I walked into Hop's hoping to get in between some classes. The first thing I experienced is that if they tell you it will be 10 minutes before they can get to you, it will be 25-30. If they say it'll be 20 minutes before they can get to you, it could be an hour. [They also had a girl come in slightly after me who had an appointment and was there 20 minutes early. Not a big deal, except for the fact that by the time I left, they still hadn't even started on her (which was about 15 minutes after her scheduled time)]
Anyway, to the point: I came in asking for the guy to just give me bangs, no I do not want a trim, yes I have pictures. I showed him a few pictures OF MYSELF and the blunt bangs that I get every few years... not some celebrity with an unattainable or heavily styled hair. Somehow he still did not understand what I was asking for and tried to give me sideswept bangs even when I told him that not only was he parting my hair on the wrong side, but I did not want that type of bang. So once he finished, I needed to hold his hand through the process of actually getting my hair close to what I asked for. So the haircut was pretty much crap & I ended up having to go home toeven it up with kitchen shears afterwords anyway (which is what I was trying to avoid in the first place).
Normally, I wouldn't be so pissed off, but throughout this process, the guy cutting my hair repeatedly insulted me. Part way through the hair cut, he complained that my hair was too thick while giving me a trim that I specifically stated I neither needed nor had time for. When I pointed out that my hair is actually pretty thin (I'd say a 3.5-4 on a scale of 10) he stopped and said, no it just looks that way because your forehead is too big. He then proceeded to lift up my hair to show me what a big forehead I have. Again, I must say that I disagree. I may be biased here, but I happen to think that if my forehead is perfectly fine, and even if I'm wrong, who the hell is he to say so and what the hell does that have to do with the alleged thickness of my hair? When I told him that fine, whatever, just finish cutting my hair, he just kept chatting that the sideswept bangs he wanted to give me would hide my forehead a lot better than the bangs I was asking for.
All in all, the haircut included sitting down in a chair, having my hair dry cut *cringe* and having to do everything except actually take the scissors from him to do it myself (which I did when I got home...). And I refused the product he offered since I own the same exact stuff and didn't see the point in putting it in my hair when I'd have to fix it when I got home anyway.
So when we get to the point of paying, I'm expecting to pay the normal rate for a haircut (which is $4 less for students according to the website). He tells me that it will be $18 (the general base price), and I pull out my student ID like "oh yeah, so can I use the discount?" His reaction was to scramble to add 4 to 18 to figure and say "oh! uhmm... I'm already charging you that rate but the haircut was actually 22, wait, yeah, 22. So 18 is the discount." Frankly, it's $4 so I didn't really care too much, but what ticks me off is that there is no way that the hair cut he gave me could have been simpler or less expensive, yet he will charge me whatever he feels like with no transparency whatsoever. I mean, jeeze... at least be a good liar if you're going to pull that on your clients.
So maybe I had a particularly bad experience and the guy was just having an off day, but I'm never returning to this place regardless and would not suggest it to a friend. I've had infinitely better (and less expensive) experiences at places like Cost Cutters or Fantastic Sams so if you're choosing this place because it's the right price range for a hair cut, I'd suggest you go elsewhere. read more