athens/atlanta area stylists

elvee11

hi everyone! i'm not new in the sense that i've been reading a lot, but i am new in the sense that i haven't posted yet.

i just moved to athens/atlanta area, and am looking for a stylist. i've been reading the reviews and forum posts, but haven't seen any posts that were too recent.

anyone have any thoughts? good/bad experiences lately?

i made an appointment with christina carsillo at haarmony, but i'm still having a lot of trouble coping with the price tag ($110 for the first-time cut/style!) when i'm going in blind!

i appreciate any help, i've been burned so many times in the past by bad haircuts!

elvee11

please please please?

WurlyLox

Martha Gustafson at Salon Disegno in Lawrenceville. MUCH more reasonably priced. You can read reviews here. She doesn't usually cut dry, though, if that's what you're looking for. I do see one review that mentions it, but I've never seen her do it nor has it ever been offered as an option.

elvee11

Hi! Thanks for your response. I was thinking of trying Martha after I read one of your old posts. If cutting wet works for her I have no issue with that. Do you still go to her? Thanks again for the response I appreciate it!

kara'smommy

Check out curltopia in Atlanta. They have a website. I haven't used them yet, so I can't speak to how good they are, but I may give them a try. They can be pretty pricey also, just depending on what you want. Their pricing is listed on the website. I would love to hear more on this topic. My daughter is almost 3 years old now, and has never had her hair cut simply because I haven't found anyone that I would trust to do a good job.

kimmidawn

kara'smommy wrote: »

Check out curltopia in Atlanta. They have a website. I haven't used them yet, so I can't speak to how good they are, but I may give them a try. They can be pretty pricey also, just depending on what you want. Their pricing is listed on the website. I would love to hear more on this topic. My daughter is almost 3 years old now, and has never had her hair cut simply because I haven't found anyone that I would trust to do a good job.

I will be going to Curltopia on Friday for my first Devacut so I'll report back on this thread and let you guys know how my experience is. I've heard good things so I'm hopeful.

WurlyLox

elvee11 wrote: »

Hi! Thanks for your response. I was thinking of trying Martha after I read one of your old posts. If cutting wet works for her I have no issue with that. Do you still go to her? Thanks again for the response I appreciate it!

Yes, I just had mine cut Tuesday. I strayed on someone else's recommendation in December, and regretted it as soon as I did it.

Tuesday's cut was my second corrective cut with Martha since then, and I think we have it back to normal now, just slightly shorter than I like. She was very nice and understanding about my cheating on her, LOL!

One of these days I may pay the bucks to try Christina Carsillo at Haarmony Studio since that's much closer to me than Curltopia. In the past, though, I've been no more - and often less - pleased with the more expensive, popular salons or stylists, so unless I become displeased with Martha, that probably won't be anytime soon.

kimmidawn

I just wanted to report back and say I had a fantastic experience at Curltopia (I'll post a detailed review tomorrow, it's too late for me tonight)

elvee11

thanks to everyone for replying--it's nice to have some personal recommendations! i will probably try martha first in the interest of cost, but i definitely want to hear details about curltopia. kimmidawn, your hair looks a lot like mine! when it's behaving that is, which lately is just about never.

gator-girl

I have gone to Natural Essentials in downtown Lawrenceville. Christine
is great.
I have a friend that goes to Urbanbella in Buckhead, she loves them.
Hope that helps.

kimmidawn

Alright, long, detailed review coming right up

So I emailed on Wednesday about getting an appointment for my first Devacut, and they emailed back about fitting me in on Thursday (ended up being Friday because Thursday didn't work for me). They let me know to come in with naked hair dried naturally, which worried me at first because I was afraid my waves wouldn't really show up naked. When I asked about it and voiced my concerns, the manager told me that the reason behind having my hair naked was so they could move their hands through my hair to do the dry cut.

My appointment was at 2:30 on Friday with Robin; I arrived there around 2:20, and she came to get me from the waiting area around 2:35 (I've had situations where I've waited half an hour so five minutes was fine). She was extremely nice and when she sat me down, she listened to my concerns (that I felt my hair was weighted down, even though I had long layers; that even thought right after diffusing my waves looked perky, after a few minutes they seemed to become limp which I thought was probably also due to the weight; that I didn't mind losing a few inches but I wanted to keep most of the length), mostly restating what I said in her own words so I knew she understood. I came in with my hair diffused with a tiny bit of Curl Keeper scrunched in, no gel at all, which she said was fine, they just couldn't really do a dry cut if a person were to come in extremely crunchy with LALSG or something like that (which is why they tell people to come in with naked hair - if you go in with "nearly naked" hair aka almost no product, you'll be fine).

She spent a good amount of time on my dry cut (having me lean one side and then the other), while giving me some good tips and telling me more about curly hair. She had an apprentice there (Nicole), who was listening to all the information she mentioned too. Even before she washed and styled my hair after the cut, I could already see a huge difference once the dry cut was done. She did take out a good bit of hair but kept the length pretty close to the same. My hair simply felt a lot lighter and without doing any additional styling, I could already tell my waves were more springy.

After she finished the dry cut, her apprentice shampooed and conditioned me (all the while explaining technique and giving a very nice head rub, being very careful not to get any water in my face or anything), and then had me flip my hair over and scrunched in Deva ArcAngell (she also explained her technique for how she applied the gel). Once I came back right side up, she gave me a mirror and showed me how to clip (which I had mentioned I was interested in learning) and then put me under a dryer and let my hair dry for probably 15 minutes.

After that, Robin came to check on me and felt to see if my hair was dry. I originally thought my hair was completely dry, but when she brought me back to her chair, she diffused the last little damp parts, scrunched my hair, and then did some final adjustments to the cut. I was more than thrilled with my results (I'm attaching a before and after photo so you can see for yourself), and felt it was well worth the $90. I honestly would have paid more (and $100 is my limit for haircuts). I also appreciated the fact that after knowing I've been CG for 6 months or so, she didn't try to push any products on me; she simply asked if I was good on product and when I said yes, said okay and wrote me my "prescription" - a list of suggestions of how to care for your hair (for example, it listed the techniques they used and on mine, she crossed out doing a deep hydration treatment since she knew my hair was fine).

Overall I can't recommend her enough, I'll definitely be going back to her.

(Note, both pictures are using UFD Curly Magic and a hard hold gel - I wanted them to be as accurate as possible as before and after pictures - the ones on the left are "before" and the ones on the right are "after")

kara'smommy

kimmidawn wrote: »

Alright, long, detailed review coming right up

So I emailed on Wednesday about getting an appointment for my first Devacut, and they emailed back about fitting me in on Thursday (ended up being Friday because Thursday didn't work for me). They let me know to come in with naked hair dried naturally, which worried me at first because I was afraid my waves wouldn't really show up naked. When I asked about it and voiced my concerns, the manager told me that the reason behind having my hair naked was so they could move their hands through my hair to do the dry cut.

My appointment was at 2:30 on Friday with Robin; I arrived there around 2:20, and she came to get me from the waiting area around 2:35 (I've had situations where I've waited half an hour so five minutes was fine). She was extremely nice and when she sat me down, she listened to my concerns (that I felt my hair was weighted down, even though I had long layers; that even thought right after diffusing my waves looked perky, after a few minutes they seemed to become limp which I thought was probably also due to the weight; that I didn't mind losing a few inches but I wanted to keep most of the length), mostly restating what I said in her own words so I knew she understood. I came in with my hair diffused with a tiny bit of Curl Keeper scrunched in, no gel at all, which she said was fine, they just couldn't really do a dry cut if a person were to come in extremely crunchy with LALSG or something like that (which is why they tell people to come in with naked hair - if you go in with "nearly naked" hair aka almost no product, you'll be fine).

She spent a good amount of time on my dry cut (having me lean one side and then the other), while giving me some good tips and telling me more about curly hair. She had an apprentice there (Nicole), who was listening to all the information she mentioned too. Even before she washed and styled my hair after the cut, I could already see a huge difference once the dry cut was done. She did take out a good bit of hair but kept the length pretty close to the same. My hair simply felt a lot lighter and without doing any additional styling, I could already tell my waves were more springy.

After she finished the dry cut, her apprentice shampooed and conditioned me (all the while explaining technique and giving a very nice head rub, being very careful not to get any water in my face or anything), and then had me flip my hair over and scrunched in Deva ArcAngell (she also explained her technique for how she applied the gel). Once I came back right side up, she gave me a mirror and showed me how to clip (which I had mentioned I was interested in learning) and then put me under a dryer and let my hair dry for probably 15 minutes.

After that, Robin came to check on me and felt to see if my hair was dry. I originally thought my hair was completely dry, but when she brought me back to her chair, she diffused the last little damp parts, scrunched my hair, and then did some final adjustments to the cut. I was more than thrilled with my results (I'm attaching a before and after photo so you can see for yourself), and felt it was well worth the $90. I honestly would have paid more (and $100 is my limit for haircuts). I also appreciated the fact that after knowing I've been CG for 6 months or so, she didn't try to push any products on me; she simply asked if I was good on product and when I said yes, said okay and wrote me my "prescription" - a list of suggestions of how to care for your hair (for example, it listed the techniques they used and on mine, she crossed out doing a deep hydration treatment since she knew my hair was fine).

Overall I can't recommend her enough, I'll definitely be going back to her.

(Note, both pictures are using UFD Curly Magic and a hard hold gel - I wanted them to be as accurate as possible as before and after pictures - the ones on the left are "before" and the ones on the right are "after")

This is so good to hear. I will be booking an appointment for my daughter soon. We are CG also. It's great to get the opinion of another. I was a little worried about them using/pushing non CG products. I had heard from other reviews that they really push the ms Jessie's products. This was my number one concern, but after reading your review I am relieved.

kimmidawn

kara'smommy wrote: »

kimmidawn wrote: »

Alright, long, detailed review coming right up

So I emailed on Wednesday about getting an appointment for my first Devacut, and they emailed back about fitting me in on Thursday (ended up being Friday because Thursday didn't work for me). They let me know to come in with naked hair dried naturally, which worried me at first because I was afraid my waves wouldn't really show up naked. When I asked about it and voiced my concerns, the manager told me that the reason behind having my hair naked was so they could move their hands through my hair to do the dry cut.

My appointment was at 2:30 on Friday with Robin; I arrived there around 2:20, and she came to get me from the waiting area around 2:35 (I've had situations where I've waited half an hour so five minutes was fine). She was extremely nice and when she sat me down, she listened to my concerns (that I felt my hair was weighted down, even though I had long layers; that even thought right after diffusing my waves looked perky, after a few minutes they seemed to become limp which I thought was probably also due to the weight; that I didn't mind losing a few inches but I wanted to keep most of the length), mostly restating what I said in her own words so I knew she understood. I came in with my hair diffused with a tiny bit of Curl Keeper scrunched in, no gel at all, which she said was fine, they just couldn't really do a dry cut if a person were to come in extremely crunchy with LALSG or something like that (which is why they tell people to come in with naked hair - if you go in with "nearly naked" hair aka almost no product, you'll be fine).

She spent a good amount of time on my dry cut (having me lean one side and then the other), while giving me some good tips and telling me more about curly hair. She had an apprentice there (Nicole), who was listening to all the information she mentioned too. Even before she washed and styled my hair after the cut, I could already see a huge difference once the dry cut was done. She did take out a good bit of hair but kept the length pretty close to the same. My hair simply felt a lot lighter and without doing any additional styling, I could already tell my waves were more springy.

After she finished the dry cut, her apprentice shampooed and conditioned me (all the while explaining technique and giving a very nice head rub, being very careful not to get any water in my face or anything), and then had me flip my hair over and scrunched in Deva ArcAngell (she also explained her technique for how she applied the gel). Once I came back right side up, she gave me a mirror and showed me how to clip (which I had mentioned I was interested in learning) and then put me under a dryer and let my hair dry for probably 15 minutes.

After that, Robin came to check on me and felt to see if my hair was dry. I originally thought my hair was completely dry, but when she brought me back to her chair, she diffused the last little damp parts, scrunched my hair, and then did some final adjustments to the cut. I was more than thrilled with my results (I'm attaching a before and after photo so you can see for yourself), and felt it was well worth the $90. I honestly would have paid more (and $100 is my limit for haircuts). I also appreciated the fact that after knowing I've been CG for 6 months or so, she didn't try to push any products on me; she simply asked if I was good on product and when I said yes, said okay and wrote me my "prescription" - a list of suggestions of how to care for your hair (for example, it listed the techniques they used and on mine, she crossed out doing a deep hydration treatment since she knew my hair was fine).

Overall I can't recommend her enough, I'll definitely be going back to her.

(Note, both pictures are using UFD Curly Magic and a hard hold gel - I wanted them to be as accurate as possible as before and after pictures - the ones on the left are "before" and the ones on the right are "after")

This is so good to hear. I will be booking an appointment for my daughter soon. We are CG also. It's great to get the opinion of another. I was a little worried about them using/pushing non CG products. I had heard from other reviews that they really push the ms Jessie's products. This was my number one concern, but after reading your review I am relieved.

I can't vouch for the other stylists (since I only had my appointment with Robin), but Robin wasn't pushy at all. She definitely asked to check and see if I needed any products, but I think as long as you mention you're a member on the forum of NaturallyCurly and explain that you're CG, they shouldn't be too pushy on products.

WurlyLox

Looks very pretty, Kimmidawn! I'm always glad to hear others' good reviews since you never know when you might need to find someone new.

elvee11

Thanks so much for such a detailed and informative review! Super helpful and much appreciated!

karynhughes

Can I ask if you have to pay $90 each time you go or is that for first time only? And how often do you have to go? I'm just trying to weigh my options of driving to lawrenceville when I live in woodstok vs paying more and driving to smyrna.

WurlyLox

I'm not clear - are you asking about Curltopia? They're the one that was $90, but they're in Atlanta, not Lawrenceville or Smyrna . . . .

For a Deva stylist, it's probably that much, or almost so, every time. Maybe Kimmidawn will see this and answer for sure since this will bump it back up - she's probably been back at least once since that initial cut and can tell you for sure. If not, and that is the one you're asking about, try PMing her.

Salon Disegno is the one that's in Lawrenceville. Martha's now considered a master stylist and is also a Redken Certified Color Specialist, so her cuts/styling are now the salon's maximum of $58. I just left with mine wet last time (with a little product and a couple minutes diffusion), so it was slightly less, $53-$55, I'd guess because I see I paid her $65 with tip on my credit card. I don't remember for sure, just that it wasn't the full $58.