Disappointed

I am rather disappointed in a couple of hair stylists in my area. As I have said before, I want to get my hair dyed. I've made the decision to get a brown color and since I'm off until Thursday, I figured I'd get it done over the next few days.

I found a website that gave 2 natural salons in my area. I called one because it was also recommended by another Naturalista I meet via Facebook. The number is to a cell phone. The voicemail answers and says, "My phone is officially broken in half so leave a message. And if you want me to call you back leave your number." That's it. No greeting, business name, or even name of the person's who phone it was. If this is a business phone, it is helpful to leave some of this information so that someone who is not a regular client knows what's going on.

Then I try the 2nd listing. I call and this is a business phone as a man answered saying the name of the shop. I want to be sure this is indeed a natural shop so I ask if the specialize in natural African American hair.
His response, "Um.....yeah."
Then I thought maybe it was a salon for white people since he answered with a "duh" voice and I couldn't tell by his feminine voice if he was black or white. I say, "I'm sorry, African American natural hair?"
Him with the same attitude, "That's pretty much all we do."
Me, "Oh, okay. I just wanted to be sure."
Him, "What website did you hear about us from?"
Me, "blah, blah, blah."
Him, "Okay, they are supposed to have our web address up there but they took it down. If you had gone to our website that you would know that we specialize in natural hair."
Me (wondering why he has an attitude with me for not knowing abt the website and services when he already knows the other site took down his info) "I recently went natural and am looking to color my hair. I've never had this done before so I'm not really sure abt color."
Him, "ummmm....okay."
Me, "Can you tell me abt your services and prices?"
Him, "All of that is on the website. You need to go to the website. Do you have a pencil or something. go to blah, blah blah. You can make an appointment there too." Hangs up phone.

I look at the phone and shake my head in disbelief. WTF? How do you expect to get business with a nasty attitude and unwillness to assist a customer? I'm clearly telling him I'm newly natural and need color consultation. He's only focused on sending me to the website and having an attitude because I don't know everything about his shop. I guess this website is supposed to assist me in picking on the color that is right for my skin complexion.

Out of curiosity, I go to the website. They have a list of services and prices for perms, weaves, cuts and colors. I look a little further and there is a seperate section for naturals. There is a disclaimer stating services are priced seperately for naturals and are set according to personal requirements. This is because a consultation with the stylist is required for most naturals when getting styles or color. So not only do you rudely kick me off the phone, telling me to look at the website for prices, but there are no prices and you advised the customer to get in person consultation. Clearly, they do not wish to have an ever expanding client base.

Based upon these things, I have contacted my old stylist to see if she can color my hair. I've always trusted her to take care of my hair. She kept it healthy and looking great. I was put off by her comments when i decided to go natural but I can't blame her because I was going to her every two weeks. She was losing money. Hopefully she and I can work together to get a great color and hope she can work with my natural hair. She can cornrow so maybe I'll have her give me a frohawk with an intricate braided design. Who knows? Just waiting for her to return my call now.