It's a fair question, and it deserves a plain answer. You look at two price lists — one salon charges half what the other does for what sounds like the same service — and nothing on either list tells you what the difference buys. So here's the honest version, including the parts that don't flatter our end of the market.
1. Judgment, mostly
The physical materials in a color service cost a fraction of what you pay. Bleach is cheap. What you're paying for is the decision about how to use it — on your hair, at its current porosity, with its particular history of box dye and beach summers and that one keratin treatment you forgot to mention.
A colorist who understands underlying pigment, how texture affects tonal read, and when to say "not in one session" will produce a better result with the same tube of color than one who doesn't. That gap is invisible on a price list and completely visible in a mirror four weeks later.
2. Time the work actually requires
Hand-painted balayage takes longer than foils because someone is placing every stroke by eye rather than following a grid. A color correction on over-processed hair takes longer because it has to be done in stages that respect what the hair can survive. A precision cut takes longer because the shape is being built, checked, and refined rather than trimmed to length.
Higher-priced salons generally book longer appointments. That's not padding — it's the difference between a service that's finished and one that's merely over. We don't rush the work, and we'd rather tell you a service needs two visits than force it into one and hand you damage.
3. A real consultation — before anything is mixed
This is the single biggest predictor of whether you'll like your hair, and it's the step most often skipped. A good consultation covers your hair's history and condition, your texture and growth pattern, how much time you'll realistically spend on it in the morning, and what you actually mean by "a few inches" or "just brighter."
It should also include the word no, occasionally. If the photo you brought isn't achievable on your hair in one appointment, you want to hear that in the consultation, not discover it at the mirror.
4. Who is actually holding the scissors
Credentials in this industry are uneven and often meaningless. "Certified" can mean a weekend. So look for the ones that are externally judged and hard to fake: competition results, editorial and runway work, brand-level educator status, published work.
These matter for a practical reason, not a vanity one. Competition and editorial work is where technique gets pressure-tested against people who know exactly what they're looking at — and that standard comes back into the chair with the stylist.
5. A shape engineered to grow out
An underrated one. Almost any competent stylist can make hair look good on the day. The harder skill is building a shape that still works in week six, when you've done nothing to it but wash it.
That's a planning problem — where weight sits, how the shape will fall as it lengthens, where texture is removed so it collapses gracefully instead of going shapeless. It's also why some cuts feel like they last twice as long as others at the same price.
6. What you're not paying for
Some honesty in the other direction. You are not paying more for better marble, a prosecco cart, or the word "luxury" on a window. Those things cost the salon money and they get built into your bill, but they do not improve your hair.
You're also not paying for a private, one-on-one experience. Salons — including ours — schedule more than one client in overlapping windows, because color processes for long stretches where nothing needs doing. That's normal — it's how the trade works. What should be true is that the hands-on portions of your service get proper attention and nobody is cutting corners to make a schedule work.
How to tell before you book
- Read the consultation policy. Salons that require consultations for color correction are telling you they take it seriously.
- Check whether prices are given before the service, not after. Surprise charges at checkout are a real tell.
- Look at the salon's own work, not stock photography. Grow-out photos and before/afters on hair like yours are worth more than a hundred filtered glamour shots.
- Look up the stylist, not just the salon. Individual portfolios vary enormously within the same building.
Where Reverie lands on this
We're at the higher end of the Chicago market and we'd rather explain that than dress it up.
Reverie was founded by Sal Misseri, one of the very few stylists in the world recognized at the highest level across haircutting, color, men's styling and editorial at once. He's been recognized 17 times by the North American Hairstyling Awards — including winning Newcomer of the Year in 2012 and reaching the finals for Hairstylist of the Year three times — and has been a finalist for International Stylist of the Year at both the Canadian Mirror Awards and the Irish Hairdressing Awards. He's a Davines Global Artist, has styled backstage at New York Fashion Week, and has taught master classes across the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, South Africa and Canada through Kaizen Education, the training program every stylist here comes through. He's known particularly for dry and razor cutting — shapes planned at the outset to grow out well rather than just photograph well on the day.
There are ten artists on the team, each chosen and trained by Sal. Vicki O'Connor, a Master Colorist with more than twenty years behind the chair, was one of Davines' key trainers when the brand launched in North America. Sydney Misseri, Sassoon-trained and Artistic Director of Haircutting for Kaizen, leads on precision work. Maria Korinek leads bridal. Sydney Goicoechea specializes in textured and lived-in cuts, Marissa White in curls and color, Naomi Grix and Gia Vu in blonding and balayage, Hana Gashi across the full range with an editorial eye, and Lilah Al-Surakhi in extensions and bridal makeup.
We use Davines professional products exclusively, we give you accurate pricing before the service starts, and we don't add charges at checkout.
Is it for everyone? No. If what you want is a fast trim at the lowest available price, there are salons in this city that do that well and you should go to one of them. If you've been let down by color that didn't hold, a cut that lost its shape in three weeks, or a stylist who didn't ask enough questions — that's the gap this end of the market is meant to close.
Come see for yourself
Reverie Salon is at 300 W Grand Ave, Suite 5, in River North, Chicago.
Book an appointment · Take the Find Your Stylist quiz · Meet the team
Call (312) 955-0083 or text (773) 378-9288 (SMS only).
