I found this salon to be very expensive and judging from my recent experience I do not agree with how they treat their customers. I recently paid Heading Out Hair and Beauty in Balwyn North $380 for a ¼ head foils, tint regrowth, trim and blow wave. I complained to the hairdresser 3 times during the application of the foils that my scalp was burning. When I got home I discovered open weeping wounds on my scalp in the ¼ head area where the foils were applied. I called the salon and spoke to the owner who asked me to come into the Heading Out branch in Fitzroy the next day to be assessed. I did so and was told by the manager at Fitzroy branch that I had bleach burns and said the hairdresser at Balwyn should have rinsed the product off immediately when I first complained. She applied some scalp oil to the wounds and told me not to wash my hair for at least a week. Three days later I sent an email to the owner requesting a refund for the colour service. I didn't feel it was right to charge me so much for something that resulted in wounds to my scalp and horrible dirty hair for a week. I also consulted another qualified hairdresser who told me I should be able to get the cost of the colour refunded because the service was incorrectly carried out. Heading Out did not reply to my email for over a week, despite attempts to contact them again. When I eventually heard back from the manager at Fitzroy almost 2 weeks after the original service I was told they would not refund me and I had no proof the wounds were bleach burn, despite the fact that is exactly what I was told they were when I was "assessed" in the Fitzroy branch. Conveniently for them it was too late at that stage to have a doctor access my scalp because they had waited so long to reply to my email, a clever strategy it seems to me. I will never go back to any Heading Out salon."

Approximate cost: $380

Had a cut and colour at your Balwyn salon mid December 2014. Cut was fine, colour was dreadful. I provided a photo of style and shade of colour I was after (ombre). It ended up completely uneven, 1 side clearly different to the other, and a blonde strip at the back higher up than the rest. Left side had a bad error where the foil wasn't put into hair properly, so there was a line of my brown hair colour through the middle (ie; went from blonde, brown line, to blonde). Was not blended well at all. Literally went from my natural brown colour straight to blonde! Looked dreadful. Returned within your 7 day timeframe for it to be corrected (which one shouldn't have to do given what I paid). Different colourist did the best she possibly could, but explained once parts of hair are lightened, difficult to go over and correct. Attempt to correct was unsuccessful. The faults still existed. Sent a really polite email to Heading Out head office and provided multiple photos, and requested a refund for colour portion, given it had been botched and unable to be fixed. A month went by and I had not heard back. Sent follow up email. Received email back from PA to Creative Director requesting I return for a 3rd time. Aside from being completely inconvenient, it can't be fixed, so no point having someone mess around with colour on my hair for a 3rd time. I'd paid $297 for this cut and colour. A ridiculous amount of money for the poor job done on my hair. My return email was equally as polite, and I again requested my $150 back that I had paid for the colour. Basically after a few emails back and forth (me being really polite the entire time), I received a very abrupt response saying that they had ‘offered solutions to (me) to come into our salon', and told me ‘that any issues are to be resolved in salon within a week and this is now well over a month' … the only reason it was now well over a month is because Heading Out took 1 month to respond to my original email, and, only after I followed up! I did return for the 2nd visit within a week of the original visit, and Heading Out couldn't fix it! Heading Out would not refund me for the botched colour done on my hair, that cannot be fixed! To expect a customer to return for a 3rd time is just silly and extremely rude. Heading Out had 2 attempts at colouring my hair, both unsuccessful, apart from being incredibly inconvenient, why would I have any confidence in letting Heading Out have a 3rd attempt at colouring my hair?? Worst hair dressing experience I have ever endured, worst customer service I have ever experienced. I wish I had done my research before going to Heading Out, as I have now seen many poor reviews about this salon chain. High staff turnover it appears, resulting in inexperienced staff, yet Heading Out still promotes itself as a ‘high end' hair salon, and charge like one too. Skill set of staff does not match your super expensive prices. My colour looked like I had attempted it myself, or paid $10 for it. I have to wear my hair up and wait for it to grow out. I've been telling everybody about Heading Out, to make sure they never go to them.

Approximate cost: $297

Yes. Yes. Yes! I've findly found you!

I'm very picky with my hair--I need a cut that looks equally fabulous straight and curly, which is harder than some may realize. I have commitment issues when it comes to hair salons, I just can't seem to bring myself to go to the same one twice.

D'Artanion did magic on my hair from Heading Out North Balwyn. He took the time to listen to what I wanted and made suggestions. Then, he set to work. Boom. Split ends dropped like it was hot and body came back to my hair. No more do I have a 'too thick to straighten' mop but an easily straightened waterfall. Win! :))))

The thing that makes or breaks a salon is how chatty they are friendly and very welcoming. Most salons I've been to are too talkative or the music are very loud. All they chat about the weather, their cat, their relationship, their Saturday night out or their STD history...you get the drift.

Everyone at Heading Out North Balwyn was genuinely nice without trying too hard and chatted while also letting me relax.

D'Artanion, I'm glad i've found you again - I may just have to chain you down!

Will definitely come back and see you soon babe, thank you x

Approximate cost: $100

I have been going to this salon for 2 years now, you need to ask for Melinda who is an excellent colourist, and for styling you need to ask for Michael who does an excellent blow wave, I would not trust to many others there, as the other girl described. Also pricing can get a bit much especially with colour, but they have a rewards program where you end up with a free haircut or colour. Service is great too with plenty of refreshments on hand, coffees, champagnes, hot chocolates and teas.

Approximate cost: $250

I wanted to treat myself to a real salon experience, having had my hair done in the last 18 months by a local woman who worked from home. I was expecting to pay for the indulgence, but it was so worth every cent! From the moment I walked in the staff were friendly and couldn't help me enough. The colourist, Natalie, consulted with me about what I wanted done, she listened, inspected my hair and then offered her opinion of what we could do. She offered me a quote on everything before we went ahead, which I thought was a wonderful service. No nasty surprises at the end! I was promptly given real coffee, a biscuit and water and seated at the colouring table which I personally think is a great idea. Instead of looking at yourself in the mirror as your colour gets done, you're seated at this huge dining room table with hundreds of magazines placed down the middle so there's no excuse to get bored. A woman seated near me was actually getting some work done, pen and paper in hand as her colour developed. The whole shampooing is an experience in itself! I felt as though the girl wasn't in a hurry at all, she massaged my hair, thoroughly rinsed, shampooed twice and then I had a treatment put in which I needed having bleached hair. She wrapped a warm towel on my head, the massage chair massaged my back as I watched the latest runway fashion show from Milan on the enormous television in front of me (sound down of course!). After this it was time for my new hair style to be cut! Giovanni listened to what I was after, then gave his suggestion, which I thought sounded really good (I wanted a bob, he thought it could be a bit severe for my face, so did a really sleek cut but a little softer than a bob) and went to work. All the while I was offered more coffee and biscuits, and my water kept getting replenished. Giovanni was friendly, but quiet (which I actually prefer in a hairdresser) and just got the job done. At the end I was so impressed with look, and it's something I can maintain at home, with or without a hairdryer which is important (I hate it when it looks shabby unless you blow wave it). I took some products home which bumped up the cost for me, but it was so long since I'd spent money on my hair I wasn't too worried. They didn't force me to take the products either, I felt as though everything was entirely up to me and they told me about this and that, then left it until the end and that's when I was asked if I wanted to take any products home. It wasn't assumed that I'd take everything. They also were very generous with the sample sized freebies. All in all, a really indulgent but wonderful experience and I'll be returning there for sure.
I had half head head of foils, and overall colour which meant I spent a lot more money correcting my hair colour than I will have to in the future. The stylist was pretty reasonable, around $80 and considering how long I was in the chair and the amazing job he did I feel that's quite standard. I also really liked the way the stylist blow dried my hair himself, I hate it at salons when you pay all this money for the cut, then they palm you off to some apprentice 15 year old to blow wave it and then see you at the end- none of that here. Their opening hours are really good too.

This is a salon run by inexperienced very young staff with no personal service. Their colouring skills are terrible, I usually have highlights and really dislike anything that resembles copper or orange which I specified at the outset. 3 hours later I came out with orange highlights, and a very lighter bank balance.

Approximate cost: $230.00

I decided to try this salon because I saw a feature in my local paper saying they had won a business award. The woman who cut my hair was rude and unpleasant. I actually thought about leaving because the experience was so miserable for me, but I had wet hair and I was trying to keep her as calm as possible rather than enter into confrontation. To top it all off, she cut my hair unevenly. It's higher on the right hand side. She's listed as a Senior Stylist, so I had to pay $82 for a bad haircut and an awful experience. The salon must have other stylists who are much better, otherwise how could they have won an award?

Approximate cost: $82