Drybar – Upper West Side

monique is such a doll! lovely person and great stylist. We had awesome conversation and she listened to what I wanted. She styled my hair for an hour, she spent more time on it then hairdressers cutting my hair usually do! Will return to her!

If Unilocal allowed 0 stars this is what I would rate Drybar UWS. I was so excited when Drybar first opened on the UWS. What a BIG disappointment. This salon is the antithesis of everything Ali Webb stands for. It is poorly managed, the reception area is disorganized, they do not honor appointment times, there is no personalized service whatsoever, they are not custom service oriented and they give lousy blow-​drys. Your hair barely looks good when you leave the salon and you are lucky if your hair looks good the same evening. The staff clearly is not trained or motivated. It’s dismal, — not fun and upbeat. The ONLY exception is Lauren Tesca who is a professional and gives fantastic blow drys. She is their only stylist I would book an appointment with — she never disappoints. If she is not available Coco is great. Taylor is wonderful at the desk. There is so much competition on the UWS — we can go anywhere to get our hair blown dry. Going to Drybar UWS is supposed to be a luxury — to be in a lovely, relaxing setting, use and buy great products, and be able to walk out with beautiful hair. This salon fails to deliver. Attempts to contact corporate or deal with the regional manager To try to rectify problems are useless. If I were Ali Web I would be mortified to have my name associated with this location. Don’t waste your time or your money, you will be disappointed. Read all the Unilocal reviews. They can barely get two stars. Go anywhere else — Aveda, Dramatics, Jeffrey Stein, Lovella — all within the same block.

I was greeted upon my arrival, but from there the level of service is no where near what it used to be at Drybar. I was instructed to take a seat and wait. No one offered to take my coat or bring me a drink. The wait was short and soon I was getting shampooed. My stylist was friendly and adequate at her job. Back to the salon chair and still no one has offered to take my coat. I do not want my wool coat sitting on the back of a salon chair getting hair and product all over it. I finally had to ask my stylist to hang up my coat. Then she asked if I would like a drink. My blowout was fine. Not exactly what I had in mind, but it looked decent and my friends complimented it. The level of service at Drybar has diminished since I first started going five or so years ago and the price has only gone up.

The worst blow dry ever. The stylist used 5 products in my hair which weighed down my hair and made it limp. So here I am using a flat iron to fix my hair post a ‘professional’ blow dry. I am a faithful dry bar customer always choosing dry bar over other salons and going to them in other cities, but my last couple blow dries have been sub standard. You used to be known for consistency but now as you expand I feel like your stylists aren’t necessarily trained as before. Remember you’re only as good as your last blow dry and you are quick losing this loyal customer. Fix it.

Heard a couple of good things about dry bar (itself, not any particular location), so I decided to give it a try. I had a huge business event in NYC, so I decided to book a Dry on the Fly so that I would not waist time doing my hair myself. HUGE mistake! Waist of time, money, and ended up with fried hair :(
The stylist was very nice. She showed up 30 min early– I was still out getting my make up done, and she patiently waited for me to arrive. Unfortunately, she was not a very good stylist. I asked for loose curls. When she was done blowing out my hair, not only did I look like a lion (hair everywhere), my hair was broken!
She mentioned that she worked at this location– be careful who you go to! It’s been weeks and I’m still treating my broken hair :’(HIGHLY disappointed. Don’t know that I could ever trust going back to another dry bar location after this.
I

Dawn did an awesome job. I got the Straight Up and going into the end of day 2, coworkers keep telling me how awesome my hair looks. Will be back!

Happy w the service for my 8 yr old. Stylist was patient, nice, and did a fine job. Wish they offered a more extensive look book though — might have helped get my daughter more engaged. It was also a nice attempt that they played a movie and music in the background. However, their implementation was not kid-​friendly (a teenage dirty comedy as movie and music that dropped f-​bombs…). Not an issue for adults, but not ideal for kids to say the least.

I had an appointment at 12:00 and didn’t pick a specific stylist. They were punctual and I ended up with Brenda. She was fantastic! She gave a good thorough hair wash and her blow out was awesome. I chose the Cosmo-​tai and in the end left with bouncy loose curls and my hair still felt soft. I highly recommend !

The salon is beautiful and clean. There is a nice display of Dry bar brand products in the front. A full screen TV with subtitles + magazines
My stylist was really nice and we discussed the right style for my hair type (fine and straight). She came up with a game plan to have my beach waves last.
The result was bad. The blow dryer’s extreme heat burned my scalp. She only held my hair on the curling iron for 3 seconds and let it drop down. By the time I got home, my hair was completely straight. Not even a bend in my hair. Total waste of money
I wouldn’t return. They can’t even do the few styles that they offer properly. The lady next to me left with «tousled» hair that looked like a rat nested in her head.

There is absolutely no ventilation in this place — and it’s literally filled with a cloud of toxic smelling product. Save your lungs ladies and go elsewhere like I did. No wonder the stylists are in a bad mood — they are oxygen deprived and endangering their health.

Worst experience EVER! I was so excited to see a Dry Bar opening in my neighborhood (Upper West Side) and looking forward to try it. I loved the buzz, cool and trendy layout of the shop but that’s all I liked about it. My hairdresser was just plain bad. I have easy short. ish blond hair and she managed, to give me the worst, saddest, dull, uninspiring hair style I ever had in my entire life. If I did it myself with my right hand tided behind my back I would have done a better job. Ladies, my advice to you is go elsewhere.
Agnese N.

I would like to note I made sure that in the comments, when booking my appointment online, I was clear that my hair was long, curly, thick and natural.
The stylist who did my hair insisted that I not do the Cosmo because I had long hair. So I agreed to it, because I didn’t want her to do a bad job because I insisted on the Cosmo. She wanted to a MaiTai instead. Not only was there not an ounce of curl (my hair is very curly BTW) but the ends were straight and stiff and messy (not pretty-​messy).
I was especially disappointed with her saying that she had to finish blow drying my hair in ½ hour which, unless you’re some kind of unheard of superhero, is impossible with my hair. So she was pulling and yanking my hair so much that I ended up leaving with a huge headache– just so she can finish my hair in the allotted time (which she did).
I’m so disappointed with my experience.

Thrilled that there is FINALLY a DryBar open in the Upper West Side! The level of customer service and care is consistent here as it is in the other locations.

This was my first time to Dry Bar. I like that $ 40 is for any style and they use a curling iron. They offer you a glass of wine, mimosa or water when you walk in. Everyone was super friendly. I was given a catalogue of styles to choose from. I chose the curly beach wave. I think it’s the mix of Cosmo and Mai tai. One hairdresser washed and styled my hair. She took pride in her work and was really fun to talk to. The salon was bright and I felt pampered. I can’t wait to go back. I definitely see this place being a sweet little addiction!
*I had to lower one star because of the price increase*

Rude service — the woman at the front was trying to get me to pay as soon as I walked in the door so she could leave. My appointment started 20 min late. The woman that did my hair was really nice but inexperienced — pulled my hair a ton when shampooing and kept putting the blowdryer close to my head it felt like burning. Also I booked a 10 min scalp massage service and never even got that. There are plenty of blow bars in the city, go elsewhere!

I wish I could give my experience here zero stars. My best friend and I were called to tell us the dry bar was running 30 minutes late. We showed up at the new time, and I had to wait an additional 30 minutes. Was seated nowhere near my best friend, despite booking together. I asked my hairdresser for the Cosmo tai. She didn’t say a word to me the entire time. Instead of curls and waves, she only curled the top half of each strand of hair– it was bizarre. Also, she dried my bangs as if she had never seen bangs before– one strange Charlie Brown-​esque curl in the center of my head. Had to completely redo my hair, and I was late for my event after. Wish I had a photo but my phone died. Couldn’t believe I paid $ 40 for something an 8 year old could have done.

Overall the blow out was great but the receptionist was about eh.
I pre-​booked a blow out and a floater and checked in with the receptionist. I was confused when the stylist who shampoo’ed me didn’t give me the floater and when I asked her, she said it wasn’t on my order ticket. When she checked with the receptionist, the receptionist said it hadn’t been booked. I showed her the email confirmation and apparently there were two people with my name booked for the same hour. Maybe I have high expectations, but if you see two names booked at the same time, you ask for more information so you know you giving the right services to the right person. Anyways, she told me she wouldn’t charge me and I’d get a free floater next time. Woo hoo! When I went to check out, the receptionist was off of work and the person behind the desk said that the receptionist would have made a note of it in my file if I was supposed to get credited. I fought it for a minute but gave up.
Either way, the blow out was great, just left disappointed – I mean, isn’t the massage the best part?

Have low expectations. The place and staff were very nice, but my hair left much to be desired. I got the Southern Belle for a gala that evening but I ended up with ZERO volume. The curls fell out by the time I was putting my gown on so I ended having to do it again myself. I was so disappointed because my friends have had such good experiences with Drybar in general.
My opinion: if you have thinner, easy-​to-​manage-​hair you’ll be fine. My hair is long and heavier so their products didn’t keep in place. $ 40 to end up with flat hair is not something I will do again.

Finally a drybar on the west side! I can adiós my long ventures over to the east side. I called at 450p and got an appt for 5pm same day. This will be my new spot. Nice location. Clean and not crowded unlike the UES location. And most importantly my cell phone actually gets service in this location!!!

I cannot believe I am the first one to review. Go team.
This location is kind of skinny in layout but has everything you would expect from every other drybar. I also really love the reception staff. The woman who is always there when I get my hair done (long brown straight hair I wish I knew her name and or remembered it) is so genuinely sweet and bubbly and Jeffrey the other receptionist is always really quick to check you in, make sure you have a drink, and comes up to you to tell you your stylist will be with you. So yep this reception team is my absolute favorite. And I find I have a max 10 minute wait.
I have had 3 different stylists and have come out with consistently good hair that I love and will sacrifice a hat in this freezing winter weather to preserve. This should say something.
It also really does not hurt that it’s a few blocks walk from my apartment and they have wifi.
Welcome to the neighborhood Drybar!