Cultivate studio

"Alec always does an amazing job on my hair! I’m obsessed. Totally recommend"

"Alec is amazing at hair! My hair is so much healthier and the color is naturally beautiful. I won’t let anyone else touch my hair."

"Alec is THE best hairstylist I’ve ever been to! I highly recommend him! He is the only hairstylist I can trust with my hair. And he has such a great personality too!"

"They asked me to come in an hour earlier which I was happy to do because I thought that meant I'd be out sooner. Well ended up not even starting on my hair until an hour into my appointment. I just wanted balayage or brown with more dimension. Showed multiple photos and kind of relinquished control to the professional. Before services began I was told the price...$375, kind of shocked me because I've never spent that much on hair, I'm not from the area but I have lived on every coast and even overseas and have dealt with varying prices when it comes to esthetics/cosmetology services. But I stomached it because it had been almost a year since I've had my hair done (Covid and an international move...I was long overdue for some hair love) so I told myself $375 isn't bad considering It's been a year and I definitely go over $375 if you add up my USUAL quarterly appointments. However, it wasn't $375. My final total was $517 which is absurd considering this is a tiny suite rented in a strip mall building. I've been to two level spas that offer massages to hair to nails to facials and have never spent that price. He charges extra per bowl of lightener which I didn't think I'd need considering my hair is at my shoulders. The girl before me got blue hair and I nearly gasped when he rang her up at $635! $375, 4 bowls of lightener, then I paid on his phone and he selected the tip option and hovered over me so I felt pressured to tip. It seems a lot of VA hair stylists like to itemize every thing they do 1. Toner 2. Balayage 3. Cut 4. Shampoo 5. Blow dry and I find that ridiculous. You're going to put bleach in brown hair and NOT tone it? You're going to charge for washing said product out? Then you're gonna charge for a blow dry? What if i turned down the blow dry?! Do I leave your salon sopping wet?! It's weird to me. Have one all encompassing price. "Balayage" should imply toner and a shampoo, so charge one fee instead of itemizing everything like you're a grocery store. I've since found other stylists in the area that DONT do this itemization, I don't think decent hair should be unaffordable. This is freakin Chesapeake, not Los Angeles, not New York, humble yourself. To top it all off my hair is just "ok." For that price I am not wowed. I've gotten better balayages for cheaper and for less time in someone's chair (I was there over 4 hours.) I don't think he was pleased with his work either because it wasn't posted to any of their socials. Also while in the shampoo bowl they were doing something to my hair (two of them at one time) and like tugging at my hair. I have a high pain tolerance but it was still uncomfortable. First time I've ever been tortured at the shampoo bowl, generally shampoos are relaxing experiences. Also it's a bunch of younger people, one doesn't even do hair at all, and they have lots of side chatter and gossip and it's a bit unprofessional. Won't be returning and I suggest looking elsewhere and doing more research before you book an appointment here. Live and learn."