Le Ciel Salon and Spa

Probably one of the worst hair experiences because of the mediocre hair color and poor customer service. I came here for a cut and color. This salon seemed to only have two hairstylists and one receptionist. In other words, a two man show. I asked for a natural medium brown. Instead, I got black. I even came back to see if the stylist (Jean Claude) could fix it or re-​do it, but he refused and made up some excuse. My hair is rarely colored and healthy. Either way, the end result of the hair color was worse than the color I came in with. On top of that, I wasted gas and time to come back a second time for him to re-​do it, only to be rejected because he didn’t want to waste his time. The cut was fine/​satisfactory. ⁵⁄₂₀₁₃

Le Ciel review
Ok, I’m really late with the review. I’ve been meaning to review this place for months but kept forgetting until now…
I found a Groupon for this place a while back and it seemed like a great deal so I wanted to buy it, but I always check out reviews before I buy anything. I saw the horrible review from Jenny and it scared me. I decided not to buy a Groupon for this place.
However, being the spontaneous, unorganized person that I am, it was Sunday morning and I was trying to find a salon that could fit me in that day. I desperately needed a hair cut and had to get it done that day because I had to go a wedding out of town the following day.
After trying to find other alternatives and having no luck, I decided to take my chances with Le Ciel. It was my only option within budget (thanks to Groupon) and they could fit me in that afternoon.
When I called to set up the appointment, I mentioned my concerns to the receptionist. She asked if it was because of a Unilocal review by Jenny. I had to admit, yes. She tried to ease my concerns and then said she’ll have Jean Claude himself call me. He called within an hour and I was impressed. I mean, what hair stylist calls you before they’ve even met you? The fact he cared enough to call was pretty cool. I felt much better after that.
I confirmed my afternoon appointment and went there for a haircut and blowout. The salon is very nice and clean. Sort of trendy looking (IMO). I liked it.
Jean Claude was friendly, asked me what I wanted and recommended a couple things. He was very professional and did a GREAT job with my hair! The only thing that I would mention is although he was very polite and nice, he wasn’t too chatty with me. I’m not one of those people that shares every personal detail with their hair stylist, but a little chit chat wouldn’t have hurt.
Although, throughout my appointment, he kept talking to other people, esp. this one customer who came in. She must be a regular because he was extremely warm and friendly with her and they were talking about all sorts of different things. You can tell he cared about his regular customers. I definitely felt like an outsider but considering I rarely get my hair done, I didn’t mind too much as long as he focused enough to do a good job with my hair. And that he did.
So overall, I was really happy. I went in with a mess (last haircut was 1−½ years prior to that, eek!) but came out looking great! My hair looked & felt awesome and even a couple guys on the street noticed it! ;) That’s always a nice boost for your self esteem :)
I would love to go back to Jean Claude except his prices are pretty high (average for the area but $ 75+ for a haircut is still expensive for me). And their groupons are only for new customers. So I probably can’t afford to go back.

I purchased a 1 hr pumpkin peptide facial & eye tx deal from Living Social and am glad I didn’t pay regular price for this offer. The facial experience itself wasn’t bad, it was what one would typically expect from a regular facial. However, I’m downgrading because of the results. I walked out like a tomato. Literally. Red and shiny. My skin usually doesn’t react this way to facials, and I consider my skin to be pretty resistant. People couldn’t help but take a double look at me in the metro. Kids were staring, probably wondering why this strange woman was melting in the middle of freezing winter. I wasn’t able to remove the shine because there were too many products left on my face. And why is it that nobody in the spa notified me before walking out the door that I was glowing red? Instead, the girl behind the cashier said I looked great. Not only that, but the employees were pushing me into buying products right after the facial. They stated such and such products were used on my face and that I needed to buy those products to save my skin. I wasn’t there for products and wasn’t interested, so they recommended that if I only had to take one to save my skin, to take Rhonda Allison’s Sea Gems for $ 75, a 1 oz moisturizer that I found online for $ 60. That’s right… 1 oz for $ 75. I’m glad I tried this using a deal and not regular price. (This was back in 2012– review overdue.)

WARNING!!! to those who bought the groupon: this salon no longer honors the groupon. The «only hairstylist» (I’m assuming Jean Claude) now works at a salon in Georgetown. You can either go to that salon and he will take you there, or you can get a refund from Groupon.
After reading the reviews… there is NO WAY I am driving to Georgetown for an expensive sloppy haircut. Sorry.

Worst experience here. I went on a groupon deal so maybe they didn’t think I was worth their time but my haircut with shampoo and blow dry lasted under 30 minutes.
My «layers» were cut straight across without any blending or texturing. I have thick hair which tangles easily and the hair dresser ripped knots apart rather than brush them out. He even blew dry my hair without using a brush. Once it was dry, he continued to blow it out with a round brush after applying a ton of unknown product to my hair.
I would never come back to this salon. I walked straight out of this salon to another salon around the corner to correct their sloppy work.

I had a Groupon for the cut/​color/​deep conditioning, and was quite happy with the service. My hair was slightly longer than shoulder length with terrible split ends and stubborn grays that were growing in at the root.
Jean-​Claude was the stylist, and he did a very professional job. For one thing, he only colored the roots and about an inch more, and the color ended up blending perfectly with what was already there. I was glad for that because my hair is so dry, the less color the better.
I have a pretty simple style — long layers — and he followed that, leaving enough to make a ponytail, my only request. My hair feels much healthier. It was a very good cut and color. Have I gotten better? Probably, but I’m very happy with the result.
Pluses:
Décor: The salon is light and airy and right in downtown Bethesda.
Front desk: The women at the front desk were quite nice.
Time: You’re not hanging out for hours. I was done within two hours; he started a bit late, so I’d say more like 1.5 hours. That’s pretty good for color and cut. I’ve been in salons upward of five hours for similar, so thumbs-​up for that.

Like other reviewers, I was nervous about Le Ciel Salon because of Jenny’s review. However, because of other positive reviews, I assumed she had a fluke experience and gave it a shot anyway. I purchased the Groupon for the haircut, single process color, and treatment and scheduled an appointment with Jean Claude.
Jean Claude was very nice. I showed him pictures of the light brown color I wanted and asked that he also put in a few highlights to make the color look more natural. Once we got started, he put in the all-​over color and then put highlights in on top of that color so all of the dye was in my hair at once. I had never seen anyone do that before but I trusted that he knew what he was doing. After he washed it all out, he began drying it and at first it looked fine. The color was a lot darker than the colors I had shown him, but I could deal with it.
Then I noticed the big streaks of white, dead hair. As I was trying not to hyperventilate, I asked him if he noticed them and if they were actually white or if the salon lighting was bad. He responded that because my hair has been processed recently (3 months ago), the bleach must have worked more quickly than anyone could have expected and actually destroyed the hair. I had told him my entire hair history before beginning the coloring, and I think that an experienced colorist would be able to prevent the disaster that was my new dark brown hair with white streaks of dead hair, or at least take responsibility for it.
I stayed calm but let him know I was not happy with how it looked and asked how we could fix it. After hearing the option he suggested (applying a toner to the highlights), I decided to just have the streaks cut out as much as possible while still looking normal since the hair was fried anyway. I ended up with bangs I was not planning on getting with a few white streaks remaining throughout my hair.
I still wasn’t happy with my hair but couldn’t stand staying there any longer, so I settled up my bill and left. I was shocked to learn that because the highlights were not included in the Groupon, they were charging me an extra $ 75. I would have been fine with paying that originally, but I would have thought that when the highlights destroyed my hair, they would not have charged me for them.
Overall, I am extremely unhappy with my experience at Le Ciel Salon and will not be returning. I suppose I can at least count myself lucky that over the course of the week, the white highlights of destroyed hair all fell out so I no longer looked like Rogue from X-​Men.
I only hope that Le Ciel does not try to explain away this post or blame the customer via Unilocal or directly to customers like what happened with Jenny’s review. This was my personal experience with Le Ciel Salon and I would not recommend it.

I was really worried about going here to see Jean Claude because of Jenny’s review. I called on a Wednesday to see if there was availability on Sunday, which to my surprise, there was. The receptionist was very nice and said I’d be with Jean Claude. After thinking about it and reading the review, I called back to reschedule for Tuesday w/​Alexandra. The receptionist was completely understanding, asking if it was because of Jenny’s review which I told her yes. She explained that Jenny came in with a tangled mess of unbrushed hair, etc. etc. Jean Claude has tons of happy clients that follow him from different salons & this was just one unhappy customer. I understand that you can’t treat every review as the end all truth, but I decided to reschedule anyway. Then after changes of my week panned out, I called again to keep my original appt. on Sunday, and apologized for the trouble. No issues, and she was nice the whole time.
The location is great, though I was happy to come in on Sunday as I would guess parking is difficult or pricey during the week. To my surprise, I was the only customer in the place the entire time from noon to two. I would think that weekends would be busy. Jean Claude was very nice & helped me pick a color (I had a groupon for haircut & color). Conversation was easy, and I’m not a big talker. There was no scrunching of hair during the coloring process, and no hair falling out. When he asked about my haircut, I mentioned a Katie Holmes bob so he gave me his ipad to Google what I’d like. I showed him a few photos & it was off to the shampoo & deep conditioning.
The shampoo was fine, though I don’t think I got the deep conditioning because when I’ve had it in the past, I waited about 20 mins but this was just a normal amount of time for shampoo & conditioner. When he started cutting my hair, I immediately liked it. The color is taking some time getting used to, but I think I will come around. It’s a bit lighter on top, and I’d prefer the opposite so it looks a little more natural. I really like the ends though. He was very nice, though a little difficult to understand at times with his French accent, but that’s not a big deal. He was talking to me about make-​up & what will look best with my lighter hair color — my husband appreciated that since I rarely wear much make-​up. Overall a good experience and I wanted to make sure that Jenny didn’t scare others away.

I had a good experience at this salon. I knew what I wanted and Jean Claude delivered. I have below shoulder length hair and was not charged extra to used my GrouOn as another review stated.

I got the Groupon deal for cut and color, and considering that price, it was a great deal. I would have to give it some thought before paying full price… not because Le Ciel is any less high-​quality than comparable salons, but because getting your hair done anywhere is just too damn expensive.
However, they did do a great job. My color situation was a little complicated and I’m very pleased with what they did. I probably wouldn’t bother with the moisturizing mask again — it wasn’t anything you can’t do at home. The cut didn’t change my life or anything, but it’s pretty much exactly what I asked for, and it’s growing out nicely.

OK, I’ve had facials here twice and I admit I stink for not writing a review earlier. But as I noted it really is hard to feel motivated to do much of anything except lay around making happy «Aaaah,» noises.
So. I first went there with a LS deal for a pumpkin peptide facial. If you missed this deal, so very sorry. I often read about bad LS/​G experiences and I know places such as salons can get swamped. Maybe I just got very lucky but my facial did not feel at all rushed and indeed was far more thorough than I expected.
I went back again a couple of weeks ago for a different facial at the full whack and got the same high level of care.
Also, if you’re looking for a spa/​salon that is a bit more polished (if that’s the word I want) this is for you. Not a huge place but a really nice space and the salon owner does the facials.

I purchased a Groupon for $ 89 for a haircut + single process color + treatment. The reviews for the salon seemed generally positive, and seeing that I still haven’t found a stylist I really loved in the DMV area, I figured I would give this salon a try.
Booking an appointment was relatively easy, and I do like the atmosphere of the salon — clean, bright, and modern. The stylist I met with was Jean, and he was very friendly, but then it all went downhill from there.
After taking a look at my hair, he told me I’d need to pay $ 25 extra because of my hair length (chest level), which I thought was weird because Groupon never mentioned ANYTHING about extra fees. I figured he didn’t know I was using a Groupon and let it go.
Now onto the coloring: I had my hair dyed professional once, and it was nothing like what he was doing! He pretty much brushed the color onto my hair, and then scrunched it all together, creating a tangled goopy mess — AND THEN HE TRIED TO BRUSH IT OUT! At that point I could see chunks of hair falling out, but he continued on with his scrunching and brushing.
I’m gonna skip over the treatment & shampoo part because nothing happened there, good or bad. Now the haircut: Jean knew that I had permed my hair, but clearly he did NOT know how to cut/​style it. The cut he gave was very basic — the only thing noticeable was that he chopped off the ends and trimmed my bangs a bit. Next he took a blowdryer with a diffuser and just started scrunching it randomly, creating yet another mess. At this point I’m starting to think he’s obsessed with scrunching hair just for the sake of it. Oh and on top of that he decided it would be fine to pause my cut halfway through to talk to a customer about the interior décor of his salon. Seriously???
I usually walk out of salons feeling pretty good, even when the haircut I received is average. I walked out of this place feeling worse than I came in (that’s pretty bad), and an extra $ 25 short. Yes, they still charged me that stupid fee, even though it wasn’t on their groupon policy. I will NOT be coming back here again and you’d save yourself some $$$ and time to go elsewhere.
Knew I should’ve stuck with Nami from Salon 355.

I originally went to Le Ciel Salon to purchase skin care products, and can say that the Salon has a wide array of excellent natural products. It is also a hair salon and nail salon, which I have yet to try, but it’s a perfect one-​stop-​shop!
All that to say, once I used some products and spoke to Mojie, I started going in for facials, and so far — they have been great! Skin is left soft and bright, as her facials bring out the best color and natural moisture in your skin.

I used to be a serial salon dater. I consistently jumped around from salon to salon all over this city in search of the perfect salon and stylist. Prices tend to be high, locations difficult to access and then the ever-​so-​often stylist who doesn’t deliver the results we had hoped for.
Thankfully, I was referred to Le Ciel Salon and Spa by a coworker and was given a 20% off coupon for my first visit — I knew it was going to be a great experience from the start.
From the friendly reception by Jasmine, the manager, and an immedidate hug by my fabulous stylist Gladys to the gorgeous space to (most importantly) my great new haircut and color, I have absolutely no reason to shop around for another salon. I am 100% committed to Le Ciel Salon and Spa and absolutely love coming back again and again.
I would and have recommended Le Ciel to all of my friends and coworkers. You should check it out, too!

I had a Groupon for a Men’s Facial. No problem making an appointment. In fact, I called the day of (or maybe it was the day before?) to add a haircut, and had no problem getting that appointment. Pleasant surprise.
Turns out the salon is new and still building business. I was one of two clients there for my end-​of-​day appointment. The salon itself is bright, clean, spacious, welcoming. The different service areas (lobby, cutting, spa, nails, etc) are well defined and separated.
TIP — The storefront is slightly hard to find, because it is down an «alley» sort of space between buildings; it does not face the street. Head toward One Bethesda Center, but then turn down the «alley» between it and the BOA building. There is an adjacent parking garage for those not taking Metro.
The Raw Man Facial was practically out of this world. Mojie knows what she’s doing. It’s been days and my face still feels and looks great. I would definitely go back for this service again.
The haircut was fine, but didn’t wow me, especially at $ 40 for a men’s cut.
A very pleasant experience overall and I’d definitely recommend the spa services. Location is convenient as long as you can find it. Go! Say hello to Mojie!

I arrived for a manicure as the first appointment. She was late, so the woman who does the waxing offered me a free treatment. She did my eyebrows and my upper lip for free– an excellent job. I tipped her well. The manicure was also of high quality.

I came in for a facial and had an excellent experience.
I was immediately greeted as soon as I walked in. The receptionist took my coat and asked if I wanted a beverage. No sooner than filling out the salon form did my esthetician, Mojie (yes, the owner of the salon/​spa), greet me.
The facial room was clean and relaxing. The table I had to lay on was more like a long chair reclined and it cradled my whole body.
Mojie performed a fabulous facial! She only spoke a little bit in the beginning and then let me fall into quiet relaxation — I nearly fell asleep. Her extractions were painless and she did not get product all over my hair (which is a pet peeve of mine with other facials I’ve had elsewhere).
Will definitely be back again and will recommend this salon & spa to others!

You must visit Gladys at Le Ciel. She’s great and knows how to give you exactly what you are looking for. I have fine hair and she does a great job cutting it just right to give me volume! I’ve been going to her for a few years now and will continue to go to her at her new place at Le Ciel.