Toni’s Touch

I am not impressed with Toni’s Touch. I believe there is some potential here, but not for natural haired women seeking natural styling.
I enjoy how simple the online booking system is. I booked the earliest thing open on a Saturday (8am) for a simple wash, trim, and press. The receptionist called me on Wednesday (and had me wait for her to finish her current conversation… unprofessional) to tell me they only had 4pm open. I was annoyed at the poor phone service, so I simply cancelled.
A couple weeks later I tried again. Friday evening, 5pm, wash, trim, two strand twist. They had me waiting in the shop for a good 40 minutes before Toni even acknowledged me (note: the receptionist told me it would only be a few minutes, and that’s all the interaction I had). I was really about to walk out when the seat opened up. She said she was behind because they had recently re-​painted and rearranged the shop and the clocks haven’t been hung up. I don’t take that as a reasonable excuse, but since I was there and I waited I continued to let her do my hair.
I have natural, afro-​textured hair, and rule number 1 is to always detangle while hair is soaked in conditioner. She did a dry detangle with a fine-​toothed comb, and also trimmed it right there on the spot. Luckily my hair was stretched out, or it would have been painful. I’ve never had my hair trimmed while curly – it’s usually washed and blown out first. I fear that I will have to get another trim to even out what was done, but hopefully I’m wrong. The wash and twist were okay. Not the best twists I’ve gotten, but still better than I would have done myself.
Pros:
– She works on one head at a time. I can’t count how many shops I’ve been to that book 3 or 4 people at once.
– The girl before me got a weave and it looked really nice.
– There is a good selection of braiding hair and wigs.
– Because she was running late she had to close late, and she didn’t try to rush on my hair.
– Online booking + your card being on file when you made the appointment so payment is simple
One Minor Con:
– Verbal tipping. Normally when you swipe your card you can privatly decide what you want to tip, but since my card was int he system, the receptionist took care of my payment on the spot. Then she asked me to say my tip so she could enter it into the system. It’s awkward.
In all honesty, I will not be back to get my hair done, but perhaps I’ll buy hair here in the future. 2.5 stars (so 3… I guess) for it being more than just a hair salon – even if it is lacking professionalism.

My other half got his dreads started here by Toni herself. The whole process took about 4 hours and they put in movies through out the whole process to keep him and I entertained. All the movies they put in we’re super new so that was even more exciting :)
Toni was super friendly and watching her technique was incredible. Actually the whole salon was extremely friendly to me when I walked in a few hours after they had started on his dreads. She uses a crochet hook and barely any wax so it’s definitely more natural than a lot of dreads I’ve seen.
Not only did we receive excellent service but the price was right too! We’re very satisfied and it’s been a few months and the dreads are going strong.

Great salon. Best one in Maine. The barber’s are really good. Make an appt. Because it gets busy.

Had a great guy there give me and my basketball team mohawks. This was the only place that could professionally do designs in our hair too.

Do not waste your money or your time!
One would think that if the salon is named after someone, then that person would know what they were doing, but that is definitely NOT the case at Toni’s Touch.
I went in to get some tracks sewn in. At other salons I’ve been to in DC and NYC this process had taken 6 hours, but Toni was done within two hours and to be honest I thought she was joking when she said she was done. The real joke was on me though, cause I paid $ 150 for something I could have done myself.
I don’t even know where to begin in explaining the mess she made in my hair. The stylist taking it out said she had never seen anything like it before. There were no braids and she used rubber bands. I mean really, rubber bands?
I cannot believe that Toni’s Touch is still in business with Toni doing this kind of work. I would NEVER go back and caution anyone going to think twice before you spend your money there!