Rubann Salon

I’ve been coloring my hair to cover the gray since my early 20’s. All these years I’ve been happy with my med-​dark reddish brown (sometimes with highlights, sometimes without) shade. However, for the last three years it’s felt like a losing battle. I was getting my roots touched up every 4 weeks, and even then by about week 3 the skunk stripe in my part was very obvious. After a lot of searching (internet and soul) I decided to embrace my natural gray. BUT, there was no way I was going to be able to grow it out naturally and not be self-​conscious about the obvious «line of demarcation» between old growth and new and I also wasn’t willing to go super short to cut off all the dyed parts. Enter Rubann.
For those who prefer the summary, here’s the verdict. More about the process below for those who prefer all the details.
VERDICT: Although I’m not exactly gray yet, I’m about as close as I hoped. The growing in period will be easy and I’m making the transition to gray without losing my dignity! It’s been one month since my 2^nd visit and about 3 months since I’ve stopped covering my gray. If I look closely, I can find the line between my old and new hair, but I don’t think the average person looking at me would see it. I’ll let it grow for a few more months and if need be, I’ll go back from some additional blending just along the «line of demarcation.» I am so glad I chose Rubann to help me make this journey!
The Full Story
I called the salon and connected with Ann Marie. She had me send in photos of my hair with 4 weeks growth. She immediately shared a handful of before and after pictures of clients with hair color similar to mine and we discussed the process. The photos she shared were remarkable and I decided to take the plunge.
1^st visit — basically, Ann Marie foiled bleach into my hair in very small sections (no large stripey parts) taking care the match the ratio of gray-​to-​brown for each section. So, near the crown, my hair is about 70% gray but closer to 15% at the base. Warning — this process takes hours, so be patient. She lighted the foiled hair as much as possible then toned to a light platinum-​blondish color. Turns out my hair color was very stubborn and would not bleach white. This is probably due to the fact that for years I’ve been using an «eco» (i.e., non-​peroxide) color. Both Ann Marie and the woman who had been dying my hair for years told me that non-​peroxide color would be more problematic to lift and they were right. The hair that wasn’t bleached was dyed an ash brown color instead of a red-​brown color to help the gray look gray not like golden highlights. My hair looked great, but only about 70% toward what I saw as my final goal.
2^nd visit — after one month I went back for round two, which was much the same as round one, but I hoped my «highlights» would lighten more. They did, but still not white/​gray. But, the second round made my highlights look even more natural since some hair was bleached once, some bleached twice, some not at all. So the colors are much more complex and blended and range from white to light blond. After this visit, I felt like I was about 85% of the way to my goal. After bleaching my hair twice I was concerned about damage. My hair is definitely drier than it was before, and I’m taking care to deep condition regularly. However, it’s not brittle or broken, and overall I’m happy.
Purple shampoo — after my second visit I started using purple shampoo a couple of times a week to «tone» the lightened hair and push some of the blond sections more towards white. With this addition, now I’m about 90% of the way to my goal. Mother Nature will take care of the rest as the natural salt and pepper grows in.
The compliments I’ve been getting all along have been great! I was worried that the (much) lighter color would wash me out. But, that’s definitely not the case. The light color suits me and my hair doesn’t look «bleached.» I just got back from a conference full of people I haven’t seen in months and everyone commented on my new look. I’m so glad I took the plunge.
Was it inexpensive? No, but given the amount of time the process took, it was a damn good value. And think of all the money I’ll save by not coloring my hair every four weeks! Totally worth every dollar.

Ann Marie is a Saint!!!
I must admit that I am a hair color slut. I have been to many famous and expensive salons in NYC. I have have orange/​red high lights more times than i want to admit,
and I always felt so uncomfortable going back and asking them to fix .and at least listen to what I am trying to accomplish.
I came in red and brassy to Ann Marie. She is so incredibly nice, and has worked with more over the last several months to get me to the color I want to be.
I have has not been easy, but she is so kind and patient and always encourages me to come back and tweak things.
I love my color now, and I am so thankful that she has taken the time to listen
and work with me through the color disasters that I have had.

Do NOT believe the hype about this salon.
To her credit she was kind and spent time, and worked hard. I’ll give her that.
But she does not know what she is doing with hair color, made things ten times worse than they were when I came to her in distress, did things she admittedly did not need to do which jacked up the cost of the treatment, and painted my hair a metallic orange that is so disgusting other salons laughed at it and called it a crime (given the natural strawberry blond color I aiming for). She left my hair with multiple striped shades of copper, brass, yellow (she called that gold), and didn’t even do the roots enough to be concealed. The top of my head looks like someone took paint to it, like the cap of a metallic orange iphone case, and she called this beautiful. I know it may sound like I have an axe to grind, but I kind of do. The salon she works for insisted I pay for the service a whopping 500, even though I was unhappy (and anyone would be) and they acknowledged the orange problem, and despite the fact that the only reason she stopped coloring is that she said more work would do damage and she had to finish later. In other words, the work was not completed. The salon doesn’t seem to understand that when a customer’s hair is damaged they do not think it wise to go back to the person who damaged it, and refused to refund my money saying they had completed the service. That is the equivalent of a surgeon not completing surgery, botching it in the middle, charging you for it, and then saying he will keep the money and suggests you come back for more work. I dont wanna lose another kidney, thank you.
I came to her asking her to take out stripes a colorist had put in and make a natural look possible. I showed her a picture to give her an idea of my natural strawberry blond color. She put more streaks and stripes in. Her approach was obviously to up-​color those stripes and add more to conceal them — but all she had to do was color that lighter stripes darker and match the whole head (I found out later). Instead she gave me an entire head of stripes. In multi-​color madness that looks fake and sickening.
She also didn’t make sure before she added color that it would go on to my hair correctly. A good colorist would have done a test strand.
In addition, the prices she advertises are not the prices she gives. The salon seemed to gloat when I mentioned that and they said, «we do not advertise our prices» — and because of the funky arrangement between them where she works with them (two businesses in one) — they claim she is responsible for pricing, and claims they are responsible. It is the perfect set up.
But back to the hair… Which is what matters most, because I don’t want other people to go through what I went through. It will now take me four years to grow this out and hundreds of dollars to get it fixed and hundreds to get it maintained. It is so complicated a mess up – resulting from someone taking repeated stabs in the dark without a proper strategy — that other hairdressers are actually baffled as to how any correction can be done, and certain things they just cant fix.
When I complained to ann-​marie about the stripes all she said was, don’t look at the individual strands, look at the whole thing… but anyone looking at my hair is annoyingly staring at the strands that cannot be avoided because they are so mismatched and obviously colored and colored badly. When I contacted her later begging her for help and asking her if I wash it out, she said, «dont do anything to damage the work I have done.» She said that I had wasted her time and refused to help me because she said I lied about my natural color (which everyone in my family and professional field would prove her wrong about) — and was insulting. She took more interest in the fact that she had done time-​consuming work (even though she admitted she didn’t need to do all of that), than my satisfaction as a customer.
I think Ann Marie is extremely knowledgeable. I think she tries hard. I think she cares. I think it is remarkable how accessible she makes herself (when she likes you). But I also think that she clearly was not careful to make sure that she did not take steps that would do more damage — and when she did the damage, she should have carefully analyzed what to do next and what she did wrong. She never should have charged me for work I was so unhappy with. She should have offered suggestions about how to fix it. But most importantly she never should have done it. I didn’t need foiling (I found out later), just a simple glaze. I didn’t need three layers of color, just the right one. Again, other salons called it a crime. And I cannot in good conscience, despite her knowledge and experience, recommend her to anyone.

After months of agonizing I finally decided to «transition» to silver/​gray and was lucky to find AnnMarie. She listened first and then made her suggestions — she was competent and down to earth and let me know she would be available to tweak the color if and when I needed it. It’s been 3 months and I haven’t been bothered by roots and I get nothing but compliments on my new look. Whenever and wherever I go for blowouts the staff wants to know where I go for color! Kudos to AnnMarie

Originally I had my hair done at a different salon with the intention of getting an ombré dye job, but when i left, my whole head was bleach blond. Then I went to another salon to get it fixed, but it ultimately made it worse, adding brassy tones that I definitely didn’t need. At that point my hair was ruined in 2 ways. In desperation, I google searched «bleach hair disaster and repair nyc» and found Anne Marie of Rubann Salon. Thank God! I called her right away because I was leaving for paris in 2 days, and she said I could come in right away. Anne Marie was seriously my hero. She spent all afternoon patiently color correcting my hair until we both loved the way it looked. She went above and beyond and would have continued well into the night if she had to. I will definitely be going to her regularly, no question! Other hair stylists said my hair couldn’t be fixed, but Anne Marie fixed it perfectly. I can’t wait to get my hair done by her again. Seriously a miracle worker!
Since I spent the entire afternoon at the salon I also got a feel for it as a whole and I would trust any of the stylists there to do my hair. Every client had amazing hair when their appointments were through and every hair dresser worked so hard with each and every appointment. It was beautiful, clean and very professional. Good salons are hard to come by here in NYC and this one is worth the trek from Brooklyn.

I came to this salon because I heard that Annemarie was the best for corrective color. I had had bright red hair for a couple of months and I wanted a light brown. I went for a consultation and she said she could do it, so I came back and I got the color stripped, and full highlights. The color was okay; a dark brown. Not what I had asked for, but I understood that red was a hard color to get out. The salon is definitely glamorous and luxurious but it was 420 $ total, (WITHOUT a hair cut or trim or anything) which is just outrageous to me, especially when you factor in the tip for that was another 40 dollars (which they wanted in cash). I don’t mind paying more if I’m getting more but considering I didn’t get what I asked for, and it faded back to red after a couple weeks, I was pretty disappointed. Won’t be returning.

My best friend from college, who had been going to Anne Marie @ Rubann for years, recommended her to me… and I’m lucky she did! I made an appointment with Anne Marie for highlights and I went to their new location @ 115 57^th (b/​w Lex and Park). Bottom Line: I am in LOVE with my new color. It’s just a bumped-​up version of my basic brown however it gives my face warmth and Anne Marie has a real gift for picking out the perfect, natural shade. She’s my new gal! :-)