I had made an appointment for haircut with Leo. My appointment was 20 mins late because he needed to finish with the previous customer and to chat with her more. So I was out of the hair salon 25 mins later than the time that I could be out already. Even though he apologized, he did not have respect for customer's time.
I understand that I'm a new customer to them so he might want to know more about me, but he had asked me many questions about my background which were unnecessary for getting a haircut (e.g. where do I live, what is my occupation, why did I change hair salon, etc.). I had never been asked that many questions when I went to a new hair salon. It's better if they put the focus on the haircut rather than on making conversation. Moreover, he and his staff just sneezed into the air without covering their mouth. How are they seen as professional?
Also, I had not been offered any drink but I saw there was a cup of tea on the little table for the previous customer. Was that previous customer a regular customer or someone close to him? I don't know; but as my Japanese friend had said - they should offer me a cup of tea. When my haircut was finished, he had hold the mirror for me to look at my hair at the back. Then he asked me if I want to hold the mirror and he started to turn my chair before I had a chance to say no. I didn't want to hold that heavy mirror actually. Can he listen to customer first?
In addition, he had not washed my hair thoroughly - the time for washing my hair is much quicker than the other Japanese hair salons. Is he being cheap by saving on hair products? He didn't put any hair products on my hair after the haircut like other Japanese hair salons do. Furthermore, he had not blow-dry my hair since he had not washed my hair thoroughly; he just let my hair dried by itself within the one hour of cutting my hair. He, being the director hairstylist and also the owner of the store, is unethical to cheat at customer - the price of the haircut includes shampooing and blow-drying. That is why he was watching me pay, which is indeed impolite, because he was afraid that I would not pay the full price since he knew that he had cheated at customer.
Importantly, there was many little hair left on my face after the haircut, and some were even on my hand which I've never had at the other hair salons. If those little hair was not many on my face which was unnoticeable then it's okay. But it was noticeable, and I only knew that after I was out of the hair salon in an washroom later. I was surprised he can be that careless. He had not offered me a tissue to wipe those little hair off my face like some of the other Japanese hair salons do. This is unacceptable for the work of a director hairstylist.
With the price of the director hairstylist, I expect the whole haircut experience to be good but obviously it was not. My haircut took a longer time here (while having the same hairstyle) than the other Japanese hair salons with my appointment already been late. They try to be high-class by charging a higher price and use nice paper for the receipt, but they are merely money-oriented - they don't really serve unless you have other hair treatment and not just a simple haircut. I wanted to give this place a try at first because of the reviews. However, the owner had let me know that they are not only faking to be professional, but they are actually overrated - you can get the same techniques but with real service at a lower price at other Japanese hair salons in Vancouver.
P.S. The owner, Leo, complained about other customers in front of me; that means he might talk about you in front of other customers. Very professional. read more