Chemical Burns, Walmart Salons, and Crappy Customer Service

Prior to moving to Kentucky, I decided it would be a good idea to get one more relaxer.  While I probably could of gone a bit longer before I had my hair relaxed, I preceded to go to the hair salon.  Unfortunately, I left with serious regret.

Trying to find someone "good" to do my hair seemed like I was asking for too much out of life.  Not to offend, but my experience with hairdressers, specifically blacks ones, left me afraid to get attached since too often they would be in the wind before I knew it. 

It took me over 4 years to find a hair dresser who wouldn't burn me or do a horrific job when I was in college.  When I returned home, I was happy to find a new girl named Whitney at the Family Style salon in Walmart.  She was young, but she was passionate and not complacent, two things that some of my previous hairdressers had issues with.

The nape of my neck prior to my last relaxer and about 3 years after a bad chemical burn that gave me a keloid (treated with medication)

When I wanted to have Whitney do my hair, this is where my headache began.  To the beliefs of my mother and myself, the hairdressers at Whitney's location gave us the impression they were jealous of their young coworker.  From what I could tell, many people requested Whitney and every time my mom called to see if Whitney was available, she received an attitude and was told she simply wasn't in yet.  Since I was on a time crunch, I decided to go with another hairdresser there who had done my aunt's hair before.  My aunt had no complaints, so I thought I would be okay.  

I arrived at the salon to find Brian, the supervisor from what I understand, bent over a counter talking to another stylist.  He asked what I wanted and I informed him I wanted a relaxer. Brian instructed me to sit in his chair while his lazy behind continued his conversation before finally dragging his feet to get his supplies and coming to the chair.  I was asked a couple of questions as he roughly pulled my hair.

The chemical burn from Brian's relaxer

To sum up the process, Brian did a crappy job.  He did a horrible job basing my scalp as well as washing.  After he dried my hair, I saw him reach for scissors.  I snatched my head away asking if he was going to cut my hair and in a condescending response, he told me I needed it.  With a burned scalp and a complacent hairdresser, the last thing I was going do was trust him with was a pair of scissors.  To add insult to literal injury, he had the nerve to charge me for a style!  I had never been charged for a style on a basic flatiron job and a poor one at that.  My hair looked like something I could of done myself when I was trying to hurry with a quick flatiron through my hair.

A couple days later, I was running my hands through the back of my hair and came to the angry realization that the hair at the nape of my neck had been singed off!  I was pissed to say the least and decided I was going to take some sort of action.  I emailed the customer service for Family Style (the salon in Walmart) which is owned by the Regis Corporation.  My email included all the details of the situation and I requested a refund.  Within 48 hours, I received a call from customer service.  

After going over the details of what happened, the customer service representative questioned the information I provided about the name of my stylist and the location.  I was annoyed to say the least.  She told me that neither one of the salons I listed (two locations on the same road, wasn't sure which one it was) had male hairdressers and questioned if I was sure I had the right location.  Holding in my anger, I told her I would find my receipt and call back.  When I found my receipt, the name of the stylist listed was not Brian, it was Chuck.  A nickname perhaps?

Sorry it is so blurry, but this is the picture of the singed hair.  While it wasn't a huge difference, it took me forever to get my hair to that pathetic state in the first picture.

I called the rep back with all the information on the receipt.  She told me that she thinks that the salon lied to her when she called.  While that did not surprise me, they lied all the time about Whitney, what surprised me is that they could not simply access the employment information of who worked at the salon.  The girl told me that I would be sent a packet to fill out.  That was two weeks ago and I've yet to receive anything.

Tomorrow, I will be giving the Regis' customer service line another call, but right now I am in the state of mind that I will be giving up relaxers for awhile.  I have put my hair in the hands of so many sorry hairdressers, that I can't bring myself to subject my hair and patience to another incompetent hairdresser.  I understand no one is perfect, but chemical burns and crappy service is not what I pay for when I go to get my hair done and that is what I seem to be getting the most of recently.

So I guess I will be giving the natural thing a try again, wish me luck!