Townsend & Company Hair Salon and Spa

I went to see Michele with the goal of blue-black hair all over in mind. My hair is already black, and she told me that she would need to lighten my hair to get it to look blue. Being that she is a professional who I trusted, I didn't object. I also didn't object when she suggested doing a balayage instead of dyeing my whole head. When I first left the salon, I was deeply disappointed with the color, as it looked blue in some areas, green in others, and appeared to also have patchy bits of a dull grey or dusty blonde. I called and Michele agreed that the color was not even all the way through when I went back the very next morning. The reason I give two stars instead of one is because she did try to fix my hair after seeing that the color was indeed uneven and because she was very nice about it. I've included pictures. The first one is what my color inspiration was, and the others are what I got after the second visit to the salon. After the second visit, I wasn't going to further complain about my hair; I figured I'd just deal because Michele said she would be willing to just dye it black for me in a week. But about two or three days after the second visit, I wanted to cry every time I looked in the mirror because my hair went from a natural dark brownish black (as I hadn't dyed it in over a year) to the color of seaweed. The bleach damage also took away the shine that my hair had before my appointment. My hair felt gummy and dry and had never felt that way before. I wouldn't even mention the bleach damage (it's to be expected of course; it strips hair), but I bring it up because the damage was done to no benefit of a good color yield.
I then contacted the salon because I wasn't sure I trusted Michele to try to "fix" my hair for the third time. I requested a refund for the color service charge and I thought it was a reasonable request being that Michele acknowledged my hair was not right by offering (unprompted) to re-dye my hair a third time. I was told that since I "appeared happy" when I left the salon, a refund could not be issued. Yes, I did "appear happy" and I also tipped $100 on the $250 service because of the time and effort that Michele put into my hair. She really did try, as aforementioned. That does not, however, change the fact that the color came out uneven and ashy. When I texted this to Michele after getting a no on a refund request, her reply included, "Blue is a difficult color to achieve, especially on black hair." Had she told me this before attempting to do a color that she wasn't confident could be achieved, I wouldn't have tried it. I would have simply requested that she just dye my hair a darker black all over, and I would have continued to be a client of Townsend salon for years to come. Had I received a refund, I wouldn't have written this review and I would have been willing to pay full price for Michele to re-dye my hair once the greenish blue faded out some more over the next couple of months. Alas, this is a wrong that the salon does not want to make right and so I will unfortunately not be returning and cannot recommend this establishment to anyone.

10/2/2018
Rave! Rave! Rave! I can't say enough about the wonderful "up do" that Cory created for my wedding day ! I brought him a big off-white bow. I told him that when I was a little girl, I always wanted to have my hair in an up do like Audrey Hepburn, but I always thought that my head was too big !
Cory was calm, creative and fun. He did it ! My guests loved my hairstyle. He put his own spin on it by adding Baby's Breath flowers. He left some tendrils in the front so that the look wouldn't be overly structured.
Due to a technical glitch, I'm having difficulty posting a photo to go along with this review. I can post to my profile. You'll find a photo of me rocking my up do there! Cory also cut my daughter's hair. She's pictured with me. Cory and the folks at Townsend are amazing artists!
(This is a repost from another account of mine)

Townsend is an absolute diamond of a salon. I came here on very short notice to get my hair done before my small outdoor wedding. My stylist Liza completely understand the look I was going for and knocked it out of the park. But also the whole salon went out of their way to make sure that I felt special and celebratory on my big day.

I will definitely be coming back here, and highly recommend this salon!

Doug is a master at his craft. Shop is clean and organized. I travel from nyc on business and this is my place of all the places I can choose from. Please consider retirement in about 20 years. No sooner.

In case anyone is wondering... More than 3 years later and I'm still going to Katie and still rocking my pixie!

In the past 3 years I've literally had people stop me in the street and compliment my hair and have even had people ask to take a picture of my hair to show their stylist.

I've never kept a hair cut or style for this long in my life, but honestly this is like my holy grail haircut and I don't trust anyone but Katie with it.

Scheduled an appointment for my daughter earlier this week, that somehow "vanished" from the schedule. They actually asked if I would wait an additional hour and a half because due to their error. Absolutely no regard for customer inconvenience. Sharp contrast to the visit I posted in my earlier review. 0 stars. Will not return, instead opting for a salon whose employees can schedule appointments to its calendar competently.

Super super nice people and adorable old home converted into a spa. Liza is a doll!! They seem to be able to accommodate whatever you need. They don't offer no chip nails but can still do a mani/pedi!

After I left I realized what a terrible haircut this is. Was this close to going back to have them fix it. Uneven. On top barely looks like I got a haircut. I told her the setting for the clippers but she said the scissors would be better. She was wrong and it does not look the way I like it to look in the back. She spent all of 15 minutes on me. Nice person tho.

Michele is AAAAAAMAZING!!! This girl can do some awesome color. Some people are just naturals and she has it. I highly recommend her. She listens and is very easy going. There's not much else to say but she's awesome.

I finally was able to have my very thick and somewhat unruly haircut once again by Liza. Loved it when she first cut it literally days prior to Albany salons close down due to COVID-19. And loved it again this week. Salon quite clean and comfortable. Recently moved to ten and happened on to a gem.