Fringe Salon

(review for bridal hair)
My bridal party and myself had our hair done here the day of the wedding and it was an amazing experience. The staff was extremely accommodating and organized. There were 8 of us total and it only took them from 10 – 12:30 to do all our hair. I was able to bring in some champange and breakfast pastries to snack on while we were getting ready. Our hair also came out fabulous with every girl being very happy. Definitely recommend them for bridal hair!

Do not use for wedding hair… It’s been 5 years since I was married and had my hair done here. What was done at the trial and what happened the day of was a different situation. It was a nightmare. As another review alluded to, John did what he wanted not what the customer wanted and actually made me feel awful. The staff (he included) was also gossipy about vendors and other patrons which I found unprofessional and awkward. Also my husband had a trial hair cut here a month before and he came back looking like Lyle Lovett. That should of been a tell. I figured I’d write this now if I still feel the same after 5 years.

I’ve been in search of a new hairdresser for a few months now. My go to moved to a salon in Danvers and now has little availability for me on the weekend so it was time to make a move… who wants to drive to Danvers, anyway!!? Not this girl! Man am I glad I made the switch! Elizabeth at Fringe Salon fit me in on Saturday evening and gave me the first dry cut of my life. It’s perfect! Beautifully done. I have short wavy hair with bangs and she told me all about how dry cut is the way to go — she was absolutely right. There were no surprises when it was over — you know when they finish and it’s waaaaay shorter then it looked wet? I’ll never ask for a wet cut again.
Friendly service, continued education is required of all staff (which is one of the major things I look for in a salon) clean, affordable ($ 45 for a wash/​cut/​dry/​straighten) — she really knew what she was doing. I have found my new local salon! They have very convenient hours (including Sundays! Open until 10pm on Thursdays! and 7pm Tues, Weds, Fri). I had been trying to give this place a go for a while but I’m a last minute scheduler — I wake up on Friday and say «Eek!!» i need a hair cut, STAT! But I will try to change my ways for Fringe. Elizabeth recommended booking a week out to get the time you want. It’s not a bad thing that they’re a popular salon, right?!
They accept tips on credit (yay!)
Highly recommend.

This place is awesome. The staff is amazing and accommodating. And they KNOW how to do hair. I’m a curly girl who also likes a good straight style. And whichever way the wind blows, I can always be confident to get a great cut.
Kathleen is fantastic. Really, they ALL are.
So glad to be a repeat customer!

Lauren is by far the best hairdresser I’ve been to and my sisters would agree. I’m dark blond always wanting to have extreme blond highlights and she gives me that while making it look natural. I love how she highlights around my face and she even gets the hair around my ear. Anyone trying to achieve the ultimate blond look can appreciate that. Her talents don’t end there!!! She gives a great cut and I have never seen anyone blow-​dry hair better than her. I always tell her I feel like a celebrity country singer when I leave. Lauren is amazing, talented and so sweet. I love going to see her. Highly recommended!!!

Best in northshore. Rocks! All the celebs go there now.

I still love John and his staff. Usually, John cuts my hair, and Kathleen washes, glosses, washes again, and styles my hair, plus she does my brows. I believe lash extensions are available, and so is lipgloss (I forget the brand but I like it), plus bumble and bumble and Deva products.
John’s salon is much bigger now, as he has expanded, but he still has that upbeat, modern feel that I love. Everyone is so friendly and I feel completely at home (plus, I love the great magazine selection). Even though I live in VA, I still have my hair cut here. I always get compliments on my hair. Always.

*Curly hair review* Fringe is curl heaven! I always wear my hair curly and I HATE it when I go to a salon and get my hair cut and the stylist insists on blow drying my hair straight! It’s like they don’t want to acknowledge that my hair is curly! But Fringe is not one of those salons. Lauren listened to exactly what I wanted an gave me all kinds of tips to care for my curls! I had the best experience and my curls were treated with the utmost respect! It’s well worth the trip to Salem from Boston.

(Straight hair review)
I love everything about Fringe Salon! I decided it was time to change hairdressers after years of going to the same one. I searched for salons in the area and finally decided to book an appointment with John at Fringe.
Right when I walked in the salon I was greeted by John himself! He offered me a drink while I waited. I waited no more than 5 minutes before he had me in the chair discussing what I wanted to do with my hair. I had never had a dry hair cut before so he explained the process to me and how long he had been doing it. I was nervous at first to do a dry cut but I must say after a few days I really do think my hair looks amazing!
John and his entire staff are truly awesome! They were all easy to talk to and it made me feel really comfortable in new surroundings. I loved the atmosphere, the music, and of course the service! I can’t wait to schedule my next appointment!
One suggestion*- If you are close enough to walk to the salon, I would. Parking is tight down at the wharf… especially on nice weather days!

After living in Los Angeles for two years — going through countless failed actresses-​turned hair stylists — I still bemoan leaving my beloved Adrianna for the left coast.
I have stick-​straight, fine hair, but Adrianna never batted an eyelash at my baby fine locks. She’d tackle them with abandon and I’d come out with a cool textured cut, that could easily go from rockin’ to romantic with a flick of some styling product.
When you contemplate planning visits back east to accommodate your hair’s growth schedule, you know you’ve left behind a good thing.

***Curly review***
After months of dealing with my long, curly locks, I got tired of it — tired of putting it up in a ponytail, tired of all the gels and weight and bad hair days. I decided to chop it off and donate the curls to Locks of Love. I am always wary of where I get my hair cut because it’s curly (not consistent, some wavy parts, some straight, some 3a curls) and some salons have no idea how to cut it. I usually go to Cala Renee but a co-​worker with one of the best curly cuts this side of the Mississippi told me to check out Fringe. She said their cuts don’t look the same — as Cala Renee’s cuts do — and it’s a fresher kinda place so I decided to check it out. Since I do research for a living, I did mine before I set my appointment up. I liked what I read about John’s curly cuts — and trust me, I looked up every single review.
The salon is small — but really really nice. The décor is killer & I dig the colors. The music was good too — it calmed me down from my 45 minute drive in listening to The Damned full blast trying to kill my pre-​cut jitters. The receptionist was very nice as well — when I walked through the door, I wasn’t hit with pretentiousness or horrendous smells of dye & whatnot — it smelled magical.
John greeted me with a big smile & I was instantly at ease. He was genuine & not snotty & he smelled good too :) He listened to exactly what I wanted and started out by cutting off a good bit of my hair. He then went to work cutting and shaping. My hair looked like a big puff ball & I kinda got nervous but I remembered my research & knew that he knew what he was doing — it’s like he had that look in his eyes that he could see the finished product of his work even before it was halfway finished — I trusted him completely. But then he pulled out a comb! Do not, I repeat, DO NOT be afraid! There is a reason why the comb was used & he explained it to me — combs, as we curly haired girls understand, are a no-​no to us. What John explained was that he had to get to every piece– he had to comb just a bit to get the hidden locks out & cut right. This was something I noticed after my last cut at Cala Renee that there were some pieces missed because they were hidden in the mass of curls.
After I was shaped, Kathleen washed and gave me an amazing head massage — it’s like she had 20 fingers! Then she explained to me how she was styling my hair & how I should do it at home. She used the Moroccan Oil Mousse that I regret not picking up — I love that stuff. Next, she did a bit of twisting and clipping and put me under the dryer.
After that, John styled me a bit more and had this look on his face like he was totally amazed at what was done and when I looked at the finished product, I was floored. I was kind of shocked at how good it looked. I haven’t had my hair this short ever and was scared to find out what it would look like. That big mass of hair that was dry, worn out, and too much of a pain in the butt for me was taken to a new level by John — dude is a visionary — a fricking curl whisperer.
I am so glad I went there and had him & Kathleen hook me up. At the end, I was still in shock by how relieved I was that it went better than I expected but I left the salon in a daze of weightless bliss (I feel bad because I wanted to thank John for the 3^rd time before I left-​but didn’t want to disturb him — if you’re reading this, thank you John!) I should have, like one reviewer suggested, had someone else drive me home cause all I wanted to do was check out my hair.
It cost bit more than other salons but there was 100% trust there — which I never had anywhere. You can’t complain about cost when the quality is this good. It was worth the 45 minute drive — I highly recommend John and the staff at Fringe — my new favorite place :)
**Update — it’s July 2012 & I STILL don’t need a haircut :) I’m letting it grow long & in the past have always had to get trims every now & then. The secret was in the cut but also not to use anything drying (hairdryer, shampoo, gels with alcohol).

Adriana from Fringe is amazing. She gave me a great shoulder length haircut (I had been growing my hair long for about four years). It looks great and I get more compliments on it then I’ve ever received about my hair EVER… No really EVER. Plus she is just really kind and sweet.
Also, she taught me how to have curly hair that isn’t crunchy or frizzy! I thought I had learned it all from 15 years of reading magazines but nope her tips were completely new to me and totally worked!
Fringe is so close to being Five Stars for me BUT it’s a bit expensive for my taste (aka wallet)

Here I go being negative Nancy…
The reviewer below who mentioned the incentive to give this place good reviews on Unilocal is spot-​on. I don’t know how else it has so many 5-​star ratings.
I came here with a bunch of girls to get our hair done for a wedding. From my experience at many, many weddings, the bridal party’s hair needs to be shellacked down to sustain it through photos/​hugging/​dancing/​etc. They failed to take appropriate precautions on all of us; the bride’s updo finally came down halfway through the reception after we spend the day fixing it with more bobby pins. Ditto for the bridesmaid who also had an updo, plus hers was far from what she described to the stylist.
And my hair? I went for a blow-​out and asked for lots of volume, body, and waves. The stylist starts drying my hair with a cheapo plastic brush instead of a round brush like I’m used to, then hands me off to another stylist to whom I give the exact same instructions — homegirl does NOT understand. She puts a flat iron to my head. She burns my scalp. I ask her not to do either. She says that all the girls who come in want really straight, flat hair. I started to believe she couldn’t do any other look.
If you just need a blowout or styling, avoid this place if you want to get the look you ask for.

The first time I went, I had to sit around for 40 minutes because they were backed up from a morning wedding (it was 3pm). John sat me in a chair and gave me a pamphlet about curly hair, which I dont have, and asked me to read it and pick out what kind of «curly girl» I was. This made no sense to me.
Then he finally got to me and I told him what I was looking for. I said I was looking for something funky and rock and roll and all I got was told that I needed to grow it out before we could really ‘fix’ it. It was as though he didnt hear a word I said, which I suspect he didnt.
Either way, he cut it, it looked ok. It wasnt rock and roll or funky, but fine. I was charged $ 75 and was told that after the first time, the price goes down by $ 10.
Ok so I grow out my hair and go back. Maybe he was just having a bad day when I was there the first time. Nope, more of the same. I grew out all my layers and told him I really wanted him to cut bangs because I look better with them (having determined this by actually spending the time to grow them out). He did not cut bangs. When I mentioned this to him when he was finishing, he proceeeded to cut the layer I had just finished growing out, shorter again because thats what he said he had to do (not true) and my hair still didnt have the bangs that I asked for. It felt like a punishment for daring to express my dis-​satisfaction.
Of course then everyone dutifully tells you how gorgeous you look. I felt like I was stuck in some bad stage act.
I’m very clear about what I need, and I was not listened to AT ALL when I went to this salon. He was more concerned about the music and the protocol of his staff than he was about listening to his client. The first time I was there he sent a staff member to check on someones work on cleaning the bathroom correctly.
They also give you a punch card and offer to punch it toward a free cut if you leave a review on Unilocal.
I will say that Liz on his staff is very nice and gave me a good eyebrow wax.
I’ll go elsewhere from now on, where I am actually listened to.

I went to Fringe for the first time this past Friday and normally one visit to a salon (or any place, really) would not warrant a 5 star rating but Fringe deserves it. I saw Adrianna for my cut and she was excellent. She took her time to see what my hair was really like before cutting (instead of cutting it into what she thought would look good without considering the texture of my hair, like stylists in the past have done). She talked to me about my current hair routine (which was minimal and resulted in my curls being a frizzy mess most of the time). She did let me know what products she was using but I did not feel pressure to buy anything and she also told me how to get my hair to look better using my current products.
Now, my hair is THICK and really CURLY… usually I pull it up halfway through the day but with this new cut and styling method it has looked AMAZING for the past three days and I have yet to put it in a ponytail. My curls look awesome and I have gotten a ton of compliments on them.
The salon itself is very cool inside and like others have said the music is really laid back and chill. John was there and he was friendly, as well as the other people working. I can’t wait to go back to Fringe in the future.

This review is coming from a non– curly hair person.
I typically went to Andrew Michaels and was pretty happy– but then my stylist left and they didn’t tell me where she went. So i called last minute to book an appointment for saturday for a cut and a foil and they were able to take me. Yeah!
I had Adrianna who was awesome. awesome. I LOVE my cut, and the foil i got is really natural looking. i was there for about 2 hours total.
Pros–
Right around the corner. I walked there.
Dry cut was awesome.
I was able to style myself the next day!
color is fabulous
Cons–
Only one, and it’s cost. I paid $ 170 (without tip) for a cut and a foil, and I have pretty short hair so the foil didn’t take that long. It’s the most i’ve ever paid including newbury street. I looked on the website and it said $ 125 for a full foil (which i assumed included the cut like most places) but it didn’t, so i had somewhat of a sticker shock when i got the bill and was charged $ 125 for the foil and $ 45 for the cut, plus tip.
I’ll defintiely go back to Adrianna, she was great, but will probably only do a cut there from now on.
Also– one of the reviews mentioned a «hard sell» on products. I didnt’ find this at all. Adrianna told me what she was using, but never tried to oversell. I felt completely comfortable there.

I am so in love with my new super short, super healthy looking super cute hair! I also love Unilocal for referring me their.
Pros’s
1 mile away
super cool décor
John is AWESOME– Took the time to really figure out what i wanted based on my expectations, condition of my hair and upkeep
first time EVER i have left after a hair cut and have not headed home to flatiron/​add product/​cry
CONS
Not really a con, cuz it looks AWESOME but took forever– probably cuz it was my first time there
Girl that washed hair was super nice and i usually love scalp massage but she just didn’t do it for me.
Overall– Highly highly recommend-​First hair cut, honestly, that I have loved ever. Ill post a pic as soon as I take one!
Thanks John– See you in 6 weeks!

I went here March 2008, my review is a bit belated. This would have been great if I’d had curly hair, but I don’t, not that the owner would believe me. They’re also big on the hard sell, with products and hair systems. I went in for a hair cut and left with a book, leave in conditioner, hair clips, a $ 108 dollar bill and sold that after 2 – 3 weeks I’d have a whole new head of hair.
I tried the system for 2.5 weeks and my hair texture didn’t change at all. The cut was great for what he was trying to do, but my hair was limp and wavy, and determined to stay limp and wavy with just enough curl to look bedraggled. It was pleasant experience, but totally wrong for my hair.

I love this salon :)
I had my first cut with John the other day and I was so happy with the experience that I promptly booked him to do my hair on my wedding day.
This might be the first time I have ever truly *loved* a haircut. I was a little uncertain about getting my hair done at a «pricey» place (my last couple of cuts were at Supercuts — blah), but then it occurred to me that my haircut at Fringe was still less than what my fiancé and I might spend on a night of dinner and drinks — and the happiness of a great haircut lasts a lot longer than that.
My only tip: get someone else to drive you home after your haircut. When I left, I couldn’t keep my eyes on the road because I was too busy admiring how great my hair looked in the rear view mirror.

I am a wash and go kind of gal. No hairdryers or styling products for me! And I generally get a haircut 2 – 3 times per year. Hence, I had never bothered to go to a real salon and get a proper haircut. Supercuts suited me okay and then I graduated to low-​end $ 25 haircut places. But it was time for a change.
I searched Unilocal and found reviews for Fringe. At the time there were only three reviews, but it sounded great, despite my not having curly hair. I was intrigued by the dry haircut process.
I made an appointment with John. What a great experience. I went in not knowing what I wanted but also not being that picky with what I ended up with. John took the time to find out a little about me and my lifestyle first and then made some suggestions of what he thought would look good and I told him to go for it.
I was there for over an hour but the time flew by. John is so nice and easy to talk to. My social skills are sub-​par and I generally dread the small talk that comes along with getting a haircut. But chatting with John was a breeze and a lot of fun.
The haircut itself is lovely. It is pretty easy for a no nonsense girl like me to get it to look decent with little effort (though I have yet to get my bangs to look quite as fab as John got them to look, but I am still practicing).
I am very happy I found Fringe and I definitely plan on returning and getting a haircut more frequently than I am used to. I suggested to my boyfriend that he give Fringe a try as well, so perhaps I will have a future update from the male perspective.