Designer's Denn Salon & Spa

Tried to schedule a wax appointment a few months back and they said I couldn’t because of a missed appointment and I owed for it. Weird, because I hadn’t been there since 2024 and I confirmed a cancellation with the front desk. For a $19 wax appointment, they said I owed around $40. Asked to have this addressed because I cancelled with your front desk with plenty of notice (well over 24 hours prior). Front desk said that a manager would call me to settle this issue. I even said that I’d be willing to settle with paying $19 (cost of the appointment) so there was no hard feelings and we could just settle it. Front desk said they wanted to follow up with a manager because the amount I supposedly owed was strange and didn’t make sense, so it seemed like it wasn’t supposed to be there. Especially since they said it was one missed cancellation and not two. Never heard back from them after two more calls. Ended up getting a gift card for my birthday this year so I wanted to get my hair done. Or attempt to. So we immediately called (twice) to address this issue once again. Was given the run around once again that this doesn’t seem right and a manager will get a hold of me ASAP to settle this because once again, “something didn’t seem right with the balance since that’s not an amount that would be charged”. Two weeks later and still nothing after months of trying to settle a debt that I didn’t even accrue. Customer service and management is severely lacking. No one knows how to handle a situation, but the one person that does is somehow always unavailable. Odd.

Update: I am changing my review to Sarah's new salon. I continued to see Sarah for haircuts & color the whole time I lived in State College, and she was consistently fabulous! You can tell how passionate and dedicated she is from how she continuously learns and hones her skills. Highly recommend! 7 years ago I had an excellent experience with Sarah. After making me coffee, she took a few minutes to ask me about my hair and what I wanted done - I didn't have anything specific in mind, so she made a few suggestions about styles and explained why she thought they would fit me well. During the haircut, she continued to ask me questions to make sure that I liked what she had in mind. Since I have really thick hair my cuts usually take a long time anyway, but Sarah dedicated over an hour of undivided attention to cutting, drying, straightening, and re-cutting my hair once it was dry. I love the finished style. She also made suggestions for products she has found to work well on hair types like mine, but was not pushy about selling anything. Sarah was friendly, focused, and professional the whole time. I have paid more for much lower quality haircuts. Sarah will definitely be my go-to stylist in State College!

I had the absolute best experience with Designer's Denn for my wedding hair and makeup! Calley and Whitney were truly incredible. From the very beginning, I had a specific vision in mind for how I wanted to look, and they both went out of their way to make sure that vision came to life perfectly. Calley did my hair and absolutely nailed it — it was elegant, secure, and exactly what I was hoping for. Whitney did my makeup, and I felt so beautiful and confident — she gave me a flawless look that still felt like me, just elevated in the best way. What really stood out was how patient, attentive, and professional they both were throughout the entire process. They listened to everything I wanted, made thoughtful adjustments, and made sure I felt amazing every step of the way. A big thanks to Calley, Whitney, and the whole team at Designer's Denn. I can’t recommend them highly enough!

The people who were helping me were very nice, customer service was great. The girl who was doing my nails was super nice, and patient and was very attentive to my nails which lulled me into a false sense of security because I was looking at my nails every now and then and they looked pretty good. But near the end when she started applying the polish, she had applied the acrylics in such a way where it looked like my nails were defying gravity. The nails don’t look bad, but when I put my finger to the side, the nails are shooting upwards. And to top it off, it was insanely overpriced. Acrylics are $85 on their own, and it was an additional $10 for the French polish. I added a tip only because the nail tech still had great customer service and I could tell she was trying hard to make them look nice but my nails were way too stuck up.

Melinda was amazing. She really took the time to walk me through what I wanted and was very patient with me. My hair looks EXCEPTIONAL and I will never get it cut anywhere else! You can tell she really cares about her salon and her stylists. The salon is beautiful, and I really loved hearing about her story of hair, opening the salon, and all of her additions! She walked me through her stylist training and how much heart she pours into all of her stylists- from the training to the blow dryers designed to prevent tendonitis! Overall it was a lovely experience and I can’t wait to go back. I have gone to Whitney before as well (a stylist who was undergoing a haircutting modeling training there) and she is exceptional as well. Hair is obviously an investment, but you get what you pay for (and more) here.