Aveda Institute Washington DC

My return to Aveda to have my free redo (because they messed up so badly the first time) was much better… It still took forever (four hours) to fix my hair color, but the young woman who fixed it was detail oriented and talked me through the whole processes. The communication was very helpful. There was also a better instructor on hand (Kimberly? Kathleen? I can’t remember her name) who was helpful and worked hard to make me satisfied. The color is still far from what I originally wanted, but it is much better than what it was a few days ago.

Aveda Institute is by far one of the cheapest places in DC to get a haircut. I get my hair washed, cut and blown-​out there for $ 12… However, just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean it’s good. I typically just stick to getting my hair trimmed there because if I’m going to get a new style or color, I want a seasoned professional doing it.
I always prefer to call Aveda Institute directly to book rather than book online because you can get an appointment almost immediately, where as online you have to book three days in advance. In addition, when you call you are able to request an advanced student where as online you are not given the option.
Aveda Institute not only does haircuts, but also pedicures, manicures, waxes and facials. I got my nails done here once and would not recommend. You get a free bottle of nail polish, but the quality just can’t compare to that of a legitimate salon, plus the cost ends up being about the same.
The overall atmosphere of Aveda Institute is nice and the people that work there are super friendly, however expect to be there for two hours no matter what. The students tend to take their time with their services (which I happen to appreciate) and each service is monitored by a teacher who will do touch-​ups at the end.
Finally, at the end of your service, your student will walk you downstairs and try to force any and every Aveda product on you. As long as you say something like «oh I already own so many of your products at home!» they won’t push it. In addition, when you pay the receptionist will try to push another booking date on you ranging from 4 – 6 weeks so, if you don’t want one be sure to stand up for yourself.

I have been to Aveda institutes for haircuts before so I knew what I was getting into. I knew I would have to advocate for myself to get what I wanted and was ready to do so.
But this experience was horrible. Worst haircut experience I have ever had. For a simple cut it took 2.5 hours, even though it was estimated that it would take 1 hour. It was really stressful and I ended up with a bad cut by anyone’s standards. The only saving grace (for the one star) is that the receptionist was really sweet.
I actually had to ask the hairdresser not to leave random chunks of hair longer than the rest of it (I have short hair and much of it is cut with clippers). In addition to this I had to explicitly tell her to trim around my ears instead of leaving it as it was (which was by that point almost an inch longer than the rest of my head). She did a terrible job and now I have a bald spot over one of my ears. Yes, a bald spot. (Pretty sure no one thinks a bald spot is part of a good haircut.) I pointed it out to her and she said that’s just how my hair goes. Nope! Definitely not there before. I also had to tell her to stop burning my head with the blow dryer multiple times.
I expected a teacher to come check the haircut and fix around my ears before leaving, but that did not happen. I was surprised when she started hustling me out of there without being checked and pretty tired of advocating for myself at this point. I did tell the receptionist on the way out and she got someone to fix it for me. She also gave me a discount on the service and apologized. So she was nice. But I still have a bald spot over one ear and a stressful and wasted evening.
Ugh!
ETA: I would like to contact Aveda management, as Anthony (below) suggests, but the email address he gives doesn’t work. So I can’t.

I wanted subtle highlights (half foil) and ended up with brassy, spotty color. Yes, spotty. There were lines where the foils weren’t folded properly and weren’t close enough to my roots. This took almost 4 hours to do.
I came in 5 days later, the soonest I could, so that they could fix them. After almost 4.5 hours, the spots and brassiness were gone but she had given me platinum streaks! And not all over, concentrated on on half of my part. THIS IS NOT «NATURAL-​LOOKING.» I asked the student not to style my hair because I really wanted to get home and she was burning my scalp while she dried my hair. I don’t know if this was revenge because I wanted to leave or what.
The instructor, a different one than had been working with us before, so everything had to be explained again, said I could come in again for them to fix it. It should only take 2 hours. I HAVE OTHER THINGS TO DO WITH MY LIFE THAN SPEND IT AT AVEDA.
When I make an appointment for subtle highlights I don’t want spots and I don’t want platinum and I don’t want to come back more than once for you to fix it.
Don’t come here for highlights unless you want to waste hours of your life.

I arrived for my appointment 1 minute after the grace period and they made me wait 90 mintues. The receptionist stated that they have strict policies, so they couldn’t accommodate me for my service until later. Let me not forget to mention that the cancelled may appointment on Wednesday. As I sat and patiently waited, a customer came in with a child. She was told that the child could not say for the appointment because of there policy. However, they, decided to let her stay. Ian happy they were understanding for the mother, but I wish they were understanding and accommodating to all there customers.

I like my haircut and the prices. But they always running late here, ALWAYS. If I make a 7:00 appointment, they don’t see me until like 7:25…they need to be more punctual.

I can’t say Nadira did a bad job. She actually did an amazing job. The only thing is I had a different vision in my head whereas the outcome came out completely different. But I did not object to it after 5 hours of working. She put so much work into it, I didn’t have the heart to object but I think the picture I chose was what confused us both since I thought the picture reference was to choose the hair color so my hair would be my roots and one shade of purple for the rest of my head whereas I think she thought I wanted my hair to look exactly like the picture; color, highlights and all. She is so funny and personable, she’s definitely going to be successful as a hair stylist.
Also, I have been places where I was charged maybe ²⁄₃ of the price I was charged here. My mom gave me $ 100 but I had to find another $ 60 to meet the total and tip (which my mom could never find out about). So I definitely don’t think Aveda is in the «inexpensive» range maybe «moderate» to «pricey».

Been coming here for years. As long as I get a masters student I’m generally good to go. I’m a woman who gets a short mens style haircut. It’s a pretty simple cut by the time you are master student you should be able to handle a pair of clippers. I went in yesterday for a haircut from a «master» student. I’m pretty sure he’s never even seen a pair of clippers before. She was so timid to cut my hair that to other instructors had to step in and finish the job. Problem is that everybody was so worried about her doing a bad job that nobody actually listen to me when I told them how I wanted my hair cut. The first instructor stepped in without even telling me she was going to and then cut it way too long. Then the student came in to do the rest of the cut in spent 40 minutes. When she got done I couldn’t tell that any hair has been cut. So when another instructor came by I informed them that I was having a hard time explaining what I wanted told them exactly what I wanted. Showed them a picture of me with the exact same haircut and this woman grabbed the Clippers and cut off most of my hair. I’m really disappointed and sad I’m not sure I’ll be coming back here again.
Next time I should listen to my instincts. I should have gotten up after the first 5 minutes of the haircut told them I was sick and walked out the door. Took me over an hour with the scissors and clippers when I got home just to make it look decent. And it is a better job than anybody at Aveda did and I have no idea how to cut hair.
In fact, the last time I had a haircut this bad at Aveda was when I was working with the student on what must have been her first day who forgot to put a guard on the Clippers before she cut my hair and I ended up nearly bald.

After reading through all the reviews, I set the bar at average for my pedicure. I was totally aware that a student would be practicing on me, but you can’t beat the prices, and I knew that the area and tools would be clean. The week before, I made my appointment online. Well, I guess I didn’t actually make it online, but I did request my service, and gave 3 different dates and preferred time. Within the hour, they emailed me to confirm my date and time. They also emailed again confirming my appointment before it happened, so that was reassuring. Upon arrival, there was a huge line at the desk, and as a newcomer to the services portion, I was really confused on how to check in. The security guard actually saw me looking confused, and instructed me to pick my color and go back. The security guard! So I do just that, and head back, which is actually going upstairs. There, I checked in with a less than friendly front desk girl, and took a seat while I waited. I was offered water and tea, which I declined. My student was a few minutes early, so that was nice! She got her area together and asked me a series of questions, such as: Do you use any products on your feet? How do you want your nails filed? Etc. She took notes, and then got her instructor to come by to meet me and go over the questions. She recited my answers back to her instructor, who wasn’t very friendly, and the instructor had me initial next to the price of my service, which was only $ 20.
I had a feeling that this was going to be weird when she hesitated while trimming my toe nails. She really struggled — I don’t know if she was scared or what, but I totally get it. Honestly, I’d rather her take her time vs. cut me. She didn’t cut every single nail, and it took some time. She then proceeded to remove my current polish and started «filing.» I use this term lightly, because she literally ran the file like once over maybe every other toenail. She also buffed then (again, using this term lightly), and pushed my cuticles back rather roughly with a stick. I did tell her to go easy, which she did. They brought over a bowl of warm water, and I soaked my feet. She gave an amazing massage and did a fantastic job with the mask. After this, the water was changed and she began to use the file on my heels. Apparently I didn’t have a lot of dry skin on my heels, because this lasted about 10 seconds per foot. My heels are still nice a week later, so that’s fine. After this, she began to prep to paint my nails. This is when I realized that my nails were not square, and that she couldn’t paint. The paint was applied unevenly and doesn’t cover the entire nail. When she was done, I wasn’t really sure what to say. I know that I should have said it didn’t look right, but I also know that she’s practicing. What’s worse is that her instructor came by to «approve,» and said: Yep, they’re filed square and they look great! I mean how do you argue with the instructor IN FRONT of the student? That’s why it’s only $ 20, folks!
To make matters worse, a few days later, my toenail felt funny — like it kept getting caught on stuff, so I looked at it, and part of it (the non-​attached part) was hanging off! I pulled it off easily, but apparently what happened was that she trimmed that nail, but she didn’t trim the entire nail, so it was just kind of hanging there. Since she didn’t really file them, she didn’t catch it, and she painted it back together! Could you imagine what would have happened if I had actually caught my nail on something? Yikes… Needless to say, I got my $ 20 worth in the massage and mask. My heels are still super soft… BUT everything else was sub par. I don’t think I have the patience to go back.

Okay, let’s be realistic here. These are students learning their trade.
My experience was similar to others that have been posted. It takes a long time. It’s not perfect. But it is also below market price and you get what you pay for.
You should go here if:
You are patient.
You are broke.
You are understanding and empathetic.
You don’t have specific needs that must be met in the exact way you anticipate and there’s some big event that will be ruined if you look funny.
You have a lot of free time for your appointment.
You should not go here if:
You are picky.
You can’t go with the flow.
You have a limited time to get something done.
You love to talk to your stylist/​manicurist… They are learning and may not be super talkative.
All things considered, it wasn’t the worst night of my life, but I won’t go back. It wasn’t relaxing. They’re disorganized. But it’s nice to know it exists and it’s a good deal in certain circumstances.

I have been getting my hair cut here at least 5 times, and the first 4 visits were absolutely wonderful. I have no complaint about the service and products they use, and I always get a master student to cut my hair.
TL; DR: ALWAYS GET A MASTER STUDENT WHO IS ONLY 1 – 2 MONTHS AWAY FROM GRADUATING!!!
Today, i came in for my appointment at 6:15 and check-​in went smoothly. I usually go at 3pm since I work right across the street but 6pm on the Saturday is the only time I can do this week. When I asked the student stylist when she is graduating, she told me April, which makes me nervous because usually I get student stylists who are graduating in 1 – 2 months. I told her that I want to keep the bob shape and have my hair trimmed. After cutting my hair 1 inch shorter, she started thinning it out, which is fine since my hair is very thick. However, when she started blow drying my hair, I realized that she has ruined my bob shape and gave me layers (but only on the right side). Now instead of the bob, i have mushroom-​shaped hair. I told her right away that I wasnt happy and the instructor came over and tried to see if they could cut my hair to a different shape, which wasnt helpful because I am so not getting a pixie cut when I am this upset and the place already closed. So now I have bad hair, and a hell lot of biotin supplements so hopefully all the short layers (above my ears geez) will grow out. The manager on the first floor didnt charge me, and it sucks that one experience ruins all the feelings I have for this place.

I have frequented this school since it opened some years ago. Haircuts and facials mainly
Some have been excellent some average. Still love the place. It is a school and that is why I love it
I love the energy. Don’t come here if you have high expectations and are really picky. Pay your top price and go elsewhere. These are students
Love love the school

I just came back from my 4^th haircut at Aveda Institute so I feel like now I have a real feel for this place. As far as haircuts go, they do a great job. But you have to tell them EXACTLY what you want if you want your hair to turn out the way you are expecting it. I have long hair with blended layers, face framing and side swipe bangs and every time I have come to here to get my hair cut I have left happy. I always make my appointments before the weekday nighttime rush ~4pm so I have never had to wait for too long for my stylist. A con of this place is that it takes FOREVER. Each time i have been here it has taken over 2 hours just for a cut and style. So if you have a time crunch then this is not the place for you. The stylist even has to spray my hair with water because parts of my hair dry before she gets a chance to cut it. BUT I am not complaing… the prices are amazing and I always leave feeling fabulous!
Oh and they push their products REALLY hard on you… they even walk you down to check out and pull things off the shelves that they think you need and put it in a basket. If you fall for the sales pitch but then later have buyers remorse, you can always return them because aveda has an amazing return policy!:-)

I have had a number of haircuts here and it has always turned out okay. Some were better than others, a few I didn’t care for but I wasn’t harmed in anyway. Today I had a haircut with a wonderful student who was clearly trying her best and did a great job.
Today I also tried to get a manicure and pedicure – there was not a single enjoyable moment. The student was 20 minutes late-​which made it a 40 minute gap between the hair cut and nails, she somehow cut three of my toes while «filing» the nails (I bit my lip and suffered in silence – though the bright red marks on my toes were a clear indication of an issue), but I lost patients when she gouged the first finger she filed for the manicure. After that I told the student that I’d had enough and would like to leave. My finger didn’t stop bleeding for 30 minutes. More than these mishaps was the fact that the student was so clearly not happy to be there and didn’t care about causing me discomfort. She actually laughed and said – «yeah I don’t know why I’m so rough.» Somehow in Aveda’s mind putting my hands in water for 2 seconds and having a large gash on the FIRST finger she touched for a manicure meant I should still pay for the manicure. Yes I did get an overall discount of $ 5 for having feet that I can’t put in water for a few days and a finger that’s bleeding. But honestly I think making me pay for a service I really didn’t get because the first thing the student did was gash my first finger she touched was unreasonable. Needless to say I’d recommend steering clear of the nail services.

Affordable hair and body treatments. They always do a great job and the location can’t be beat. You do need to go in knowing that any service will take about twice as long as it takes in a salon as you have students working on you and this is a learning process, but if you can carve out the time it is worth it! As mentioned if nervous about a student cutting your hair, know that the instructors keep a careful eye and swoop in if at any time clarification is needed or the student needs help.
I’ve had haircuts, hair color, highlights, facials and mani/​pedis at this location and overall always walk away happy with the result!

This is my final day ever visiting Aveda on 7^th Street Chinatown I had a 9 a.m. appointment a 15 minute window if you’re late I walked in at 9:16 and was turned away I paid 40 bucks on an über trip to get to Aveda and they screwed me they don’t need my money anymore I will find another spot. And in the process of cancelling all of my appointment that I had scheduled for 3 months in advance I cancelled them all and now there’s a rep. on the phone or the rep in front of me could care less.
Poor service

The Aveda Institute is what you would except getting your hair done by students. I went in for a simple trim and style. My hair specialist did a great job, though I suspect it would be difficult to mess up a simple trim.
My experience:
My appointment was for 11am. I arrived 15 minutes early and checked in at the front desk. The receptionist said it would be a few minutes and recommended I look over their products. Keep in mind, the receptionist is the front desk lady and I think cashier for their store on the first floor. So Everyone else who had an appointment at 11 was standing around the store with me with no where to sit. Finally we are allowed to go upstairs where we check in again with a receptionist for the salon. We all wait a few minutes until our specialist greets us.
My specialist was very kind and generally sweet. She had to ask me a list of questions on this paper about what I want and what kind of style in looking for. Then an educator comes by and checks on the specialist to ensure that she’s right… The educator then asks me the same questions. This was kind of annoying. All I wanted was a trim!
After my girl washed my hair and finished cutting, another educator needed to sign off on her work. The educator basically cut my hair again. Then my girl was allowed to blow dry my hair and style it. When she was done, another educator checked her work and asked me a bunch of questions on whether my specialist asked me certain questions or showed me different products. I lied and said yes.
This whole process took TWO hours. I checked in at 11 and cashed out at 1:15. I can’t imagine what it would have been like if I had gotten anything else done.
Overall, I would come back again bc it’s so cheep and I usually just get trims. If I wanted to get an actual hair cut or coloring done, I would go somewhere else.

I had never had my hair cut at a cosmetology school until yesterday, but I had a great experience. Everyone I encountered was very professional and friendly. They even offered me water several times. Danielle was the student who cut my hair and she did a fantastic job. Since I just needed a trim since my hair gets greasy easily, the whole process just took an hour. I mention the time because some reviewers have commented on the process taking 2 – 3 hours. Everyone has different needs, but given that I was at a school, I was pleasantly surprised with the length of the time I spent at Aveda. Not including tip, I only paid $ 18 for the cut, which is MUCH cheaper than places I’ve gone to in the past. I absolutely would come back here and am thrilled to have found a regular spot for inexpensive hair cuts!

Came on a Friday afternoon with an appointment and wasn’t surprised to see the place packed! This is one of the only hair institutes actually in in DC. I didn’t find my stylist overly warming and inviting nor was the rest of the staff super personable.
I have been to a plethora of other salon institutes and this was 1) the most expensive, 2) longest time, 3) worst customer service. There was a weird animosity between the students, different levels, and the teachers. My stylist was nice but looked as if I was burdening her… Her teacher didn’t seem to really care about my hair either. Other lower level students were talking in their cell phones and being a little too carefree for what a salon should expect.
I actually really liked how my hair turned out. This is the only reason I give them 3 stars. Granted, I got a half foil and minor trim, this is something hard to totally botch. I probably wouldn’t trust them to do anything major. Most stylists in the place had fake weaves in anyway…
What made my experience weirder is that I was down below grabbing a soda before my appt and was approached by 2 stylists who asked if I wanted to get my hair done. They were soliciting services outside of the Aveda institute, something I assume is against company policy. Cheaper prices than a normal salon, especially in DC but not necessarily worth my stress or overtime

THE WORST EYEBROW STYLING JOB I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. this is considering that I have been getting my eyebrows waxed /​threaded for 10 years, and have had a few botch jobs. this one takes the cake. Red flag should have been that I had to wait 25 minutes to be seen, despite having my appointment booked for that specific time because it was my lunch hour. I had a bad feeling about what would go on. Ladies, always trust your intuition.
Thankfully I was not charged at all. The floor manager downstairs in the retail area said I did not have to pay, and was very sweet and filled in my brows with her own eyebrow pencil.
My eyebrows are naturally thick and well shaped but now they are so uneven and jagged. I look like I have early 2000’s over-​plucked trailer park eyebrows. I am reminded of the meme «Never take life advice from someone with bad eyebrows» every time I look at myself in the mirror. I pray that this person did not permanently ruin the shape and with some nourishing oils they will grow back.
Update: To make matters worse, the person who did my eyebrows also SPILLED WAX IN MY HAIR, which I had to CUT out. I emailed the director who has responded below about my complaints (which he encourages in his response), but never heard back from him. Nor does he even apologize or take responsibility for this mistake in his response.

I have a standing appointment at Aveda to have my hair colored black every month. Yes, the ‘stylists’ are students. Yes, they make mistakes. Twice I’ve had my roots dyed brown instead of black because the students screwed up the formula, but that’s why Aveda will fix it for free.
However, I had my roots retouched last night, and the student ruined my clothes with hair dye. How she managed to shampoo, style, and dry my hair while the back was covered in dye — which I pointed out to her and she claimed was «just product» is beyond me. I used to color my hair at home and managed never to wreck my clothing. I’m hoping this particular student is just spectacularly terrible at coloring hair, because I can’t imagine how you can work in a salon, even briefly, and not understand that 1. hair dye stains 2. you shouldn’t get it on clothes and 3. you’re supposed to wash it out completely.
I ended up there for almost four hours because they had to reshampoo and dry my hair (the girl they asked to dry it after the first one screwed up so badly was pissy about having to stay late to fix it and was snappish and yanked my hair until I took the dryer away from her and did it myself).
Oh, and I got to pay for the privilege of having my clothes ruined. If you are getting anything involving hair dye done, do NOT go to Beatrice. She also burned my scalp twice with the hair dryer.
Again, I get these are students, but I’m really confused as to how you can not manage to comb out hair without tearing at it (seriously, stop it with the mfing paddle brushes on wet hair. USE A WIDE TOOTH COMB) or blow out someone’s hair without burning them. This is stuff anyone with hair who styles it at home can figure out.

1 bad experience, but 2 great ones. I have thin, brunette hair with an ombré.
2^nd and 3^rd visit
I’ll start with the good cuts:
Wesley is amazing. He’ll be there till march 2014. I have also noticed Laura’s cuts are really good.
Wesley fixed my cut after the detailed incident below. He first gave me an angled lob (long bob). The second time he gave me a textured lob. Both cuts looked exactly like the pics I took in to show him.
First visit.
Permanent soft curls and 1^st hair cut:
On my first visit I asked for a permanent soft curls (showing a picture of Olivia Palermo’s short hair). I also asked for a long bob. The person used 1″ curlers that left tiny waves which resembled what I look like if I french braid my hair at night. She also tied my hair in small sections with rubber bands, so when the chemicals got on my hair that was tied, it left a huge streak of kinks across my head (which I still have 3 months later).
Secondly, she cut my hair, but did not texture the bottom, so it looked like I just took scissors and chopped straight across. She didn’t even even out the ends, so the hair wasn’t even in a blunt, straight cut, but choppy throughout. One side was significantly longer (which I blame the dictator for).
I didn’t bring up the cut because I was actually told to leave the salon with wet hair, being told that the chemicals needed to dry to form curls that would leave my hair the way I wanted.
That did not happen. After my hair dried and I noticed how terrible it looked, I washed out the chemicals and called to get it fixed.
They wouldn’t fit me in for an emergency appointment to fix my cut and told me I’d have to wait 3 days. I was mortified and had to wear my hair in a bun all week.
When I returned to get my hair fixed, they tried to charge me.