Aveda Tonic Robson

I have been Aveda salons customer for the past 15 years, went to the one on Granville, 10^th Avenue and Robson Street. Then I moved to Mexico and haven’t been in Aveda Tonic on Robson for the past ten months. Just came back to city and called to make appointment for express colour. I was told that they can not do it because I was gone for a long time and they can only do root touch up, which is double the price. So they refused to provide service period. Was shocked and totally disappointed, after spending thousands of dollars in service and products over the years, this is not a way to treat a customer.

Awesome stylists and great Aveda products. The combinations of relaxing head and neck massages, oils and tonics is wonderful! Usually there’s a Unilocal-​checkin voucher!

I noticed the reviews below of extremely outdated.
I absolutely love this place, why I havent gone here sooner for my cut and color? I have no idea.
I saw Yani Cheng who was a complete delight to have as my stylist. Yani listened and literally completed every wish I had for my hair.
Very satisfied and will definitely come back!

I’ve been seeing eve at aveda and I can honestly say she’s the best hair stylist for me.
What im looking for in a hair stylist is to understand my «look» and tell me what woukd look good. Frankly they are the experts and she kills it every time. I just go in there and I ckme out with amazing colour and cut. I always get compliments on my hair.
Eve I would say has a great eye. She knows what looks good based on looking at the person. She works hard ans is for sure a perfectionist.
I had commitment issues when it came to stylists until eve. I highly recommend her.

It was my first time in this salon and I paid +60 for a haircut. I will have to say they gave me the worst haircut I’ve had. My hairdresser cut my hair with an attitude «who cares». Maybe they have better hairdressers there and I was just unlucky that I met the only bad one. But the fact that I have to book another appointment to fix my bad haircut makes me put that salon on my bad book. I can accept a hairdresser who is not great at her work, but I can’t accept someone who doesn’t care to do a good job.

Inexperienced hair-​stylist, went there for highlight before my trip, and I showed the stylist a photo and my hair didn’t look anything like the picture. I came home and my friends/​family didn’t even notice the difference. Called and complained about it but the stylist didn’t have a professional attitude and didn’t accept it. Just wasted $ 200 ! Don’t recommend it at all !!!

I came here for a color just before my wedding. I brought in a picture of the color I was inspired by and I was asked «So.when you look at this picture, what colors do you see?» I went through the list. brown, black, purple undertone… But it was so weird. She kept asking me questions about «What I saw» in this photo. Typically when I go for a color I’d like to hear my stylist’s opinion on what colours would play off my skin tones nicely, whether we can accomplish the look I’m going for with the current color on my hair, etc. etc.
Anyway, with all that being said and done we did the color, and then once my hair was washed I was told, «You’re not scheduled for a blow dry, so whenever you’re ready you can head to the counter to pay.» I put up a bit of a fight on this. First of all — how are you supposed to see how the color has turned out on my wet hair? How am I supposed to see if I am satisfied with what you’ve done? So, begrudgingly, my stylist dried my hair. When I got home, I noticed that I had some nice hot roots happening… I.e. My roots were red and coppery and the rest of my hair was dark. So I had to go back again to get it fixed — I made sure I «scheduled a blow dry» that time around too.
Though I LOVED the colour I ended up with for my wedding, I haven’t been back since. The whole experience was just too strange, and my girl Julie at Poppy can make whatever colour I want happen AND give me her best opinion.

Great products. Terrible service. The girl that «assisted» me needed a serious attitude adjustment and a some product knowledge lessons. I received a birthday voucher for a sensory journey– she was rude, chose fragrances I had no interest in and then reminded me it was «free». I will not go back to this location, the salon was empty other than 3 staff, I can see why.

Without rhyme or reason I had to wait over an hour before my scheduled appointment for a haircut. I would understand fully if I was a last minute walk in and I was paying closer to $ 20
End result not worth the $ 60 /​before tip pricing (some stylists are $ 75 +)
Over priced and snooty service people manning the front desk… I can get that for free at some chi chi cafes!
Jeesh! Never again… costly mistake (not cheap at all)
The Snooty service comes at a price. Not worth the wait however late they are running

Not impressed at all… Had to wait a full hour for my scheduled appointment! (what are appointments for?)
over priced, over hyped and unfriendly waif at the front desk. Not a good experience and certain I wont be back again.

I went here thinking it was still the academy salon (which I think was a really good value!) but it is now just a regular salon. I paid $ 200 (after tax and tip) for full colour and cut and ended up looking pretty much exactly the same as when I walked in, but «cleaned up.» I showed pictures of what I wanted, and said that I like to leave salons looking dramatically different, but still ended up looking the same but with no split ends and roots gone (not worth $ 200!).
I think this salon is way overpriced for what you get. I also had two different people for cut and colour, and was there for over 2.5 hours. I could have box-​died my hair and trimmed it myself for the same look, and in half the time. Also, at that price, I expect the blowdry and style afterwards to be amazing; instead, I had flat, limp hair that I had to go home and fix myself before going out.
It’s not awful — I would have been perfectly satisfied (but not wowed) with this cut and colour if it had been half the price, but for $ 200, I did not get my money’s worth and would never go back. (I would like to add, however, that the staff and stylists are all very nice and friendly!)

Terrible experience, terrible haircut and itchy scalp, avoid. The hairdressers do not listen to what you want, they’re untrained (even the ‘senior’ ones), they just push Aveda products which are NOT as healthy as Aveda false advertising would lead you to believe. Read the labels and save your hair. It’s too late for mine.

Cutting to the chase: This Robson location is no longer an Institute but rather a regular salon since the Academy/​Institute relocated to Gastown.
I was planning on trying an Aveda Institute student cut after a friend had recommended it was pretty good value. She had gone to the location in Gastown, and as I was Unilocal-​ing for its location & reviews, I read up on this location’s reviews of their student cuts, and noticed this location offered a $ 25 off discount on your first visit. Well why not, I thought. I called to book an appointment and was surprised to hear the prices started at $ 45 for what I thought was a student salon, but thought perhaps more advanced students worked there vs. the Gastown location. As I approached the salon, I was greeted with Academy signage out front. It bore all your usual Aveda products and signage which was nice, however the salon itself was uninspiring, worn and slightly dated. The staff there, aside from the woman who greeted me and my stylist, (who were great & professional) the others seemed younger, less professional, kind of indifferent looking, bored, leading me to continue to think it was a student salon. It wasn’t until I asked my hair dresser how long till she was done her program did she tell me this was not a student salon. Um, awkward.
So while the cut was good, I wouldn’t pay the regular $ 50+tax+tip here. It wasn’t bad but there are many other salons with great atmosphere and great cuts in that price range. However, for $ 25+tax+tip for the first cut, I’d say that’s a pretty solid deal for an Aveda salon.

I used to go when this was the training centre but I understand they have moved to gastown. I really like their students — I have really uninteresting hair and they always make it look great. I basically give them some general guidelines — but basically tell them to do whatever they want because I figure they have a better idea of what would look good than I do. And I am fairly sure I am right about that — they’re good! Really nice too, and good conversationalists. It is a bit expensive for students though, but worth it.

I’ve been going here for years and have always been really really pleased with my cuts. I have stupidly thick hair so I need a stylist who knows how to manage it, and Aveda students seem to know! I suffered for YEARS with other stylists who just didn’t know what to do with my hair — finding this Aveda salon was such a relief. Being able to reliably get awesome cuts is fantastic!
Also — I’m pretty sure the students at the Academy are not total newbies to hairstyling, they are stylists who are getting the Aveda «advanced» training. So there is really no risk (especially since they consult their supervisor/​instructor repeatedly throughout the process). The cuts do take a big longer, so just don’t be in a hurry. :)
UPDATE — Note — this salon is no longer the academy location, it is now just an aveda salon. The academy, if you want a student to cut your hair, is now in Gastown!

Best for purchasing product I feel.
Although service pricing is reasonable and it’s a convenient location, I felt too rushed there. It had been a hit or miss for me as well. And more miss than hit. And why I found a new salon, stylist that use Aveda products.

Hit or miss. Yay or meh.
A bit of a gamble with stylists in training. But hey, we all gotta start out somewhere right?
I think it is worth the risk of a less than perfect hair cut to try out something new. As long as you are not in a hurry or getting married the next week, it’s a pretty fun experience. At least you are guaranteed to be pampered with AVEDA products and a scalp massage.
Better than going to a Surgeon in training. Right?

I really like Aveda products and salons, so I was pretty excited about getting the experience for a bargain price. My student stylist was very cute and eager, and we kept up a pretty good conversation through the almost-​two-​hour hair cut. (Although I felt reallly old when she asked me what Expo 86 was.)
They do serve you beverages and give aromatherapeutic scalp massages, which is very spa-​ey. Since it’s a student salon, though, it’s also louder and more bustling than a regular salon.
I do feel a bit guilty for «cheating» on my regular hairdresser, but I really like the new ‘do. It’s fun to see what a different person will do with your hair every once in a while.

I used to come to this place when I was a student! Also went to their other location in Edmonton as well… good memories of being a poor student and wanting to have salon hair, but not salon prices!
As most ladies know, it’s almost impossible to do your own color, and definitely not your own highlights (anyone remember those silly kits with the caps with holes?) The Aveda Academy comes to the rescue… the academy has hair stylists that are learning, but they’re not as «green» as some other student places since they have at least 2 years experience.
Prices vary from the level of the student to the advanced educator and are very reasonable — you can get a cut and partial foils for around $ 100.
They’re sometimes a little slow, but they do a decent job. You’ll occasionally get the hand massage and makeup touch up as well which is a nice way to finish. The only time I had an issue was color not turning out correctly, but they fixed it at no charge.
Great place to come if you’re on a budget — the downside is that you’ll rarely get the same person since they’ll move on once the training is done.

Luckily, going to the Aveda academy for a hair cut isn’t like getting a student driver for a cabbie. These guys take extra time to make sure your cut is perfect because they get graded on it, and even with the stinky exchange rate, a haircut is less than half the price I pay for a cut in the US. And yes, they start your haircut with the same head and shoulder massage that they do in the regular aveda salons. aahhhh…
Note: my hair is pretty basic. no color, highlights, perming or any of that fancy stuff. Not sure how this place would fare with those types of treatments.