$15 haircuts at Aveda

I worked as a spa receptionist one summer and was surprised at all the "regulars" who came in for their haircut every 6 weeks. Depending on where you go, a simple haircut can be anywhere between $30-$60 a pop and when we were living in England, they were closer to $80 which was incomprehensible to me. So when money is tight, I tend to just let my hair grow out and ignore the split ends until I find a good deal...

In Oxford there was this fancy salon called Mahogany that would offer free haircuts by their apprentice stylists and I've seen similar ads not only for cheap haircuts but for facials/mani-pedis/massages/etc. by students at the esthetics schools in other cities, so if you don't mind being a guinea pig and have the time & patience (they're in training so they take extra long) to give it a try, this could be a good option. In some sense I think you end up getting better service and (sometimes) a better a haircut because they're putting in extra effort to get it right. Besides, there's always a senior stylist/teacher who supervises and gives instructions and they use high-quality products.

So I was happy to see this ad in The Daily Bruin from the Aveda Institute last week:

If you click onto their website you'll see that the prices listed here are from the "Aveda for Less" promotion which offers $15 haircuts, $15 hightlights, $10 brow/lip waxes, and $35 mani/pedis (including a free bottle of OPI polish which alone retails for about $10). It runs through December 31st for bookings Monday-Friday before 3pm (regular price list here). Also if you just want to use the 20% off any service promo, you can call and say you saw the ad in The Daily Bruin but didn't clip out the coupon, and ask whether they'll still give it to you and if not, then get the equivalent holiday promo.

Otherwise I've seen signs in the windows of so-so salons for haircuts between $18-30 for women (as low as $10 for men at the barber shop beside Stan's Donuts in Westwood), so you could always check those out. Oh and there are often vouchers on all those Groupon-esque sites but I'm kind of taking a break from that whole "daily deals" thing at the moment and chances of one coming up in Westwood are slim.

[2012/12/03 Update]

Sadly I've now heard from three people who have been to Aveda and had a bad experience. Apparently the stylists just chat and complain with each other the entire time, the back room where the services are done is kind of crummy, and the actual outcome less than satisfactory. I've sent Aveda this feedback and hopefully they will address these items, but most likely not...