The Hairbar Studio

Excellent styling at a reasonable price. A great experience every time.

*****Update 12.10.16*****

Just a cautionary tale.

It has now been 1 year since I received the "keratin" treatment at this salon and the bottom four inches of my hair are still dead straight while the remainder of my hair (from the roots) is curly. Still extremely upset about it as my hair is wonderfully volumed and curly 3/4 of the way down then flat and limp at the ends.

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Pretty salon, nice hairdressers. I love that they give you tea and tiny teddies upon arrival. I do not like the fact that a product they wrecked my hair long term.

I am rating The Hair Bar Studio two stars due to a terrible experience which will possibly have an impact on the next 3-4 years of my life. I do note that it was not the salon themselves who make the product they used but Alfaparf, but it was the salons promise of non permanency.

They have called me since and are wanting to find a solution as they advised I am the only customer this has ever happened to.

I have curly hair. Spirals curls. I had cut my hair short awhile back (2013) and am in the midst of growing it out so the curls don't puff out but rather down ways. I chose keratin as an easy method to assist my hair growth, by allowing the smoothing treatment to reduce my hair straightening thus limiting damage, breakage and split ends while encouraging my hair to grow.

I went in to the salon in September. I received a wonderful 'temporary' keratin treatment. They advised heartily of it being a temporary smoothing treatment that works best on damaged hair and will wear off in around three months.

I was adamant that I didn't want it to be permanent as my goal was to grow the hair so the curls will come back to length and curl up and down rather than the cute semi afro curl I was currently dealing with.

I was reprimanded casually for thinking it was a straightening treatment. It was stressed to me that 'it is not a straightening treatment at all so don't expect stick straight hair' which was fine by me as I did not WANT stick straight hair. I wanted smooth wavy like the first time I got keratin. Which wore off in six weeks.

Fast forward 5 months and I have straight hair from the treatment. I called them up a couple of times asking about this, extremely worried that my curls were so delayed but was reassured that the treatment does not last longer than 3-6 months.

Fast forward to almost 8 months now and my hair is still straight. The smooth sheen is gone but now comes the night sweats of remembering that my hair is no longer curly. The curls I will not see again for what.. 3-4 years? I spent since 2-3 growing my hair out for long curls but now they're gone due to a product I was treated with with a promise of a 'temporary' smoothing treatment for $250.

In the meantime I have been speaking with Alfaparf who has the formula the hairdresser used on my hair and they seem to think that the Hair Bar added formaldehyde to their keratin treatment. Hair Bar has strongly advised this is not the case.

After inboxing many of the Alfaparf pages on Facebook, due to no reply from their email on their site an English man called me and gave me advice on what to do. He is also following up with me in two weeks time to see what is happening.

He was extremely disturbed by the fact it has lasted this long as this is not what their product does and is stressing I wash my hair daily with harsh shampoos and also seemed inclined to think something had gone awry.

Also as my colleague had the same keratin done on her hair and she is approaching five months with no kinks and it is growing out instead.

Reconsider this before getting keratin if you want to keep your curls. I would not have gotten this treatment if they had advised any risk of permanency.

Please note that I received a call from Clare from Hair Bar Studio who was lovely and is following up with Alfaparf products to discover what the issue is.

The End.

Note: I have since lodged a complaint with Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading.

First time there today - first of many. Relaxed vibe, my hairdresser (Narelle) was friendly and not only gave me pointers on some styling *but showed me how to do it* and didn't make me feel ashamed of having self-coloured. Definitely going back there, and i reccomend this place to others who
1. Can't figure out a hairbrush
2. Like a friendly environment
3. Don't like being party to awkwardly forced conversations
Thanks for making me feel comfortable and like I'm not an embarrassment to all women for not knowing anything about hair. Xoxo