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Carriage House Salon
Rating Details »
Category: Hair Salons [Edit]
Neighborhood: Harvard Square33 Church St
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 868-7800
- Nearest Transit:
-
Harvard (Red)
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
- By Appointment Only:
- Yes
18 reviews for Carriage House Salon
I've been going to the carriage house salon for a few years now - on and off. I've seen three different people there. Maki (who has since left and they won't tell me where she went), Some other lady with sort hair, and Jean Pierre. Maki was the best hair stylist I've ever been to! After she left, i tried a few other places, but nothing was as good as her haircut. It's a little sketchy that she was there one day and gone the next...
I saw Jean Pierre yesterday and he did a pretty good job - i'm pleased. I've been to a few salons around town (a few on newbury - never get your hair cut on newbury street, shitty job - for WAY to much money). I will be seeing him again.
I guess the short of it is - i like the carriage house salon if you want a basic haircut - but if you want something a little different - i'd try some place else.
O would that I had consulted the oracle that is yelp before making a haircut appointment at Carriage House. This salon is not to be recommended for a young lady of fashion, and it is particularly and expressly not recommended for an aging young lady of fashion now feeling fully the pressures of the advancing years (see below).
I remembered from days of yore that it was a decent if not exactly edgy place, and was walking by, and being short on time these days, thought it would be convenient to stop in and make an appointment for the next morning, my only day "off".
The stars are for the receptionists, and for that matter everyone's generally being very very nice. The quality of service however, was poor. Not a debatable point.
An example, if you will. My husband will go to all lengths to tell me I look nice when I'm feeling depressed and especially when lamenting the passing of years and accompanying inevitable changes (if you are female, mid-30s, fit and eat well but still seem to have misplaced your waist - you know what I'm going through here). Anyway, this man will insist on my everlasting beauty and perfection until he is blue in the face. Upon seeing this haircut, he simply stated, "Oh, yeah, that is not a good haircut."
I mean, ouch, or OUCH, dear reader?
Back to the visit, I stopped in for a trim of my past-shoulder-length hair, the layers were too chunky and needed some refining to thin my mane out a bit. Rather than doing this, which we had agreed upon, the nice gentleman simply cut the bottom layer off, so the upper layers are still there, still chunky, and now my hair is above my shoulders, and cut in a straight line, and still as thick as a San Francisco fog, so it looks like I have a mushroom cap on (and I am not planning on being in a school play anytime soon). He didn't really address the whole head of hair the way most (all other?) stylists usually do. In fact he seemed awkward and I'll go so far as to say timid in handling the hair.
If you know my yelping style you know I have to be really upset to write a bad review. I spent yesterday in tears, and while I admit that there is an emotional component to this (see above), I have to say that the only appropriate descriptor for this haircut is that it was totally incompetent. Based on reviews, I won't be stopping in for other services either.
I debated giving this place one or two stars because I loved how they did my eyebrows once. But I have to say after my last experience I really just can't recommend anyone go there.
My friend and I booked appointments for hair cuts and I was excited because I had enjoyed my eyebrow waxing here. However, I started to get nervous as soon as I sat down with my stylist. I forget his name, but he really didn't seem to listen to me at all, even when I tried to correct him a few times. My hair wound up looking awful, and not just "oh no I'm a perfectionist awful", like full on "I wonder if I can wear a hat until this grows out awful". My friend also was similarly butchered by a young lady there, who gave her what can only be called a she-mullet. Also, our appointments were at the same time but they kept my friend waiting for nearly 45 minutes. It was so bad that both she and I were offered complimentary massages, but the woman giving them was rude and clearly didn't want to be doing it.
I've had my nails done here before and was always a little put off by the attitude of the manicurist, but at this point I don't think this place is salvageable. I would never, ever recommend anyone go there again.
I had been going here for about 8 years to get my hair cut with Arthur Quinn. Like many other devotees of his haircutting talents, I would even drive two hours sometimes (when I lived away from the Cambridge-area) to get my hair cut by him.
Not planning ahead one time years ago, I reluctantly got my hair cut by another Carriage House stylist who was free, and it was a TOTAL DISASTER. I didn't want to look at, let alone touch my nasty hair. It felt like running your hands through an old Brillo pad, and you can only imagine how this looked on a white girl with slightly wavy hair. The stylist said that she "didn't realize that product would behave that way" in my hair, but didn't offer any solution or solace. Arthur, looking aghast at the sight of me and my Brillo head from across the salon, quickly came to my rescue and offered to re-wash, cut, and style my hair
As others have mentioned, Arthur and most of the best stylists are now gone from the Carriage House. As you might imagine, I am now completely desperate for a good haircut. Thankfully, Arthur is coming to the rescue once again, as he is soon (in the next week or two) opening his own salon in Harvard Square! The salon will be across the street from the Zero Arrow Theater on Arrow Street. Yippeeeee!!!
I can only speak for my killer blow out and fabulous facial but this is a great hidden gem(or at least hidden to me!) in harvard Square.
They use Dr Hauschka organic, natural products for the facial....which I love....It was relaxing but also totally purifying .....book it!
Ok, yes, it's a lovely place. Smells yummy, nice and airy, Imogen Heap and Portishead and Beth Orton were playing. And Arthur, the "master stylist" who cut my hair was very nice and friendly.
Only one problem... he BUTCHERED my hair.
I, like the reviewer before me, went because I have wavy hair that sometimes lays flat. It's not curly and not straight, and therefore difficult for many stylists to cut properly. But with a great cut, the curls come alive and look really pretty and full and don't pull out and lay flat. I heard about their curly cut and went in for a consultation. During said consultation, Arthur told me that I wasn't really a good candidate for it, but that he could give me some great lift and movement and blah blah blah. I said "Go for it!" thinking I was in good hands.
He had lots of room. I was going from pretty long to just right at my jawline. So off he goes, snipping and razoring and trimming and cutting. And now I am left with hair that looks thin and limp and ratty and lifeless.
I KNOW it is possible to have a good cut. I had a stylist when I lived in NJ who really knew how to bring my curls alive. She took my hair from wavy to curly, and it looked great every day, without products. This guy has made me look like I put on a hat after my shower and let my hair dry like that.
DON'T go to this place UNLESS you have seriously, kinky, ringletty, thick, stacked curly hair. I'm sure they do that well (it's their supposed specialty) but they totally effed my lovely waves and now I'm off to chop it shorter and pay another $75 to get it fixed.
Poor.
I've gotten my hair cut here by both Laurens and they each did a great job. I have a short pixie cut and they were each willing to go as short as I insisted after they double checked that I was very sure i meant it. They also asked before they did anything extreme or funky. I said yes to the the little extra twists they each added and I was happy happy happy both times!!!
Also I was 20 minutes late for one of my appointments and when I called all worried the receptionist was very nice and understanding.
The place is beautiful and relaxing despite the fact they are in the midst of the Harvard square construction. I've had two different bikini waxers here, both did a great job and were very friendly (but not in an uncomfortable way given the situation).
I've also gone for a massage with Heidi, and she was great. Highly recommended.
In October 2007, Jean Pierre, my stylist for the previous 24 years, closed his shop on Newbury Street and relocated, much to my dismay, at The Carriage House. Commuting from the South Shore to Newbury Street on a Saturday morning had always assured me of securing a parking meter. There are no meters to be had in Harvard Square, so immediately add $27 to the price of cut and color. I found the atmosphere of the salon bustling but impersonal, and neither the cut, the color, nor the attitude from my long-standing stylist anywhere near what I'd been used to from him. I was overcharged for foils that I did not have, and upon noticing this when I got home, was offered "a discount on my next appointment" rather than a credit to my charge card. Well, there was no next appointment. Changing hair stylists after so many years was, for me, like a divorce, but I knew this marriage was on the rocks. When I called to cancel the appointment I'd scheduled for 'next time', no one asked if I wanted to rechedule, no one asked why. In short, no one cared.
I love this place. They really know what do you with curly hair. They used to carry Ouidad products but they switched to Curlisto, which I personally like better. I've had haircuts with Lucy (she is not longer there) and Maki.
The only thing I don't necessarily like is the way the do finishing, they use too much product and the hair feels sticky.
ugh. ugh ugh ugh ugh UGH.
Lauren Jefferey came highly recommended from a trusted and fashionable friend. She is the only reason this place gets any stars. She was friendly without being intrusive, she listened carefully to what I had to say and she followed through on my instructions, AND she managed to re-shape and nearly redeem the awful awful haircut I'd gotten at Christmas. Good on her.
Unfortunately, I had an appointment with her yesterday and she called in sick, so the receptionist called and gave me the option of rescheduling or going with the master stylist. I'm about to go out of town and thus didn't want to wait, so I went with master stylist Jean-Pierre.
HUGE MISTAKE.
He first came off quite snobby, and then went to the other extreme to the point that he was chatting so much he stopped paying attention to what he was doing. I told him I wanted JUST A TRIM because I was trying to grow my hair out, and instead he hacked off about an inch and a half in the front and on the sides while leaving a lot of length in the back -- so I essentially had a Carole Brady-style mullet-soccer mom configuration. EW. Not only that, but he cut my bangs totally unevenly and added in this weird, SUPER-short under-layer that prevents me from pinning back my bangs (which is a shame because I'm a fan of the pouf, and it's a huge inconvenience for traveling in a tropical climate).
Overall: FAIL.
For the past few months, almost every time I comment on a haircut I like I discover that the head it's on got it done at the Carriage House.
Hair grows, so I figured that I hadn't much to lose and booked with whomever was available.
When I got there it occurred to me that I might be in for a very expensive haircut, but I'd rolled the dice and I knew there was no turning back.
Whomever was available turned out to be Rick
Totally to the point, down to earth, and really excited to have a head of hair with no agenda. I told him I just wanted it to look good. He found this wacky curl that has always popped up by my ear, no matter what I do, and said "Let's do something with this".
And he did.
And what he did was so different from what I have had in the past that I didn't know what to think. But as shocked as I was by the results I was equally shocked by the not at all high price. And I had completely enjoyed my hour at the lovely salon, so all in all I was pretty happy to carry on and see if I could get used to it.
When I got home my husband took one look at me and said "Wow! Does he do men's hair?"
That is huge. My husband doesn't let ANYONE cut his hair (except for me, and I don't particularly enjoy doing it... but that is another story)
Anyway.
Since I've had my hair cut I have been amazed by how many of my friends have commented on it. And said they love it. In fact, some of them have even said it more than once! I am totally on the other side of the "Where did you get your haircut?" conversation, and baby, it feels GOOOOOD!
I love you Rick, thank you!
I found this place when it was Ouidad certified. That meant they were trained on how to cut curly hair properly. I had hit or miss results. The one stylist that was nice and helpful left to open her own place. The rest were downright rude and condescending. In fact. I was at the original NYC Ouidad and they confirmed that they had gotten so many complaints that the Carriage House lost their Ouidad certification. They still charge more for a "curly cut" which is bs since they didn't know what they were doing in the first place.
Ann (or Anne?) Roche does my brows there and she is awesome. Always does a great job. She has trained with Anastasia and uses her methods and tools. Consistently good and she's a cool gal who's fun to chat with.
After researching various salons in the Cambridge area, I went to one and they were booked. They didn't have any stylists available so I went into a beauty supplies shop and they pointed me towards Carriage House. Michele cut my hair. I was hoping for a new trendy cut but since he was an older man I decided to go with "just a trim". He did a good job with the hair. He barely spoke to me so it was more of a haircut than a salon experience. I would probably try a different salon next time, just for a bit of variety.
I really really like this place. I moved here in June and had put off getting a hair cut b/c I was too scared. I have tons of long hair that is pretty wavy. I had a couple of people recommend this place to me so I figured I'd give it a try. First, I booked an appt with a regular Jr. Stylist - $40. She had an accident and didn't make it in, and so I ended up with an appt with a senior stylist which is normally $60. The senior stylist (Melissa) gave me a bit of a "curly cut" to help define my waves but not overkill. Anyways, I guess that would normally be an $80 cut. Anyways, I was pretty happy with the cut, happy with the new and improved waves, and really happy that they only charged me $40! I can wear this cut straight or wavy, and the stylist was knowledgeable. She also didn't try to sell me any products and told me the drugstore ones I was using were fine (that's a new attitude in a salon). She showed me how to lessen frizzies, and was overall very positive, very helpful, and I'm really happy with the cut. I doubt I'd pay $80 but if I'd definitely return for $60. I'd highly suggest this place!
This is the only place in Boston that I have gotten a bikini wax. The estitician did a very good job, she was very pleasant and professional. It is a clean, friendly environment. They also are the only salon in MA that offer Ouidad products, a special product line for curly hair.
With high hopes for getting a hair cut done at a place that sells itself as giving haircuts specifically for curly hair, I paid $100 for a 'curly cut' and a 'drying' process that alone took an hour. An HOUR to dry hair?!?! The amount of time I was in the place, I could have gotten a cut and full highlight!. I mentioned I didn't want product used on my hair but was sold on and convinced that the set would 'last a week' with product [which then I was told I should purchase to use at home - which I'm glad I didn't buy.] I ended up with so much goop in my hair that I had to wash it three times to get it all out two days later because the set gave out. After all the razoring done to my curly locks, my hair looked worse than when I went in when I hadn't had it cut in 5+ months. And the grow-out process of all the razored layers was painful and caused a good deal of snagging. I had also requested that my long hair be cut in a 'u' shape in the back - only to realize later that it had been cut straight across. So the one specific thing I asked for did not even get done for my $100.
