I gave up a long time ago on the idea that a haircut can change my life. Walking in with pictures of Dorothy Hamill, Jaclyn Smith, Joyce DeWitt and Couteney Cox never got quite the results I was hoping for, and life never got much more glamorous afterwards than it was before. But I still think you should feel like a rock star while you get your haircut. I want to be offered coffee or maybe wine, and I want my stylist to act like s/he has a vision and tell me s/he is going to "show off" or "accentuate" this or that, and I want to be surrounded by relatively attractive people, and I want an opportunity to make my life to seem exciting in the way that only a one-hour chat can make it.
Salon A offers none of that. I was not greeted at the door with any enthusiasm. 
Neither employees nor clients are incredibly stylish or charismatic. I was not offered a beverage of any kind. My stylist asked me what I wanted done at every snip, and then blew my hair out with a flip, which one look at me should indicate is a poor choice. Her question, How long have you lived here?, easily followed by Where did you move from?, was followed up by... nothing.
Sure, the cut—once washed and tended to in my own debatable style—ultimately proved adequate, and lasted me a couple of months. But, even knowing that 'fantastic' wouldn't land me in Aruba or catapult me to success and/or fame, I was a little disappointed, by the cut and by the process. Bethesda seems like a place where maintenance should be revered, where a little beauty (if not style) and pampering should be easy to buy. But mediocrity is easier to find. Anna, I miss you!
Salon A, 8209 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, 301.718.7373
