Les Cheveux Gallery

Worst stylist I have ever encountered… ever!
I went to this shop two months ago for a touch up. The touch up it self wasn’t bad. But she doesn’t work the hair, I had to request that she goes through the hair one more time. She does not believe in basing the scalp or front edges to prevent burns. She said the chemicals in modern perms are made to prevent burns, which is bullshit. I came with my hair pre-​based from home, but I still burned in my temple region.
The styling part was no styling at all… very disappointed. After she blew dried my hair, she supposedly flat ironed it. I said supposedly because there was no evidence or inkling of my hair ever being flat ironed. She put no type of grease to make it silky. I still had dry puffy hair with no bumps or shape of any kind. I complained and asked for hair grease, she said it didn’t need it and that my hair already had enough oil from the perm and the base prior to the perm. Makes no damn sense, especially when the hair has been washed. She said she didn’t like grease what so ever and I should not use them either unless it is oil you can eat. Whatever happens to doing what your customer want.
She pissed me off further by blaming the layers in my hair from a previous cut for her lack of skills. She had the nerve to offer to add more layers as a solution to the problem instead of curling it.
I went home styled it all over again, and went back an hour later to show her that she was wrong. She was like «oh ok, it looks a little better, I’ll put grease for you next time.» No thanks…$ 55 was way too much for what I got.

Whenever I am in the Urbana-​Champaign area, I go to Les Cheveux Gallery and get my hair «did» by Charlissa. She works strictly by appointment only, so do not walk in the salon, expecting her to be there in the event of a last minute hair crisis. If you are more than 10 minutes late, she will also leave. However, scheduling an appointment with her is very easy. The salon is clean and a comfortable environment. It is never crowded, so you can get your washed and styled quickly. There is barber shop connected to the salon and Charlissa also cuts hair, so male clients are encouraged at this salon. Charlissa is experienced with natural and straight styles, which is a wonderful thing if you want to try different looks. Every time that I visited, I left with a cute ‘do and nothing makes you feel better than a good hairstyle.

One of my friends is from Champaign, and when I told her I was looking for a place to get my hair done she suggested her friend Charlissa over at Les Cheveux Gallery. Charlissa owns the salon. She is very professional and only takes customers by appointment.
She was prompt and helpful when I told her that I was thinking of doing more natural styles. After having braids for YEARS I’ve decided both for healthy hair reasons and financial reasons (that fake hair is expensive!) to try a natural hairstyle. Sometimes hairdressers try to coax you into perms, but Charlissa was happy to assist me think of different natural styles. So far I’ve been twice: once to get a press and curl and once to get a rod set. Each time we had great conversation (the hallmark of any beauty shop) and I was really pleased with my hair. I was also happy to hear that Charlissa and her staff have a set of ethics about hair. They will advice customers about styles and techniques that might be damaging, and they believe that great hair comes from taking care of yourself, not from any product that you use. I’ll be back when I think my hair needs some TLC.