Headers International, Neath, South Wales Review

Good Points
None

Bad Points
See Review below

General Comments
I had the most awful experience of my whole life in this Headers International salon. I dyed my hair at home a couple of months ago and was unhappy at how dark it turned out. Since then, I wondered whether I should visit a salon and have it lightened. The trouble is that we don't have much money right now. My husband insisted that I 'treat myself' and get it properly done and so we set aside £50 maximum. I waited until my roots were grey and beginning to show and I made an appointment at what is supposed to be the best salon in Neath. I checked with them how much it would cost to lighten and trim my hair and was told £48.50, so I went ahead.



I turned up at the salon and explained fully how I wanted a lighter shade of brown. I was assured me that it wasn't a problem and someone went off to mix the colour. After this, a girl started putting colour on my roots. She said she would leave it on for half an hour and then comb it through to the ends for five minutes only. I had enjoyed the warmth of the salon at first as it was such a freezing, wintry day outside. To my intense annoyance, someone left the door open and a bitter wind started to blow in while every bit of warm air blew out. I couldn't believe that no one else seemed to notice! To my astonishment, I saw that a doorstop had actually been wedged against the door to stop it from closing! A few minutes later when the place was as cold as it was outside and I was shivering, a girl came back to the reception desk. I said to her, "Is that door open for a particular reason?" and she looked confused. I asked, "Why is that door open?" but she still didn't answer, just shrugged her shoulders. I felt myself getting angry (which is rare because I am normally endlessly patient - but not when I'm freezing to death!!) so I said, "Please would you shut it immediately because it's extremely cold". She said, "I'll have to go and ask someone about that" and disappeared. When she reappeared she grudgingly said, "Well, I've been told I can shut it for a few minutes but everyone else is too hot!" I found this astonishing. The salon had scarcely warmed up when someone opened the door again. I had to sit with wet dye on my head, extremely cold all over, and just tolerate it. I couldn't get up and leave.



Eventually the girl came back to comb the dye through to the ends. She said, "This is to stay on for five minutes" and she disappeared - for a quarter of an hour. When she returned, I asked if that would mean my hair would be too dark and she said it wouldn't matter as I was to have highlights put in. She led me over to a hand basin and said that another girl would wash out the first lot of dye. However, the 'other girl' was busy and didn't come to wash my hair for ten minutes. There was no communication - everyone was very off-hand. I started getting very worried about the dye staying on my hair so long. The whole reason that my hair turned out dark from my home-dyeing session was because I left it on for ten minutes longer than I should have done - and this dye was being left on for at least twenty minutes longer than it should have been!



While I was sitting waiting, it occurred to me that I would possibly be charged extra for highlights - I had initially been given a price of £48.50 for dyeing my hair and highlighting hadn't been mentioned then. Once my hair was washed, I asked the girl if she would check on the price for me. I could see by their faces that they were beginning to regard me as a 'difficult' customer. When she returned, she said that highlighting was (a lot) extra, so I immediately said I didn't want it. She then left me sitting there without a towel for another ten minutes, with cold water dripping down my back. My teeth were chattering with the cold. Finally, a different hairdresser came to trim my hair and blow it dry. She was brutal in the way she used the spiky brush, jabbing it into my head, and the heat from the hairdryer was far too hot against my head - it almost burnt me. She may have been like that with everyone but I was beginning to feel that, for some reason, I was singled out that day for spiteful behaviour!



I yearned to get out of there never to return EVER. If my hair had turned out how I wanted it to there would have been some consolation but it was even darker than before. I could have achieved a better effect by re-dyeing my hair with the £5 dye I'd used originally. I had to pay because I knew that if I refused they would say that putting highlights into my hair was the way they had intended to lighten it and I had declined because of cost, and I couldn't prove that the girl had left the dye on my hair for much too long. To add insult to injury, when I got home I discovered lots of dye on my skin around my hairline, which should have been wiped away, which I hadn't noticed in the salon. I could have wept (I did actually come perilously close to tears several times while I was in the salon). It was such a waste of nearly £50 for spoiling my hair! I will never return to that salon for any reason.