The Stress Exchange

absolutely horrible. spent £26 on a men's' haircut, which was completed in 15 minutes. stylist did not listen to what i had asked, and used clippers to shave 4 inches of hair off the sides and back of my head in 3 minutes and proceeded to use scissors to cut uniformly around the rest of my head.

completely ruined the texture from my previous stylist and the result is arguably worse than what you can get form a £5 barbershop.  stylist did not even bother to use a mirror to show me how he cut the back, and 10 minutes into cutting my hair, he rushed even further so that he could cut the rest in 5 minutes and see his next client [i commiserate with the chap who followed me].

absolutely horrible. proceed with caution

Absolutely awful customer service. I booked on the Friday evening for the Saturday morning but when I arrived at the desk the receptionist could not find my reservation. Since it was my first time there, I checked my phone to make sure I did not call a different place, but when I showed them the number it was theirs. Just then suddenly the receptionist remembered booking me and said that she cancelled me because I did call after 5 minutes to cancel. When I said this never happened, she became very aggressive and said that she was sure that it was me because she recognised my voice. According to my phone record, we spoke only once for 3 minutes and I was on a noisy bus. How could she be so sure? She kept being very aggressive and rude saying that she cancelled me only because I called her back asking her to, and this is a total lie. In the end I got my treatment anyway, that was not as good as I am used to, brisk and not very accurate, therefore I wasn't very pleased with the whole experience. I was not even offered a discount for the distress or rudeness. Certainly I am not going back and I am not recommending the place to anyone.

I've been coming here for years, for haircuts, waxing etc. The staff seem to change a fair bit, but then I may only pop in twice a year and overall I've been satisfied enough to return. Most recently I had a really good hair colour there, so I'll continue to come back. One piece of advice - don't be afraid to confirm the cost of treatments up front as sometimes there are extras on top of the website price. They don't always make that clear! But overall the service is friendly and communicative, and the treatments are good enough to have me coming back.

I went there with my partner for a few treatments including haircut. The staff was pleasant but not all of them. Here is our experience:
1. Appointments-
The receptionist failed to book our future appointments although we asked face to face resulting in no appointment and a rude answer that it’s not his fault. He was also hesitant on sorting the problem out and book us a new appointment and somebody had to step in to solve the issue. When we enquired about the facials nobody told us we can’t have them at the same time. When we showed up for the appointment we had to wait each one hour until we both finished. In the mean time decided to try other services.
2. Haircut-
My partner had a haircut. The shape was good but the finishing was really bad coming from a professional (he was the lead or style director judging from the price)! The sideburn (the facial hair near his ears) was totally messed up and left patchy. Even my mum can do better! I told my partner but he was already so upset with the whole experience that he just wanted out of there. His opinion was that they do exchange stress but the other way!

3. Facials-
First treatment was good for me thanks to the relaxing attitude of the beautician. However my partner was not to happy as he was expecting more and a deeper cleansing.
The second treatment we had we did not even understand what it’s happening as the beautician could not answer us the questions about the facial and was reacting rude when we asked about it. We felt like we are not even allowed to ask questions. However it was not her problem as she clearly was a beginner. When I asked her which facial she will do, she said the environ vitamin facial as she knows how to do only that one. Well that was not at all reassuring! And I am not going to go into the details for how the treatment was carried out but have to mention that I got electrocuted at one moment and was not pleasant at all! It resulted on a small flare up exactly on that point which I did not have before the treatment.
4. Pedicure
We went into a room, sat down on the bed. The beautician poured some water in a bucket and placed it on the bed. I was asked to put bend my knees and put my feet in to soak. I had a soak, short massage with a scrubbing cream (which was not cleaned properly after that as I still had blue coloured residue on my leg after that), dead skin removal on the surface, and nail vanish. Well this was basic standard procedure however the next step made me feel very uncomfortable. She asked me if I want to go upstairs in where the hairdressers’ room and reception is (open to all the public coming in from the street) and wait there until my nail dries or just walk outside the corridor and wait downstairs. She also asked me if I want to use a disposable slipper to walk out. Well supposedly I didn’t have to think twice about the fact that I don t want to walk barefoot in the first place, moreover go upstairs where everybody can see my painted toes stuck in a disposable slipper for the next half an hour! The point was they needed the room and had to get rid of me. I got the point! Needles to say it was a waste of time and money as I had to wait for a long time to dry and just could not bear it anymore to wait. I guess this is really for the summer when you walk in slippers and have the whole day for it to dry. They should have a nail drying system it takes only a small fan!

I am not usually a complaining person but after spending more than a thousand pounds on them I feel the need to write my opinion. I still have in mind to give them one more chance as the location suits me, the products are good, some beauticians have experience, and some of the receptionists are helpful and nice. But I will need lots of LUCK to get them on a good day!

I like the stress exchange very much! Having worked at claridges, the kx gym there is something special about working downstairs.
It is quiet and comforting which is just perfect for coaching, hypnosis and nlp. I have had a few treatments there and the standard is excellent.

I think the Stress Exchange is absolutely fabulous. I use it all the time for hair and beauty and I am always very happy with the outcome. The staff are always polite and friendly and very professional in what they are trained to do. If it wasn’t for Trevor and his golden scissors, my hair would forever look like some small forest. After a visit to the salon my hair looks and feels like one of those “I’m worth it” ads and always gets lovely comments from friends and family. I couldn’t contemplate the thought of going anywhere else and after six years, I reckon I would know.

It all started out so promisingly… I recently changed jobs and with that change lost my stylist as my old and new offices were too far apart for lunch-time appointments. With two very small children and a husband who works weekends, hair appointments have to take place during my working week lunch break.

Anyhow, I found this place online and emailed them to make an appointment for the following day. I got a message on my mobile from a very pleasant lady saying that she couldn’t get hold of me regarding the appointment time so she’d blocked out two appointments and I could call to let her know which I preferred.

The salon itself is sleek and stylish and everyone has gorgeous hair so it boded well. I explained to the stylist that I wanted my hair shaped and thinned out so that I could mess it up/spike it or wear it flat.

The stylist was very friendly and snipped away for a good hour, quite a feat considering my hair is very short anyway! I was really disappointed with the outcome. My hair had been thinned out so much that I couldn’t do anything but wear it completely flat. When I got home, my husband also pointed out that wear my hair had been cut over my ear, the stylist had gone too far and I actually had a 1cm bald spot! Not what you expect when you’ve just parted with £45.

Maybe it was an off-day or just an off-haircut but I’m not prepared to take a risk and give this place another chance.