I was walking around Chinatown trying to find a hair salon to go to. I fell on this shop and chose it out of pure randomness. I wasn't expecting much, but you never know...sometimes you get lucky. I would love to find that one great place in Chinatown where I can go for cheap since my hair is short and needs to be re-trimmed pretty often.
The shop is a little more than disheveled. The posters are all hanging crooked, theres hair on the shelves, theres random products all over the place. The lighting in the back where they shampoo your hair was not on. I should have left but it was already around 6pm and everywhere was starting to close. I have very little time in my week between two jobs, volunteering, and dogs to take care of. I was already here so I stayed.
I was greeted by a man who, like most in Chinatown, didn't speak english very well. That's ok though, I brought a bunch of pictures to show him the cut I wanted. My hair was almost to my shoulders, I get it cut every couple of months or so back up to an angled bob. Layers in the back to add volume and longer in the front. He looked quite confuse by the cut in the pictures, which scared me but after a bit of talking, he assured me he has experience with this kind of cut. I kept insisting that if he does not know how to cut this, he needs to tell me. But he kept insisting. He noticed I had curly hair by the few curls in the front from the humidity at this time of year (I blow dry my hair straight) and asked me some questions about my history with perming and straightening. It was a little reassuring that he noticed and questioned on this topic since it does affect how a hair dresser cuts.
While washing my hair he had to mention "$25 not include tip ok?".....Thats not something you should say. I hate when people ask for a tip. I, as a customer, will tip you if I feel you deserve it in the end.
He washed my hair and to my surprise...started blow drying it before having even touched a scissor. Now I don't know if that's how the Chinese do it, but I have never had my hair cut dry before. Especially that my hair is curly so it wouldn't even make sense. Maybe if I had asian straight hair....
When my hair is finally dry and he starts cutting, he takes 15 minutes just to trim the very back layer of hair closest to my head. He then starts undoing the rest of the hair he had pinned up and starts straightening my hair with a blow-out brush and his blow dryer. "just trim in back and long in front right?" as if hes almost done and happy with his job. He hasn't cut anything but the back and was about to finish. I stop him and tell him I would not be paying for the cut if he only managed to trim the back.
We discuss the cut a bit more...as if he actually didn't understand when we first agreed upon it and he then states "Im sorry this is first time doing this sort of cut"....WHAT. You spent 5 minutes reassuring me you had experience and now in the middle of cutting my hair you are telling me you actually have no idea what youre doing.
We talked a bit more and we finally manage to get somewhere. I can tell he has experience with scissors because after i guide him through the cut a little more, he picked up the pace and started chopping my hair pretty expertly. I go to hair schools often and I can tell when a student is not completely comfortable with scissors. They don't have the right hand movements and cutting techniques. When he finished, it looked pretty good actually....Well, It looked fine on the spot but upon closer inspection at home, the sides were a little uneven and the layers were oddly shaped in the back. He knew I had curly hair and didn't put any sort of products in it after washing it. By the time i got home, my hair was curly and I had to re-rinse it to blow dry it myself with products.
I tipped him $5 for his effort. Also I am not completely dissatisfied. I am also not so picky with my hair and can play around with it to make it look less uneven. He managed to pull it off better than some hair academy students.
Although in the shop i said i may actually come back, It is probably not the case. For $25 in Chinatown though, I wasn't expecting much. read more
