Swink Style Bar

This is the best service and quality and consistent, professional place I have ever been. I have not washed my own hair in four years, and depend on these ladies. They have amazing customer service and truly go above and beyond. There is no other establishment I can say same of. Swink is the best!!!

I had a really great time. The girls were fun and polite and my hair and makeup looked absolutely GORGEOUS! I got so many compliments! I will definitely come back. :)

Called for a dry style. Was told to block off an hour for my long thick hair. Arrived and the stylist (although very friendly) was done after 15 curls and 20 minutes. For a $ 40 service most trained stylist would take at least 45 min for long, thick hair. She didn’t do a very thorough job and should have been trained that curling in more than 1 inch sections can make the curls heavy so they fall right away. Wouldn’t recommend Swink at this location.

Swink needs to lower their prices to be competitive. $ 65 just for a wash and a blow out with hot tools is not worth it. That’s more than I pay for a hair cut. In fact, my salon charges only $ 50 for a blowout. Drybar does it for $ 40. I didn’t know that a blow out and a style were two separate services, went in expecting a curling iron. Disspointing.

I recently had hair tinsels applied to my hair. It looked very festival and fun on my black hair…
The gal told me it’ll last for a MINIMUM of two weeks on my hair… She said I’ll be able to do my daily hair/​normal things and it won’t mess up the hair tinsels… I was definitely excited, but the next morning it came out of my hair! Very disappointed!

I’ve gone to Swink for hair and make up the day of our Christmas card photos for two years running and it’s a consistently great experience. Up front, let me confess that I’ve never really used a blow dryer or any other styling tool in my adult life. Probably a good thing, because despite my long, naturally wavy beach hair and minimalist wardrobe, I ask for big, Texas beauty pageant hair whenever I get the chance. I’m a MONSTER. They also do photo specific make up — our photographer says it’s the best she’s worked with. Swink makes me feel like I’m in drag as myself — but that’s the back combing! I bet coming here for more frequent, less involved blow outs (they have some sort of $ 99/​mo membership) would help me look like a grown up. Their phone app is easy to use — I’m considering the weekly blow out membership for sure.

I was so late and they didn’t rush me at all. I was getting my hair blown dry for my brothers wedding and they were really kind about every nitpicky thing I brought up, totally worth it!
Close to a drop off point in the center!

Af first I like this place very much but now I definitely do not recommend it. Today someone called me from this place saying that they would cancel my appointment because the stylist was sick. Who on earth will call a customer and cancel the appointment TWO HOURS BEFORE AN APPOINTMENT? This is an extremely ridiculous thing to do! I was so shocked that I said I made my appointment very early to make sure I can get this done today. The woman on the phone said in her rudest tone, «WE CANNOT PREDICT SHE IS GOING TO BE SICK!» What a horrible attitude! I swear that she does not have any regret or sympathy at all and I feel that I am being scolded. She emphasized «everyone else is booked so your appointment has to be rescheduled.» I think it is particularly unfair. Then she proposed to have the manager talk to me. The manager said one stylist had pick eye so all the appointments about lash are cancelled. Didn’t the receptionist just say «other people are booked»!!! One of them must lie. I do not want to argue at this point anymore and I have no choice but to accept the rescheduling. I feel that they do not respect customers at all and you do not have your right. Bad Bad Bad!

I went in on 3÷28÷15 to have a blowout and full makeup application. It was my birthday and I wanted to do something special. Courtney was my stylist and she was a doll! I had the best time with her and she did exactly what I asked. I can’t wait to go back and see her again!

Had a terrible experience here today! Took my 6 year old to get her ears pierced for her birthday. The lady was rude and got upset with my little girl when she jumped during the first piercing. Telling her, «you CAN’T do that»!! She didn’t reassure her, try to calm her down, NOTHING! Then while waiting for her to calm down and get the courage to get the other ear done, the worker just stood there like we were wasting her time. I was looking forward to a fun experience, a little extra pampering for my sweet 6 year old and that is not at all what happened!

I made an appointment online for 60 minutes for $ 40. Went in, had someone greet me, ask me if I wanted water. All very nice. Btw, the reason I went was because I just had surgery and cannot do my own hair. The thought of having someone else do my hair for 60 minutes sounded amazing and extremely relaxing. Well, no question about what type of hair I have, no question about products or no products in my hair. So I was washed, blown dry and out in under 30 minutes. So, yes reasonably priced but a total lie about the offering. Oh and the best part, my hair person was the cashier and straight up asked how much tip am I putting on the card! Lol.
Then on my way home I decide to call a manager because I didn’t really understand how I signed up for 60 min and got maybe 30. She was at lunch so I left a message. NO ONE ever called me back.

I was very confused by my appointment at Swink. Confused because it left me wondering how they can be in the business of charging for a luxury that doesn’t feel like one. People go here more than once?
Reasons I’m not a fan:
1. They sent me a text and 6 emails for 1 appointment. A bit much don’t you think?
2. They called me asking to change my appointment time even though their service is special event hair and events don’t change their date/​time. I thought it was rude to ask me to do that — having scheduled my appointment a month in advance — so their schedules would line up perfectly and stylists wouldn’t have down time or, they could leave early or, whatever it was that warranted moving my appointment.
3. There was no receptionist so arriving and paying was awkward.
4. The blow out was painful. The stylist, sweet as she may be, aimed the hairdryer at my scalp and face too much and held it there. I’ve never experienced burning like that before with other stylists so I think she was just inexperienced. I couldn’t wait for her to be done.
5. The hair products they use aren’t that great. Or the hairdryer is too hot. Whatever it is my hair didn’t like it. Usually my hair is really soft and shiny after a professional blow out. After this blowout it was just dry, really dry, like if I did it myself at home.
6. When we were done I had to ask my stylist if she was going to be the cashier because, again, no receptionist. She said — yeah I guess — and apologized because she didn’t really know how. That was clear. She took my card, swiped it and handed it back. I had to ask for a receipt to which she said — oh we’re green and we don’t do receipts. So I asked how would I leave tip then? I had $ 2 cash or my card. She didn’t know what to do so she went in the back to get the manager and she comes out. The manager is not very friendly. I see why she’s not out in public. She asks how much for tip and I tell her the amount and she swipes my card again. I asked how much I was charged for the service because I didn’t see or confirm or sign for anything and she told me the amount and I said okay. All very awkward and then I left. Later I thought maybe one of the 6 emails they sent was actually a receipt for my credit card transactions but no. Just duplicate emails saying thanks for coming!
Overall, not a comfortable experience. My hair was pretty. Forty bucks worth of pretty? No not so much. Next time I want special occasion hair I will pay the $ 10 – 20 more for an awesome stylist at my favorite salon.

I was throwing myself a golden birthday (turning 29 on the 29^th) and decided to spoil myself with getting my hair done professionally. I had had a good experience at the Swink style bar downtown, but this location had better timing options for me.
When I called to schedule my appointment, I let the receptionist know that I was looking for an updo, maybe something with braids and curls with everything being pinned up. She assured me that I could work with my stylist to create my perfect look.
Once I arrived for my appointment, I started chatting with my stylist about my desires. She told me «I want to be honest with you, I’m not trained in up dos yet, so I don’t know with confidence that I can give you what you’re looking for». I completely appreciated her honesty, but voiced my sadness over specifically asking for an updo when I called to make the appointment. Trying my best to be positive, I asked her, «so what can we do, then?» to which she told me that she could give me a really nice straightened hair with a few curls thrown in. I felt I could do this at home, but she assured me she was a «professional and it wouldn’t look as good if you did it yourself». It later came out that she had only been working at the salon for a few days. She and the receptionist were the only people there, so I couldn’t switch stylists either.
Once she started blow drying my hair, it appeared she had no experience whatsoever. I could tell she felt bad and was uncomfortable and I was frustrated and irritated, all during something I was supposed to be doing as a special treat for myself. I finally apologized, let her know that I knew it wasn’t her fault, and asked to leave.
I did my own hair that night (and it looked great!) and I made the most of the day — the party was awesome — but Swink totally let me down and created a pretty major obstacle in my day considering I was on a pretty tight schedule.

Whenever I’m in Seattle visiting family, my sister and I head over to Swink at University Village for a bit of pampering before we shop ’til we drop. I love the fact that customers are able to make appointments online, and everyone at the salon is professional and personable. They don’t disappoint!
At my most recent appointment, I was teamed up with Lindsay, and she was fabulous! Great head massage, great blow out, great conversation! She listened to my preferences and was able to deliver spot on! We’ll definitely be back!

Had a great experience at Swink having my hair and makeup done for a special event. Scheduling was effortless, my designers were lovely, and I received endless compliments all evening long! Highly recommend!

My experience today left me pretty unimpressed with Swink’s service.
I went in today for my appointment and explained to my stylist that I’d love to have the loose curls I came in with (from a previous blow dry appointment elsewhere) recreated fresh with this appointment and to also try out their hair powder to sort of touch up my roots between coloring appointments. I was told I could select a blow dry or dry styling, since you have to book both if you want to have your hair shampooed, blow dried, then styled with tools outside of blow dryer. OK, fair enough, not what I was expecting but not a big deal.
He said he could do curls with a round brush for my blow dry, to which I responded that that would be great and I would be open to really any blow dry style as long as it looked pretty.
Fast forward about 30 – 40 minutes and my stylist is still blow drying my hair (obviously running behind as he quietly asked one of the other stylists to shampoo his next client so he could finish up my hair). Conversation was minimal save for some slightly passive aggressive comments peppered throughout the styling session about how curling my hair with the round brush was adding a few more minutes, he was fully booked that day, and they only book ppl for 45 min the first time which might need to be adjusted etc since I had thick hair.
Once he was done styling my hair, he told me he was 20 min behind and couldn’t do the root powder they said they would do at the start of my appointment. Okayyyyy. Then he abruptly moved on to the next client. At this point, I’m charmed beyond belief.
For me, any one of these things happening isn’t that big of a deal. But I don’t feel like I should have to remind Swink that A) customer service and customer facing employees are paramount to any business’s reputation and that B) their very business model rests its foundation on making people feel pampered.
People can blow dry their own hair. People can wash their own hair. I have been shampooing my own hair for over 20 years now just like pretty much everyone else on the planet. People pay to get a blow out at a blow dry bar because they want to feel pampered by paying someone to blow dry and style their hair instead of having to do it themselves. So when you take the «pampering» aspect out of it and somehow manage to make me feel rushed out the door when I’m sitting in a chair doing nothing, along with passive bitchy comments on things that I frankly categorize as part of the «your problem, not mine» varietal, you’re going to irritate me. How you schedule (or over schedule) yourself should never be passed down as an issue to the customer. It’s unprofessional, especially when you take on the air of doing me some favor by using a round brush to style my hair when that’s exactly what I thought I was paying you to do. Plus saying you can’t do things like the root touch up powder that I was told you could do at the start of my appointment was just an awesome cherry on top of this customer service catastrophe.
I understand that sometimes issues happen, and scheduling and timing isn’t always perfect. However, I don’t understand how you think you are doing right by your customer by cutting corners and being bitchy when really all it takes is a little friendliness and a gracious attitude.
My hair looked great for my plans that afternoon, but my bouncy curls promptly deflated within a few hours, similar to my excitement at trying Swink and the deflated expectations after my first and likely last appointment.

Whenever I am in need of a quick blow dry, I head over to Swink. I’m a bit spoiled, as my first blow dry bar experience was with drybar down in Southern California, but Swink does a decent job at it’s mission.
The prices are decent for the services, and the ladies are always extremely kind and welcoming. I also love that you can book and cancel your appointments online! That being said, they do book up fast, so be sure to plan ahead!

I love the concept behind Swink. I wish their prices were a little lower, because I’m a cheap bastard when it comes to shelling out for beauty stuff when it’s JUST for a look and not an accompanying haircut. You know? I want a little more mileage out of it. But other than that, I love them!
Also, I super duper appreciate that they don’t charge me extra for my longer thicker hair when they blow it dry. If you have too much hair like I do, just make sure you let them know when you book your appointment. This location seems to be appropriately accommodating about that!
The one thing that kinda annoys me is that they don’t seem well equipped to do individual false lashes here; they only do the strip kind. When I specifically requested individual ones, and went so far as to bring in my own, they only had the strip-​lash kind of glue, which doesn’t have nearly as much hold. So my individuals (which normally last several days) came off that evening. No huge deal, but just be aware that if you want individual falsies you should bring ALL your own equipment, both lashes and glue, if you really want your money’s worth.

I know I’ve already given Swink (U Vill) a stellar review but… I kind of have to do it again! And maybe again. And AGAIN!
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I’m a dedicated swink goer but recently they’ve yet again exceeded my expectations.
I had a full set of lashes. Well, they fell out pretty quickly. I’ve been coming here for lashes for ever so it was a bit unusual. I got a call from the owner and after our chat she made some awesome arrangements to make up for the incident of having them fall out even though I assured her, I knew it wasn’t their fault! It could have simply been a shedding cycle.
Then recently, I scheduled an appointment here as I was the maid of honor in a wedding. I encouraged the bride to come here as well for her wedding hair so we were both there together. Our wedding hair was AWESOME!
Both the bride and my hair was perfect. Here’s what I love about getting my hair styled and done here. THEY ARE FREAKIN CONSISTENT. I never have to worry if they are going to do a bad job because they won’t. Rest assured.
So on my swink soap box once again, I really encourage you ladies to come here and check this place out for updos, blow outs, etc. Do not overpay some salon to do a crappy job. These stylists are fast and super competent.
I’ll never go anywhere else.

I’ve been to both the Swink locations, and my two star rating is for the U-​Village location only. I give the downtown spot a full 5 stars.
I’ve been to the U-​Village Swink twice. Both times were less than stellar experiences. On each occasion, I arrived early and sat for a LONG time waiting for my appointment to start. Since (on both visits) the stylist was running behind, she didn’t have time to wash, blow out and style my hair… I had to pick only two options, even though I had scheduled all three.
It was a major bummer, especially since one event was really important to me (the opening of my business) and I ended up wearing a ponytail.