Urban

Urban has the worst customer service ever. I called 20 mins into my appointment to cancel because I had the flu and they charged me $ 150 for it. They wanted me to inform them of my flu 48 hrs in advance. Wouldn’t we all be lucky if a flu announced itself 48 hours in advance. Don’t go here this place sucks!

I’ve always been impressed by how my cut turns out after leaving Urban. The stylists do a great job of listening to what I want, and it’s a nice space downtown. It’s a bit of a pain to park if you go during the lunch rush. They offer you tea when you come in, and I’ve had great experiences getting an appointment at the time I wanted. It costs me about $ 30 for a haircut (I have really long hair). They also do bang trims in between cuts!

I have been a client at Urban for 8-​ish years. Sarah usually does my hair while Brandin does my kids (17 and 10) who each have enough hair that they have long been booked as adult clients simply because it takes that long to cut the hairy beats. Along with haircuts, I have had a lot of color over my grey hairs including foils, all-​over color, and Balayage. My daughter has had everything from cuts to blow outs and curls for events to Brazilian Blow Outs and ombré’s. Never, in all the years have we had even one bad experience. Sarah is the best colorist I have ever had says this hair snob. Her color is always spot on and looks amazing. I always let Sarah decide what needs to be done with the cut and usually the color as well. I trust her and have always been happy. She changes it up enough each time to keep me from getting bored but never so drastic that I get stuck with the grow-​out uglies.
My son has thick, FAST growing curly hair and we struggled to find someone to cut it at first. I was not sure about taking a 2 yo to Urban-​both because of the price and because I wasn’t sure he would sit still etc and I didn’t want to upset the other clients. At $ 25 for a cut, it is probably more than a lot of moms would consider for a boys cut but it takes her as long as it takes her to cut an adult man so I consider the price fair. When he was 2 we tried tried quite a few barbers and they all made a mess of his hair. It takes time to cut the curls to get them to look nice and because they grow so fast the cut needs to take that into consideration. Brandin takes the time to thin it out at each cut and few barbers wants to take the time to do that. One of the biggest issues we had was that my son was very untrusting of anyone when he was so young and Brandin won him over. That means a lot to me because he didn’t get upset every time I told him we were getting the car for a haircut.
Sitting in Sarah’s chair all those accumulated hours, I can tell you she is a great businesswoman and as the owner, would never let a customer walk away unhappy if it is something the Salon could fix. That said, she isn’t a pushover either and I have watched her stand her ground when someone gets unreasonable. Too many people don’t understand that color hair is chemistry and if you use a box of color from the grocery store and hate the outcome they can’t just wave a magic wand and fix it. If they can fix it, it may take time and money and if you aren’t willing to pay for it there isn’t anything they can do.
The vibe of the salon is funky and electric but there is not one stylist in there who is snobbish or would ever make a client feel inferior. Their clientele is widely varied-​from professionals to moms to walk-​in college students. I will admit the voicemail system isn’t the best and messages aren’t always passed on if questions are included. However, I have never had them not return my calls though I do call them back if I get impatient. They are closed on Monday and have short hours on Tuesday, so it may be that they don’t get to a call until Wednesday. I find that if I have a question I call and ask if Sarah is there and if she is I ask them to ask her right then and that seems to work.

Finally got a response back after the 5^th call. Never got a clear explanation as to why it took so long to hear back, my stylist didn’t even know I had been trying to contact her. Still not sure how the front desk could be so busy to return a voicemail with an actual response, they never seem busy when I’m actually in there.
I got the call back 4 days before my planned appointment and unfortunately the response was that I would need a longer appointment for what I wanted. Obviously it was too late to change anything since I was only free that week. I asked this question twice before even booking my appointment because I had a feeling it would potentially change the time allotment and I wanted to be prepared, but since it took forever to get a response, I had to stick with my original appointment/​time allotment (I wasn’t about to wait several more weeks due to their lack of foresight and I had family coming in that week). Luckily another stylist was able to see me 3 days later to finish the job. I was very happy that my stylist suggested the idea of having me see another person since she wasn’t available on the only other day I had off.
My stylist explained the whole coloring process to me on the phone and was very nice and helpful. She also gave me a lot of ideas and information about potential future colors and extensions during the appointment. I know understand that dying your hair a different color often doesn’t last that long, especially if you’re going for a natural hue as opposed to a bright vibrant color.
Though the process was a little frustrating and took two separate appointments to complete, I love how my hair looks! I hope the color lasts a little longer this time with the double processing.

I’ve gotten my hair cut here twice and it was a decent cut. But, you probably have to do a walk-​in because their telephone services are very poor. I called twice today and each time I called they put me on hold, which is understandable, but I ended up holding for ten minutes until the call finally ended. I found this very frustrating and am now going to First Impressions Salon & Spa near Portage, MI. It is a little further away but it’s a nice place to go and they actually want you to go there.

Brandin has been my stylist for the past 6 years — she always does amazing work and for months afterward people compliment me on my hair. The salon has a hip but welcoming atmosphere, offering everyone something to drink and taking their coats. The price is definitely worth it.

I really like the vibe of this place, great art inside. Definitely a «city» salon experience with great music, and complementary beverages (wide selection of teas, water and even wine). I give this place such a low rating because i feel a lot of judgment and pretension in the atmosphere. My haircut (Standard male haircut) was $ 30 and with a tip on top ($ 35 total) the reason why i say judgmental was because I walk into the establishment and I was wearing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and I get a raised eyebrow from the receptionist which felt a little weird. And at the end as I am cashing out the bill was kind of high so i wasn’t sure if gratuity was already tacked onto it or if you added a additional tip and again, both a receptionist and a stylish were watching me as I added a tip anyway, watching me to see how much I would pay. Listen, you are an establishment in Kalamazoo Michigan, this is not uptown Chicago. You are going to have a verity of clients. So try and have a more welcoming environment. This is not somewhere where I will be coming back to or even recommend to a friend. Also, I can get the same haircut for a fourth the price at great clips.

I got my hair color turned white today and it was such a good experience. My scalp didn’t burn, Renee did a great job. The atmosphere is very welcoming I’d definitely come back to Urban for all my colorings.