircut at Great Clips on 13^th and 23^rd. Sure, there are kids bouncing around the place half the time, but I’d rather have that than house music and a stylist who has no idea how to cut my hair. The best thing about my Avant Garde experience was the double shampoo before my haircut, which earns AG a generous 2 stars.

I tried another salon in town and they didn’t listen to how I wanted my hair. I ended up darker when I went in for a highlight. A co-​worker suggested Avant Garde so I have it a try. The staff was amazing. I called to make an appointment on Friday and was in seeing someone on Saturday. I had the pleasure of having Rob as my friend suggested and he did amazing. He listened to what I had to say, took the time to carefully plan out my color getting suggestions from other workers and it turned out great! I love my new color! The staff works well together to get you what you want. Ill be going back and suggesting this place to everyone. Plus, if you work at Shands you get a discount!

I switched salons to Avant Garde because Orie, who had cut my hair at another salon, has moved there. Orie had left Gainesville to teach at a beauty academy elsewhere over a year ago and missing home, returned to town and started working at Avant Garde. Needless to say, I was very glad he came back to Gainesville. He is the best hair-​stylist I’ve ever had, and I’ve had some very good ones in San Francisco and elsewhere. I seriously feel Orie is as good as people who have cut my hair at Cinta and Vidal Sasson’s SF locations and other top-​flight salons and he’s less-​expensive, too.
Another aspect of Orie I really appreciate is that he’s fast. He told me he is faster than most stylists are and some clients even felt that wasn’t the best thing because they expect a high-​end salon to take some time. This is not to say he is in a hurry or not as attentive as he should be: he is 100% attentive and careful and does what needs to be done with great concern, but he doesn’t waste time, either. If you want your stylist to double as your therapist or best friend, maybe that would be a problem, but if you’re like me and want a great haircut and not to spend forever sitting in a salon, Orie’s a dream come true. He was able to wash my hair and cut it in far less than an hour whereas other stylists have taken over an hour, and with a guy’s hair that’s pretty silly. He’s also very honest and will answer any questions you have about your hair or products in a forthright way. While he got the job done quickly, we also had ample time to speak of things I might want done in the future, color, and so on.
The salon is very welcoming and as it’s fairly new, the atmosphere is sleek and modern. Unlike some reviewers, I found everyone at the front desk to be very friendly, too. When I walked in, Orie and another man (one of the owners I think) were up front and I was asking Orie about his own hair (which is stunning: do we not expect stylists to have amazing hair themselves? Well, he has it). The other guy chimed in and was very outgoing, too. I’m really elated Orie is back in town: the only other stylist in Gainesville I’ve found of his caliber was a girl named Rose years ago who long since moved on and I’ve been unhappy with many other stylists I’ve tried, so it’s refreshing to have someone who is so skilled in Gainesville. I was seriously considering going to Orlando to get my hair done before Orie came back. Now, I don’t have to do that.

Very friendly staff. Made an appointment same day and had no wait.
Cut was $ 25 and well worth it. Stylists were up to date with current trends.
Great location and really clean minimal interior.
Parking is limited.

Nice salon inside. Very upscale.
Went in to get my wife a gift certificate. All I can comment on right now is the ascetics of the place, the customer service was excellent, and the prices are very good.
20% discount for Shands employees
At present they had a main, pedi and 1 hour massage for $ 65, can’t beat that.
I’ll update my review once my wife tells me how she does or does not like them.

I don’t remember the name of the girl who cut my hair, but while she was very sweet and easy to talk to, I feel like she didn’t really listen to what I wanted done.
When I first got there, she had me sit down and do a 10 minute consultation. One word: awkward. She asked me robotic questions and had me scaling my hair from 1 – 10 on dryness, volume and how much I liked it. It was really uncomfortable and felt very forced… most of the questions didn’t even relate to what I wanted done. She kept prying on how I would like to color my hair if I ever did, even though I had stressed that I loved my natural color.
I have curly hair and wanted some choppy layers throughout to keep my hair bouncy and fun. She took only a little off the ends, and when I asked her to go shorter around my face she seemed hesitant and then just took a tiny bit more off. She definitely did not seem comfortable working with my hair or doing anything aside from a simple trim, which made me feel like I was not getting what I was paying for.
I left the salon with some uneven strands and spent the next week trimming away at my own hair every time I passed a mirror. Unfortunately I am now going to have to try another salon to try and get what I originally wanted.