Gillian Bissett Colour Salon

10/02/08

Nice people, but awful skills! Terribly overpriced!

by wishtoremainanonymous at Citysearch

I called this salon based on the reviews and asked for a color correction expert because I made my hair ash/greenish, and was referred to Terra. She listed attentively to me, and I showed her pictures of the color highlights that I wanted, and it seemed she understood. She made me feel confident that she could remove the green/ash and give me the medium golden brown base with golden brown highlights that I wanted. The lighting in there is terribly artificial, so 3 hours later, after she said that she used a "neutral base" (remember, I said I wanted a golden brown base), it was dark outside and since the lighting in there wasn't realistic, she told me to go home and look at it, and if I needed anything more/less/fixed, to come back and she would do it for free, no problem. I paid $95 for base color, $65 for highlights (not bad, I have shorter hair), and $105 (!) for a haircut! I went home and could not believe that I still had greenish/ash brown base with yellow highlights! I did this myself and that's what I came in to have corrected! I went back the next day and Terra managed to warm up the overall effect, I went home and looked at it - now she covered up all of the highlights and I was left with an overall one color dark golden brown with NO more highlights except for a few yellow ones still peeking through, no shine, dull, drab color! Now I needed to have highlights put back in! I wasn't about to go back there a 3rd time because I didn't think she knew what she was doing at this point and I lost all confidence in her. I couldn't believe she let me leave looking like that and she could be proud of her work. My hair can handle a lot and is still in good condition. However, I felt that I should be refunded for the hair coloring part. I left a message and they said no refunds, but the owner wanted to see my hair. No thank you!-not going back! And the haircut is NOT worth $105.00! And I didn't get a scalp massage like everyone else!

• Pros: Nice, friendly people
• Cons: NOT color experts, overpriced

helpful ({0}) not helpful ({0})

Comments

rachinca– March 23, 2009 at 13:32:23 PDT

You know I always have a good expierence at this salon..I am sorry that you had a bad experience. I have searched at places just like you for the best hair place..I have been getting my hair done by Jennifer Wheale* spelling? and she is great!!! so if there is a time where u want to go to a excellent stylist, you might want to see her!! =) Not sure who Terra is...

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09/18/09

excellent cut and color. See Terra

by HeatherMichelle at Citysearch

Long story short, go see Terra for cut and color. After seeing her my hair looks the best is has in 7 years.

And the long story: I Moved to L.A 7 years ago, and slowly my long beautiful natural looking ashy blonde hair (which was full of dimension), started looking like it was all one color, dry, over processed and started breaking off about 4 inched from my scalp. I'm an x model who used to make great money and was willing to spend whatever it took to keep my beautiful hair beautiful. From the start I was going to places like Frederick Fekkai, Louise Lacari, David Paul (that salon was the major reason my hair started breaking off- never go there! I saw the owner (David) and he was horrible!) I was paying about 400 a pop for color only. I could not understand why It was so impossible to find a good colorist. Isn't it supposed to be that the more money you spend, the better quality hair care you get?

Here's what I finally learned: In Toronto (and I'm sure quite a few other places around the world) The owners of high end salons spend their own money sending their stylists who work for them to all kinds of education seminars etc. If you look up hair salons in the Yorkville area in T.O you can read on their websites how seriously they take hair EDUCATION. You can pretty much walk into any high end salon there, and you're going to get incredible color. In L.A, on the other hand (I'm not sure if it's LA, CA, or the U.S in general) The system is quite different. Most high end salons RENT BOOTHS to random hair colorists. If you are a colorist, and you can afford to rent a booth at Fekkai for example- because daddy has money- you can work there. There is no training at all, and basically, no standards!

By sheer luck I found Terra at Gillian Bissett. She is the first person I have ever spoken to in this city who understands color. She has been trained vigorously and is extremely educated in color. Excellent cuts too. And the second best part? Inexpensive, no attitude, and she has a very gentle touch- I can't stand having my hair combed through, and I didn't even notice her doing it!

• Pros: excellent cut and color, no attitude, low price

09/16/09

Love the salon, GO TO HANNAH

by benRw at Citysearch

(Mens Cuts) I've been getting my hair cut by Hannah for a while now, she is the first stylist who consistently gives me a great cut! Even when I went from a longer to a shorter hair style she was able to give me a great style each and every time. She knows exactly what I want when I describe it to her... she GETS it! There were times when I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my hair and she gave me great suggestions and had knew exactly what would work for me, its like a super power she has. Bottom line, she is great at what she does. Highly recommended!

p.s. The salon is nice too... love the cold eucalyptus infused towelettes!

08/31/09

Hannah is a color/cutting genius!

by nakedseal at Citysearch

I have been getting my hair done by hannah for years now, and she has never let me down. She has such a creative and artistic eye, and I always leave feeling beautiful and confident whether I have a funky pixie cut, or something classic and elegant. She has managed to keep up with my constantly changing look, and has taken me from deep vibrant brunettes, to the whitest of blonde, without ever damaging my hair. This girl definitely knows her stuff!

• Pros: Diversity!

05/14/09

All Natural

by BlondieLA at Citysearch

I just went in on Sunday. Jennifer was able to turn my orange hair into a very natural highlight. The price was great compared to other salons. She will be seeing me again in a couple of months. Thanks again for all the hair info and great drying techniques. Paula.

• Pros: Expert in color.

05/05/09

Very Dissapointed with hair color

by shanad at Citysearch

I went to see Dulce. She had very good reviews on city search and seemed confident. I went in for highlights. She suggested adding low lights so she did a combo low light /high light. My hair ended up much darker than I wanted and very drab. I went back to see if she could make it better and she did some more highlights. My hair color still looked very dull and drab. The ends of my hair have a bluish ashy tint to them in some spots. The lighting is soooo bad in the salon that you really do not know what your hair looks like until you get into your car. To make matters worse, my hair looks like it was highlighted a month or two prior as my roots were still showing after it was highlighted. They charged me for a full head of highlights but that is not what I got. You shouldn't have an half of inch to an inch of regrowth when you change the part of your hair. Especially after spending $260 (hair color, cut, and tip). On the up side, Dulce did do one of the better hair cuts that I have had and she did a great job on the blow-dry.

• Pros: pretty good hair cut, very good blow-dry
• Cons: NOT hair color experts as advertised

04/24/09

AWESOME

by flyingmermaid at Citysearch

I have been to many salons in LA and found Gillian Bissett on City Search. The entire staff is wonderful and they really know what they are doing. I would recommend this place to all my friends,

• Pros: Great with Color
• Cons: Parking

03/14/09

Gillian Bissett knows good hair!

by hailtotheh at Citysearch

What a nice salon! From the moment I walked through the doors I was greeted by pleasant, attractive people. Gillian was my requested stylist and boy was I pleased! She gave me a thorough consultation wanting to know details of my personal to professional lifestyle. She colored and cut my hair personally, not passing me off to anyone else which has happened at other salons to my horror....My haircut is updated and my color has never looked better! Love, Love Love!

• Pros: Experienced, very well-trained stylists! Wonderful area
• Cons: What are the drawbacks?

01/30/09

Nice salon experience and wonderful day all around!

by rockerkitty at Citysearch

Natural looking hair color finally! Terra was able to give me color while also minimizing those warm tones that I really detest . I'm very happy and definitely recommend this salon. Great location, very upscale and wonderful shopping! I even had a couple of star spottings at the country mart, fun day!

• Cons: parking can be tough on weekends, very busy area

01/27/09

SKeptical

by smochic at Citysearch

USERS!! My only concern with this place is that ALMOST ALL good reviews are 5 stars and if you click on the user, they have only written ONE review. Kind of makes me skeptical. That is unusual. Would like to see what users that use this site often are saying.

Response from this business

bissettsalon– January 28, 2009 at 18:49:28 PST

We noticed that you too have only written ONE review?? but we do thank you for your concern!

01/23/09

Raving fan of Brazilian Blowout and Jennifer Wheale

by RavingFan18 at Citysearch

Just to give you some background on my hair.... I have really fine and extremely damaged hair due to chemical lightening and a bad perm I had many years ago. It left my hair brittle, dull looking and half curly half straight but all over frizz! Frankly it's a mess and I have to use my hair straightener everyday for my hair to even look decent, which is adding to the damage.

I've tried the traditional chemical straightening products before, which not only DID NOT work for me, but left my hair even more damaged. I did not think there was another option until I met Jennifer Wheale at the Gillian Bissette Salon. Jennifer Wheale mentioned that she had a solution for my hair... As we've probably all heard this before from our stylists, I have to admit I was skeptical, but I trusted her and I decided to go for it.

I have only one word that describes this product.... WOW!!!!!! I can not believe it worked! Not only has my hair remained straight, (Which was my first surprise) but my hair feels like an entirely new head of hair! All of my frizz is completely gone!! My hair feels so soft and healthy, and where my hair was dull and damaged looking before, is now beautiful and shiny! This is a HUGE time saver for me because not I can wash my hair and actually let it air dry which I never could have done before! The only thing that upsets me about this product, is that I didn't know about it sooner! Thank you Jennifer for fixing my hair, you're the best!!!

• Pros: love the staff and they all do a great job!!
• Cons: No cons