Aura Salon and Spa

Let me first say I do not know what the other Unilocalers are looking at; but I was expecting a beautifully updated décor with a relaxing feel. I did not feel relaxed. They had workers fixing the heat making banging noises; which isn’t the employee, Ashley’s fault. However, The place isn’t at all what I expected. Small and not very clean or modern. They use these stations with trays that look like old cookie sheets. Second, I had a groupon for a single process color; which according to this salon it means Just Roots. Really??. I can do that myself at home. Third, the haircut & blow-​out was basic… nothing special. Their regular prices are expensive. If I paid full price it would have been $ 60 for partial color.

I don’t understand all of the negative reviews I have been here twice and enjoyed myself both times. My first visit was using a groupon and I had an appointment with Audra, she was great. I had a haircut and blowout with the conditioning treatment and I loved the results.
Tonight I went back for a haircut and blowout and my stylist was Ashley, she did a wonderful job and I am happy to say I have found my new hair salon.

I have been getting my hair cut by the owner Frank for more than 20 years. He is friendly, genuine, and consistent with my hair. My wife even switched over to Frank about 10 years ago and she loves his cut and color. Frank hires talented stylists, which are at the top of their game.

I don’t usually give reviews but I had my hair done at the end of December 2014. I purchased a groupon for a haircut, partial highlights, and blow-​dry. Upon entering the salon the staff was friendly and they offered me coffee/​water. My stylist seemed nice and she took me to her station to discuss what will be done with my hair. As i proceeded to talk about what I wanted she shot down my idea completely. I have ombré on my hair already and I just wanted a touch up and to get rid of the «brassy tones». She explained to me that she did not know how to do that and that the groupon was for highlights only. I am not sure if she just had no idea what she was doing because I have purchased many groupons in the past for highlights and they were able to do a touch up of my ombré rather than touching the roots as a highlight does. Anyways, she told me she couldn’t do it because she «was still new at this» and she didn’t want to «mess up» I must say I am pretty pleased that she gave me the heads up that she didn’t really have much of an idea of what to do and didn’t want to mess up my hair. I do appreciate that. I suggested that I just use a toner then since I did not want highlights all over my head. I was pretty annoyed because that is not what I wanted but nothing I could do at the time. She proceeded to bring me over to the washing station and I sat there with my head tilted in the sink for about 5 minutes having no idea where she was (she could have easily told me, i’ll be right back i am going to get the toner) but she left me there without saying a word. I thought that was pretty odd. Anyways, she was very silent and seemed uninterested like she didn’t want to be there. I enjoy having a nice conversation with my hairstylist rather than sitting there in silence, bored. The toner came out pretty good and I was satisfied. The cut seemed nice at first until the next day I did my hair myself and my layers were «straight cut» and there was no angle or body to them like layers should have. Sad to say I will not be back with that stylist again. The salon was beautiful and the other staff was really nice but I would just be careful who you chose as your stylist. They also gave out a cute little sebastian styling product since it was a few days before Christmas.

The actual salon is beautiful, and the customer service is great. Everyone is very nice. I gave the salon a two because the actual haircut was terrible, and my stylist couldn’t even give a blowout without using a straightener. I worked in a salon for a year and can give myself a better blowout. I asked for layers all around starting at a certain length, and the stylist literally took a piece of my hair in the front and cut it short. So I had these two chunks of shorter hair in the front because she didn’t know how to layer. That said, I’ve been to the salon before and they have wonderful customer service. I’ve gotten a mani/​pedi and it was wonderful as well.

All I can say is that this is seriously the most expensive hair salon I’ve ever been to! Do not go here unless you are planning to spend a lot of money. I got a HALF a head of highlights and they asked me if I wanted my hair blow dried; which I thought was standard since they have to wash the highlights out. I didn’t even get a haricut. When i went to pay it was $ 144 dollars! Without tip! My half a head of highlights cost me $ 166 dollars. I was so shocked and didn’t understand why, and when i came home and looked at their prices further, I realized when they asked me if I wanted my hair «dried» they really charged me 45 dollars for a blowout! Jesus i thought drying your hair came with getting highlights since they’re not going to let you walk out with your hair wet. For $ 144 dollars I should have loved my highlights, but they were just OK. Believe me, there are way better places to go that do not cost you this much money, ridiculous.

I purchased a Groupon for haircut and partial highlights and my stylist was Alana. I was very happy with my highlights, I thought she did an awesome job. My haircut was another story… it’s awful. It won’t style properly and she cut into the sides when I asked for a side bang. I told her the bangs looked weird and she said if she cut anymore it would be too short. At this point the salon was closing. it was late and I wanted to go home.
A few days later I contacted to salon and asked if someone could try to fix my haircut. I was told the only person that could fix it would be the person that cut it. Why would I want someone that ruined my hair try and fix it? I will never go back. I was surprised with their lack of concern. I never review places, but this was really unprofessional in my opinion.

went to this salon first time today, thanks to a Groupon deal I bought a few months ago. I’m always nervous to try a new place but this place is simply great! had a service done by Alanna who is very good and has a great personality. I highly recommend this place, I also did not think from picking up a menu of services that their prices were expensive they’re actually rather reasonable. I will def be going back for services with Alanna again.

a bit expensive, but around this area, if you pay any less, you won’t want to leave the house for a few days… they do a decent job, but know exactly what you want is better… the leveled pricing system is a bit confusing, but i would suggest to go with whatever you’re willing to pay… because their handling of the job is not correlated with how much you pay in this system (it only denotes how long that person has been in that salon, you don’t know how long they have been working as a hair dresser all together)
people are friendly, and if you say you’re referred by someone (oh well, let’s say it’s me) you’ll get 25% off, and so do i (but i already got that discount from one of my friends, so hey, this is for your own good)

I called in for a GC for a good friend who was living around here at the time.
I searched for a very long time to find a decent place that was close to her apt, I took the review from Unilocal.
BOY WAS IT WRONG!
I live in Pittsburgh right now, so when I called I explained to the lady I wanted to get this for a friend for her b-​day but I did not reside in NJ, that was ok, she took my friends name down and my credit card etc. She said it would be fine when my friend came in, she would just have to state her name.
NOPE: Friend called, they had no idea what was going on, they advertise that they have facials but did not have an asthetician in the spa… who sells these and does not have one? My friend called back twice more while she lived in NJ and they never got one, they didnt even have anyone to do pedicures.
My friend moved backed to TX and never used the GC. So I called to get my $ 100 back, they said they could not do this and that I could come and use it since it never expires… DUH! I don’t live in NJ, which I explained to the lady.
She said she would talk to the owner. The only reason why this even recieved a 2 from me if b/​c the owner was kind enough to give me a refund and understood the situation. I did not even go here, but from the bad organization to the stupidity this place is terrible.

This place is great. I love the atmosphere and I get a great haircut. Yes, it may be a little more expensive than some other places, but that is because they do not compare to Aura. They have great service, and are very friendly. I come home from college just to get my haircut here.