Nope. Nope nope nope.
I should have known better when I first called to make an appointment and the woman on the other end was short and not at all friendly but I went to my appointment as scheduled.
What I asked for: to have my ombre removed and have the darker portion lightened and matched to my roots. I even brought four photo examples that, while weren't the exact colouring, were incredibly similar and showed clearly what I was looking to get.
What I got: highlights.
I told the stylist, Angela, right away I wanted it all over lighter and her answer to that was the process would have damaged my hair too much. An ironic concern since she styled my hair without using heat protector and that in itself is incredibly damaging.
She didn't ask me beforehand if the highlights would be an acceptable alternative, she just did them and the end result was an unhappy customer.
I tried to convince myself it wasn't so bad when I left the salon (and paid $125 +tip) but the more I look at my hair the more I hate it.
Highlights are nowhere near the same thing as lightening the dark out of ombre and matching it to outgrowth. Not even remotely close.
I had high hopes that a place that specializes in colour would be able to get me the colour I wanted.
When I told the stylist it wasn't what I wanted and that it wasn't all-over lighter like I wanted it she didn't seem to care at all and just handed me the debit machine to pay.
On top of being really unhappy with how my hair looks (I actually considered going to Shoppers and buying a box of bleach!) I'm really angry at myself for what I spent.
Under no circumstances do I ever see myself going back here.