Are We Perhaps Taking Ourselves a Little Too Seriously?

As Aveda is an international beauty and hair care company, I assumed it would be no problem getting my hair cut and colored while traveling through the US and Canada. I did, after all, have the color formula from my stylist in Zurich and Aveda should be Aveda. Oh, how wrong I was. First you need to make an appointment and here is where the problems start. In a system which is only rivaled by the Shriners, one has to determine what level of stylist is required. Does one want the Head Educator or the New Artist or better yet the Grand Salon Stylist not to mention the Senior Stylist? What about the New Artist Director? And truly no Aveda salon visit would be complete without an interaction with the Director of 1st Impressions!! As long as we are into the classification game, why not make it fun like the Shriners who also have a system of titles which are not transparent to the uninitiated. Let's throw in an Imperial Chief Rabban or Imperial Potentate to really confuse the customer. Once you have been sufficiently worn down with this decision, you meet your stylist. Here you get to play "Do I really know what hair color I want?" I was under the mistaken perception that the written formula from my stylist was all I would need to get the same color - au contraire! Each time I have attempted to use the formula I am told it is either a) not a valid formula or b)  not my color. The conversation is enough to wear me down so I give in. However I always end up with my original color and the last time I received a re-written copy of the formula which was identical to what I had given the stylist.

The moral of the story is that a company that started out as a real trailblazer has become big, bloated and out of touch with their customers. Truly sad.