EDIT: Studio Z reached out to me and was very apologetic about my experience. They offered me a refund, cleared up the misunderstanding I had about what I was charged and recommend specific stylists that specialize in short haircuts if I do choose to return as a customer. I'm very glad they reached out to me and it definitely remedied my bad feelings towards them. I probably won't end up going back because it is a little pricey for the haircuts I get but maybe I'll go back for a spa type thing.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I went in to get a high top fade. I signed up online for the appointment, booking a men's haircut and had to create an account. While making the account I had to choose a gender as well, and though biologically I'm female I chose male since I was very clearly getting a men's style haircut. I also had to provide notes for the stylist so I let her know I wanted a high top fade starting at near bald on the bottom and leaving around an inch maybe two on top.
When I arrived I was greeted and everyone seemed super nice. My stylist seemed nice too and didn't seem weirded out by my cut request and seemed confident that she could do it. I showed her a couple of pictures too just to make it super clear what I wanted. She shaved the sides first and all seemed well. She used two different clipper guards one shorter on the bottom and one size up on the upper sides. This was already slightly concerning since I know most stylists don't use guards and will use a comb to create a fade but she assured me she would go in and blend them to create the fade. Her confidence was misleading. She mentioned earlier that she would switch guards for the top to leave the length I had requested but I don't think she did at all. She then told me to close my eyes since she was about to cut the top and didn't want hair to fall in my eyes. When I opened them up it was clear she didn't switch guards as my hair was nearly all the same length all the way around.
She brushed my face off with a hand towel to remove the hairs but was too aggressive and hit my eye with it enough to open it up. Then she told me "we need to wash your hair to get rid of all these little hairs." I followed her to the sink and she washed my hair. This part was nice. I love a good scalp massage and it was very relaxing. I did notice though that she got water in my ear and now I'm fighting an ear infection. Also I got a stye in my eye where the towel hit my eye so I'm questioning the cleanliness of everything.
We then went back to her chair and she asked me what I thought. I let her know it was shorter than I wanted it on top but there wasn't much she could do about that anymore. But also that the sides needed additional blending. She went back in a little but barely anything changed. I realized she was done attempting to cut my hair so I got up to go. She says goodbye, doesn't attempt to book another appointment with me in however many weeks and leaves me with reception.
This is where my biggest issue with the appointment happens. I get my bill for the haircut and even though I have received one of the most basic buzzcuts in existence (could have done myself and have) which is clearly a men's haircut, and I had booked a men's haircut appointment AND went so far as to create a male profile on their booking sight... I get charged $35 for a women's haircut. I didn't want to argue about this and it didn't even settle in that I was being discriminated against until later on in the evening so I ask about the $10 off promotion they have running online for new clients, bringing the price down to $25.
I honestly really regret paying anything for the haircut, especially since I ended up getting it fixed at a barber shop the next day for significantly cheaper. I haven't called or gone in to complain because by the end of the appointment I didn't feel like I was wanted as a customer anyways. I wish she would have just said that she didn't do a lot of clipper cuts at the beginning of the appointment and the whole thing could have been avoided.
P.S. if you're female and want to get a short cut, go to monona barber shop about 5 blocks down. They did a better job and were super nice! And they don't discriminate!