For the past few months, I've been on a journey... a hair coloring journey that is! My 25th birthday was in September, and I decided a great way to celebrate my quarter of a century would be to change up my naturally dark hair. Later in the fall, I was looking to continue going lighter with my hair, but I was also in the market for a new salon, as I wasn't in love with the first one I went to. It was perfect timing that Rituals Salon & Spa in the Richmond area reached out to me at this time! I've now been a client at Rituals for about three and a half months, and I'm excited to share a full review of my experiences and their services with you today. Make sure to read all the way to the end of the post as I have a discount code to share with fellow Virginians (or anyone if you happen to be in the Richmond area!).
I was gifted some complimentary hair and spa services in exchange for today's review- but all opinions of Rituals Salon & Spa are honest and my own.
Salon Details:
Rituals Salon & Spa is located in Midlothian VA, which is a suburb of Richmond. It's about an hour away from Charlottesville- it's pretty easy to get to Midlothian as you don't need to drive anywhere near Downtown Richmond to get there. My first impression of the salon during my first visit was how large it is! They have a generous amount of space right when you enter for their retail section for hair products and makeup, and the salon portion of the space is airy and bright. They are a full service hair, nail and day spa- offering just about any service that you could ever want. I've been so impressed during my visits to Rituals Salon & Spa at how friendly and welcoming all of the staff is! They will truly go the extra mile to ensure that you are satisfied with the services you're receiving. Here's a photo of the front of the salon all decked out for the holidays!
Hair:
The Rituals Team recommended that I see Errin, one of their senior stylists. During my first appointment with Errin in November, I showed her some inspiration photos for the type of lighter hair that I was hoping to achieve, and also was quite candid about some things I didn't like about the highlights I'd gotten at the previous salon I went to. Errin told me that balyage would be a much better fit for me over highlights, based on what I wanted to achieve. Full balyage on hair as long as mine is a lengthy process (pun intended!)- the first time in November took close to four hours and my most recent balyage this month took about three. But it's all so worth it!
Below is a snapshot of my grown out highlights from when I arrived at Rituals, to my hair after my first balyage session with Errin, to what it looks like now after my last visit this month! You can see how chunky and choppy the highlights were, versus how the color seemed a lot more well applied post-balyage.
Errin recommended that I come in for a toner treatment about every 6ish weeks, to help prevent my hair from looking brassy and to prolong the color. I've now had two full balyage sessions with her. Next time I'm planning to do a partial one, and then I'll go back to full in later spring.
I am so pleased with Errin's color skills and how my hair is getting lighter! Balyage is definitely what I prefer for my hair right now over highlights- the comparison between the two that's pictured above is just amazing to me. I'm having so much fun that I'm planning to still keep going lighter with my hair later this spring. 😉
After my first appointment with Errin in November!
After my second full balyage last weekend!
Spa:
I was also so excited to try out the spa services side of Rituals. Their non-hair services include nails, facials, massage, lashes, makeup application and more. During my December visit, after I had a gel manicure and facial, and both left me feeling relaxed, pampered, and ready to embrace the craziness of the holiday season!
If you follow me on Instagram Stories, you know that over the past few months I've become obsessed with using press-on nails from the drugstore. While I still love and continue to use those, there is still something so nice about getting your nails done every now and then. It's such a fun form of treating yourself! Melissa, the nail technician that I saw, is super skilled at nail art which made me so excited as I love doing accent nails! She did the most fun leopard design on my ring finger that coordinated well with the dark red I selected for my other nails. I've had my fair share of gel manicures over the years, and I've had few that have lasted as long and well as the one I got at Rituals! I was able to get almost three weeks out of it before it really started to chip.
And finally- the spa! I've had a few massages and facials throughout my life, but it's not something that I do with any sort of frequency. (Usually it's been on vacations when I've had the chance to have them!) I was lucky enough to get to see Alla, one of the Rituals estheticians, for one of the best facials that I've ever had. It was an incredibly relaxing experience, and it left my skin glowing for days after! Alla was wonderful and also made some helpful recommendations for certain types of products that I could add into my skincare routine going forward. In full transparency I'm not sure budget-wise that I can afford to do facials or massages with frequency right now, but I think that doing one at least one or two times a year needs to be a must as 2020 continues- my skin deserves it!
When Rituals Salon & Spa first reached out to me about trying their services, I went in to discovering the salon with a completely open mind and didn't know what to expect. I can now tell you that I am 100% a fan! I was very impressed by my hair, nail and spa services, and look forward to many more of them in the future. You might have seen this on my Instagram already, but Rituals Salon & Spa gave me a discount code to share with y'all. Make sure to use code Annaliese20 for $20 your services!
God Bless,
xoxo Annaliese
Your hair looks gorgeous! They did such a good job! This salon also looks and sounds amazing.
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