I came here based on my friends' reviews of this place.
Parking was a cinch--there's a lot in the back and plenty of street parking, so not hard to get a spot at all. Walked in on a Thursday with no appointment. This place looked clean and modern, on the lower end of high end salons. It seems like there are only two hairstylists, Peggy and Kim, and no receptionist. They were very nice and worked efficiently though.
When I came in, they were already working with customers, but Peggy said she would assist me in about 15 minutes. So I sat down and read some magazines. As Macy already stated, they have a wide variety of magazines, both in English and Japanese.
Peggy did come to assist me after 15 minutes or so, and we talked a bit about what kind of hair I wanted and she used pictures in the Asian magazines it help communicate exactly what kind of hairstyle she pictured for me. She was very helpful in making suggestions and quite decisive, which I like because I'm very indecisive most of the time.
She shampooed, conditioned, and maybe added something extra (because there were 3 applications) very well and massaged my scalp nicely, which I like. Then, it was straight to the chair and she began snipping away. She provided some magazines for me to read while she cut my hair, which is new to me--I've never read magazines while my hair was being cut... But I guess I kind of prefer it this way because I don't really like to make small talk with chatty hairstylists.
After she was halfway through cutting my hair, she went to assist another customer--the one she had been working on before--who was getting his hair colored I believe, for about 15 minutes or something. She did ask/tell me that she was going to have to leave me to assist him before she started to cut my hair though, and I consented, so it wasn't a big deal. Her excuse was that I am a first time customer and did not have an appointment to begin with, which I think is a fair explanation.
After she finished cutting my hair and bangs, she blowdried and styled my hair. It was interesting to have my hair styled because normally, they just blowdry it and maybe add some serum or something, but that's about it. She actually used a huge curling iron to curl the ends of my hair in a little bit, etc. which I noticed they do to every female customer, so that's kind of a nice extra I guess. While blowdrying my hair, she even gave me tips on how to blowdry my bangs since I had a lot of baby hair in the front, although I can't say that it was really helpful because it didn't work out when I tried it--maybe I just did it wrong.
In the end, my hair looked good, which is surprising because I have NEVER liked a single haircut I've ever received immediately after getting it. I'm just really picky about my hair. But I will say that I didn't LOVEEEE it. It just looked pretty good, although a bit shorter than I wanted, but it's okay. Unfortunately, a few hours later, the styling she gave me kinda came undone and my hair didn't look as nice anymore. I look at myself in the mirror today and I wouldn't say that I'm unhappy with the haircut, but I'm not exactly impressed either. However, the bangs are fairly good, so I would recommend this place for a bang trim, which only costs $5.
All in all, my shampoo, cut, and blowdry/style cost $38 total--not sure if she added $3 tip in there by herself or not because these other reviews said it costs $35 and she didn't seem upset when I didn't mention adding tip to my credit card charge. Kinda pricier than I'd like, but a lot of other salons are worse. I would say that the service and atmosphere did feel quite luxurious though (well more so than a $20 hair salon).
To save yourself some money, shower beforehand and tell them to skip the shampoo and you'll get $10 off. Two of my friends who did not get a shampoo here said they only payed $25 for their cut. Too bad I didn't know this trick beforehand because the shampoo really isn't worth $10...
Overall, I'd say one of the best experiences with a haircut I've had, although I will say I tend to go to cheaper salons with the exception of a slightly more expensive one than this one last year. Peggy is very helpful in telling you what she thinks will work on you and how to deal with your hair in the future. She communicates what she's going to do well, without being too chatty. I don't know how Kim is but I will say that it seems like she is the younger, more Americanized of the two. She had all of the non-Asian customers (3 that I saw).
Anyway, I'm not sure if I will return to this place the next time I get a haircut because I always switch around and might end up wanting to try another, but I do think it is a good hair salon and recommend it. read more