Ask for a patch test before any color service if you have not had one.
Bountiful is an established city with long-established salons, which has one specific consequence: a lot of people here have been going to the same stylist for years and the thing that disrupts it is not dissatisfaction but movement. Stylists change salons, go independent, take a chair in a suite building, or stop taking new clients. If you are looking for someone here it is often because the person you had has moved and you do not know where. That is a findable problem, and it is worth solving properly rather than booking the next available chair and hoping.
Stylists move frequently, and the most common destination now is an independent suite rather than another full-service salon. That changes the experience in ways worth knowing: suites are usually one stylist working alone, booking is direct rather than through a front desk, hours are often more flexible, and there is nobody to cover if they are ill.
Finding someone who has moved is usually straightforward — most keep a booking page and announce a move to existing clients — and if you have lost the thread, the old salon is generally willing to say they have left even if they will not say where. Beyond that, a stylist’s own professional presence is public.
What you should not do is assume the relationship is over because the address changed. Years of history with someone who knows how your hair behaves, what you have had done to it, and what you actually want when you say "a bit shorter" is worth more than convenience. It is reasonable to drive further for that.
Whether you are starting with someone new or going back to someone after years, the consultation is where a result is decided, and a good one covers specific ground. What has been done to your hair, chemically, in the last two years — including box color, which matters more than people think. How much time you are willing to spend on it at home. What your hair does when you do nothing to it. And what you actually want, ideally shown rather than described.
Pictures help and they are better used as a conversation than as an order. A stylist who looks at a photograph and tells you honestly which part of it is achievable on your hair, in one session, at your natural starting point, is giving you something valuable. One who says yes to everything is setting up a disappointment.
The other thing a consultation should produce is a price and a duration before anything starts. Chemical services vary enormously in time and product, and "it depends" is a reasonable answer only until the stylist has actually looked at your hair.
A full-service salon and an independent suite are different products and neither is better in general. A salon has a front desk, cover when someone is away, assistants, a color inventory that is maintained, and usually someone more senior to consult on a difficult correction. A suite has one person, their own pricing, and usually more time per client.
Where it matters practically is on complicated work. A long color correction benefits from a salon environment with help and depth of product. A straightforward cut and color with someone who knows your hair is often better in a suite, where you are not sharing their attention.
If you are choosing, it is worth asking which it is before you book, because the booking, the parking, the payment and the cancellation policy all tend to differ and the surprises are avoidable.
Usually yes. Most stylists who move keep a booking page and tell existing clients, and a salon will generally confirm someone has left even if they will not say where. The most common move now is to an independent suite, which means booking directly with them rather than through a front desk. Years of history with someone who knows your hair is worth following.
They should ask what has been done to your hair chemically in the last couple of years — box color included, because it changes what is possible — how much time you will spend on it at home, and what your hair does when you leave it alone. Bring a picture, and expect an honest answer about which part of it is achievable in one session. You should also get a price and a duration before anything starts.
Neither is better in general; they are different. A salon gives you a front desk, cover when someone is away, a maintained color inventory and usually someone senior to consult on a difficult correction. A suite gives you one person’s undivided time. For complicated correction work the salon environment helps; for a familiar cut and color, a suite often suits better.
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