Salon Lofts City Way in Indianapolis, IN

Whew.

Overview: The Lofts is about 25ish independent beauty stylist folks who do nails, facials, waxing, hair, etc. when you go online you can choose a specific stylist or a service and whoever is available. It's super annoying that when you arrive you must text or call your specific salon person and have them unlock the door for you. This immediately turned me off, as I'm not trying to wait outside during bad weather while we exchange texts...

My specific person would be a 1-star but since there are other folks I don't want to completely bomb their reviews so 2 stars...but then again it is the Loft who is responsible for the mess ultimately, so back to 1 star total.

I needed a facial wax and was excited to find something the same day.  My stylist was Stephanie. She was friendly, so that's great. Her room is set up for hair so I was a bit wary - generally I only get facial waxes from actual estecians b/c folks only trained in hair are generally bad at facial waxes. This was true here.

A quick wipe of the area to be wax, not especially gentle. She used soft wax and slathered it on haphazardly. My previous salon visits are much more intentional. Then she took off the wax. Randomly kinda rubbed more on and got it off. Then cleaned me off with a rough (not soft!) dry (wtf?) towel - and she wasn't gentle. Since her waxing was lazy I assumed she missed spots. Asked if I got red, said yea, and she put hydrocortisone cream on - before I got the mirror. So my facial area that was waxed was covered in thick cream and she asked if it looked good. ...now wtf you do that step after it's confirmed all waxing is done! I kinda felt some hairs and notified her. She said "the light isn't good in here" and plucked a couple. Lady...why the hell would you do facial waxing without good light?! Actual salons good at this have bright lights/lamps. So she gets it and has me check again. Hard to see and again the cream was thick but I couldn't feel anything.

I paid the $20 and reluctantly 20% tip.

Got in the car and looked in the mirror under the sunlight...also wiped the cream off...she missed a lot of hairs. And of course I had a big work event later that day :/

I checked her profile afterwards. All hair stuff but some facial waxes. So this is on the Loft - do NOT let your stylists sign up for services they are not qualified to do!!!

I did think about reaching out and asking for a refund. I didn't because I deal with enough BS things every day anyways, and don't want to deal with a service provider who may not like negative feedback.

I do think that some of the other folks are probably good. There's a woman who's stall I passed with a beautiful BLM poster doing nails, and she and her client seemed like they were having a great time.

What an experience! I was styled by Ingrid in number 12. It's been a long time since I've had hair styling close to as good as what I received here. I guess I'd forgotten that it could be that good. Wish I could give more than 5 stars. I would assume she does mostly ladies, but I'm a guy. Very Happy.  And, its all in the coolest little cubicle! Thanks!