BlowOuts Salon

I came in for a wedding trial with Julie and was welcomed with smiles from the staff at the front desk. The salon is clean and I didn’t see a bad style leaving the place! I enjoyed my time there, everyone was so nice. I highly recommend Julie’s expertise for your wedding needs. She perfected my ideal style and gave me many options to choose from. I know my bridal party and I will be in GREAT hands on the big day! Parking is $ 5 – 7 depending on your length of stay if you can’t get a metered spot, but it’s a convenient and safe garage.

The staff has the patience of saints! Took my 6 yo (natural with lots of curly hair) in for a blow out before her 7^th birthday party. She was terrified and acted a plum, crying fool… the staff was understanding, supportive and compassionate making the process a bit easier (especially for me, an easily embarrassed mama). Our stylist Val took her time, has patience and did phenomenal work. She provided an assessment of her quality and tips on how to make the hair process easier for her, in addition to also giving maintenance tips for her style. The greatest part is she followed up almost a week later to see how it was holding up. My little one is excited to go back, we won’t do a blow out unless it’s a special occasion, but definitely trying braid/​twist styles from Val.

I am transitioning to natural hair from relaxed. I want to try new styles out and I just moved the the area away from my stylist of 10+ years. I wanted to go to First Ave. Salon, they had great Unilocal reviews and I want to try out a flexi rod set. Sadly, they only have two stylists and they referred me to Blowouts.
I called and made an appointment 24 hours in advance. The stylist Valerie was supposedly coming in early at 8:30 for me to get my hair done. I drag myself out of bed on my day off to get downtown by 8:30 park in the meter garage (waste 2 hours worth of change) and walk over to the salon.
It is about 40 degrees outside right now. I waited until 8:50 and when no one showed up I finally left and sucked it up that I wasn’t going to get my hair done today. This is extremely unprofessional. When I made the appointment I asked the receptionist if the stylist would definitely be there by our agreed appointment time. She assured me yes. While I was waiting outside I called the salon several times just to make sure I wasn’t crazy and there wasn’t someone waiting in the back. No! So upon leaving and pulling out of my parking spot, I call one more time intending to leave a message to let them know that I showed up as agreed. This time however, Valerie answered the phone. I told her I waited outside in the cold for 20 mins and that I found that unacceptable and she asked if I wanted to reschedule! I don’t think so!
Can’t speak as to their work… I didn’t get that far. Won’t be going back.

What all the previous reviewers have said is true. My manicure experience started out alright (I came in early in the day and they took me on time). While my manicure started out well, she forgot the paraffin treatment and did it after my pedi (insisting my nails were dry and it would be fine)— it wasn’t. It made a mess of my nails and I had to redo them when I got home. On top of that, the paraffin treatment was awful. First, the nail tech had me put my hand in the bin of wax when there wasn’t enough wax in it and it burned like h**l (note — I have an extremely high tolerance for pain, so this was bad). Then I had to wait 20 minutes for an additional wax stick to melt in the plastic bin to try again, after which she stuck my hand in the bin of hot wax three times while she worked a brush over it. I have had paraffin treatments before and they have never been this painful, messy and time consuming.
The pedi was bad too. The nail tech was really nice, very sweet but, as others have noted, everything about this experience was unprofessional. Two nail techs share one small table of supplies – in a small room. A bowl is used to soak my feet, but then my feet are put back in the dirty water? Ick! There is no massage chair (not even the Homomedics massager others mentioned). Just a cheap office chair to sit with your feet propped up on an odd chair the nail tech uses. The nail tech had to keep leaving the room to get supplies (and the supplies being used, as well as the polish, were old and cheap). I was never provided anything to dry my nails (not even a fan). Although she insisted my toe nails were dry, they were not, and now they have to be re-​done as well.
All of this took two hours, by the way, which is really way too long — I should have been done in less than 90 minutes, but the paraffin fiasco dragged it out.
I had a Group-​on for this (and I tipped well because she was nice and working really hard). Even with the Groupon though, it is definitely NOT worth it.

My stylist was Ashley, she was nice. I received a flexi-​rod set and it came out ok. There was a bit of a wait in between getting my hair done, that annoyed me a bit. Overall… ok service.

If only I had read the previous reviews. I hardly ever give bad reviews, but this was the worse manicure that I had ever had. For a mani-​pedi, I was there for two hours! Why – I have no idea. The nail tech was nice enough but everything about this experience was unprofessional. Two nail techs shared one small table of supplies – in a small, room. The nail tech had to keep leaving the room to get supplies, i.e. scrub brush, etc. No place to put my feet up, except on her knees. She was extremely slow. As I was finally finished, I had to ask for something to dry my nails, i.e. drying machine, etc. She pulled out a small machine for several minutes, then I left. My nails were definitely not dry, and now most have to be re-​done.
I had a group-​on for this. It is definitely NOT worth it. I have no idea about how this salon does hair, and I do not plan on ever going back to find out.

OK, here goes … my first review. My experience was so bad that I’m actually breaking out of stalker Unilocal status to warn others. Just like the Unilocaler before me, I purchased a groupon deal for a mani/​pedi deal. I too booked an appointment and arrived a few minutes early. I knew I should have left when I didn’t see any nail stations. Oh well. I’m always up for an adventure so I went up to the receptionist to check in and redeem my groupon. As I approached the desk, two employees were discussing a crummy tip one received. Not what I should be hearing. I contemplated a call into Tabitha for a salon make over. I did notice the crummy polish selection, but I always bring my own color so I can’t really comment on that. I was brought into what looked like a redone closet with two really uncomfortable chairs. I saw a set of dollar store manicure tools resting on a towel and a pedicure bowl that was plugged in. I’ve seen better bowls in third world countries. I reluctantly placed my feet in and it dawned on me that there wasn’t a resting spot for my feet and the technician’s stool was a bit higher than my seat. I was mortified when she asked me to put my wet foot up on her towel covered thigh. I did not realize this groupon was for a make shift pap. I spent an hour and 15 minutes switching between legs, finding a position to sit in while holding up my leg. Seriously. The water was never changed, so after she «scrubbed» my feet, I had to place them back into the dirty water. My feet and cuticles see no difference and I think I have a small infection on my toe.
The manicure lasted about 45 minutes. I have no idea why it took that long. I didn’t get an arm massage, my cuticles look rough, and my paint job was a disaster. I got the paraffin wax — she strangely applied it with a brush only on my fingers. The wax was left on for about 3 minutes and when I left I had remnants left on my hand.
I don’t want to be overly dramatic and say that those two hours were complete torture. I know there are more serious problems than a bad manicure, but seriously, I will never go back. I don’t want anyone else to have to suffer thru a makeshift manicure either. Groupon really needs to screen their clients and if a place isn’t properly equipped to provide a service, they shouldn’t be advertising. The nail lady was nice, but it was clear that she was overworked and a bit out of it. Honestly, if you purchased the same Groupon deal, you’re better off not going. Your time and sanity is worth more than the money lost.

I could not agree more with the previous reviewer. I also bought a Groupon for a manicure and pedicure from this salon. I had an appointment for 4:30pm and wasn’t seen until 5pm. The nail technician cut two of my fingers and one of my toes so badly that they bled profusely. I really should have left at that point, but I was going on vacation and this was the only time I could get a manicure and pedicure before I left. I also knew that Groupon would not reimburse me for this service, so I thought I would stick it out. The nail technician did a nice job painting my nails and toes, but even the nail polish could not mask the dried blood on my cuticles. This was the most uncomfortable & painful manicure and pedicure I have ever received. Do not go to this salon to get your nails done!

Wow, where to start. I bought this as a groupon, called in advance, and had an appointment yesterday set up for 3pm. I got there at 2:35 and figured I’d wait a bit, no biggie. I was going to pick out my nail polish, read a mag, relax in the meantime. I went to the bathroom in the salon and there were no nail stations anywhere. I asked the nice girl at the front desk and she said that the nail tech was with a client in the room to her right. Ok, I’ll wait. Actually, while I wait, let me redeem my groupon to save me time at the end. So 3:00 rolls around, 3:30, 3:45. I am ansy and want to dip out. I asked how long it takes to do the mani/​pedi and I was told it takes an hour and a half. Good grief! I was about to roll out and come back tomorrow but I realized that I had already redeemed my coup!
Finally, at 4:10 it’s my turn. The nail tech was schlepping a «Homedics» single foot spa from the little 5×5 room to rinse out. Eek. Then, I went to pick out a color and the selections were whack. Mainly Sally Hansen, a few OPI’s. Uh-​oh. do I want to commit an hour and a half to this? Welp, I had already invested 2 hours here, might as well ride it out. The nail tech was super sweet and she did a decent job. However, there was no ventilation in this little room and she didn’t have the right equipment to do her job. My feet were in the Homedics foot spa that lord knows how was sanitized and I’m thinking, goodness– there are over 600 Groupons bought for this deal? One girl? One foot spa? I was sitting in an upright otherwise uncomfortable chair and there was a Homedics seat massager attached to it. It would have been relaxing if I wasn’t sitting at a 90 degree angle with my foot on the girl’s lap two feet away from me.
My feet were scrubbed with a generic «professional» scrub and nothing feels more refreshing than rinsing in an inch of water in a homedics foot spa making loud noise. Then, my almost rinsed feet were sprayed with «septic spray.» I opted out of the parrafin dip for my hands because I just couldn’t take much more.
I will say, when I was finished around 5:30, I was given a complimentary bag of shampoo and conditioner trial sizes for the inconvenience of the wait. That was really sweet. The nail girl was really nice and I feel bad for her. She’s overworked and has nubby stuff to work with. Doesn’t groupon screen these places??? The capacity just isn’t there and sanitization is an issue.
I wish someone had written a review before I went here. I would have rather paid full price at a real nail salon where I would have been able to relax on my day off!

This particular hair salon isn’t my first choice anymore. if you’re looking for a place that knows how to cut and style hair, I suggest you find another place. I left feeling upset at my hairstyle after i paid $ 70 for. I left the same way i walked in, the only difference was, my hair was straighter. I didn’t agree with the hairstyle after I have shown pictures how I wanted my hair to turn out. I won’t be visiting this salon again.