Horrifying.
I choose to go to Asian hairdressers because I believe that they know more about my straight, thick Asian hair. And I had been wanting to dye my hair blonde. I tried it several times myself and you know when you dye thick black hair, it turns brown, red, orange and then yellow. I was at the Orange stage and wanted my hair dyed lighter (= yellow, and then to get it toned to Ash blonde.)
When I made an appointment for 1330h, I told them I was coming in for dye/color and the woman on the phone responded "Oke, oke." Upon arrival, we asked the receptionist how long "hair cut + dye/color" would take. Her answer was 1 and a half hours. We asked this question because 1) My husband wanted to go to a book store and be back to pick me up, 2) we live 45 minute drive away from the salon and we wanted enough time to get ready for our important dinner appointment at 1800 hrs.
My appointment was 1330h, 90 mins including dye/color. Great. My husband took off saying he would be back at 15:00h.
Tony was my hairdresser. I was in fact a very happy repeater and specifically asked for him when I made my appointment. But then again, he was not (and probably still isn't) a colorist.
It was Saturday and being a "walk-in welcome" salon, they were busy. Very busy. So, Tony basically left me with the hair dye MUCH LONGER THAN HE SHOULD HAVE. This was me wanting to go platinum blonde from my orangish hair that had already been dyed before. There were 3 steps in this process and every single time he finished applying the hair dye on me, he left to work on someone else. There I was, left unattended with my scalp going really itchy. When he took me to the shampoo station after the 2nd step, I thought " finally!!" but Tony left me to "study" about the 3rd process for my hair, and it made me feel uneasy to see him open every drawer and locker to locate this item, and he eventually ended up opening some sort of manual book to make sure he was doing the right thing. By the time he came back to apply the 3rd step, it was 1600hrs. And this last step was THE HELL because of the 1st and 2nd applications that were left on my skin for way too long. It burned my scalp and I was in tears. I asked him in English how long this had to stay on my scalp, and as if he did not speak any English, the receptionist rushed to me to tell me that it had to stay for 10 minutes. I told them I could not stay like that for another second and my eyes also stared to burn. My eyes were already teary because he shampooed my hair so rough that the application soiled water was all over my face. He rinsed the 3rd application immediately and I told the receptionist that we had a dinner appointment at 1800h, and we live about 45 minute drive away, I wanted to be out of salon by 1630hrs. Her response was "5 o'clock oke?" WTH! And she went on to tell me how women need a lot of time to get ready for party etc etc. By 1615hrs, Tony started blowdrying my hair. My husband came back for the second time and paid for the service (What service...what product? Both were failure.) and gave them a tip which made me feel bitter when I found out. Tony may be good at cutting hair but he was definitely being inefficient this time around and he kept making small modifications here and there to my hair which didn't show much before&after difference. I was out of the salon at 1710 hrs with a burning head with frizzy hair.
At the end of the day, my hair got lighter - It was YELLOW. Tony most likely doesn't know what "Toning" means.
The facility had the AC blowing and I normally dye my hair in nice and warm room temperature for faster processing. The place was freezing cold.
And here are the icing and cherry on top: These people want to argue with you over the color you want, and ask you what your nationality is. The hairdryer was too close to my skin and my already burnt head got even more burnt. When I pulled my head away from him, saying ouch, he pulled my hair back! His scissors needed to be oiled and he figured only after they started eating my hair. He oiled them using his fingers and never wiped the grease off his fingers before touching my hair. Never seen a hair salon receptionist who walks around suckling on corn on a cob, too... Or slurping noodles for that matter. And please do not openly discuss and count your tips in front of customers.
Don't go to this place for hair dye because you won't be able to take a hot shower for at least 3 days. Your skin will then peel off slowly looking like dandruff. After a week or 2, your hair will start to break and fall off, then you find yourself screaming in the shower - WTF!