K- Hair Salon

Jul 2024

I called in to get an appointment, and Yanna was nice enough to fit me in at the last minute. I was impressed with her work from the beginning all the way to the end. She definitely has the experience and made me sure I left the salon looking good. Although it is a salon, they do mens cuts as well and do amazing compared to other barbershops who specialize.

Jul 2024

To set the context, I’m particularly picky about my haircuts and have made the trek down to Chinatown to get them for more than a decade. In this particular instance though, I was a bit desperate. I needed to get a haircut before a trip I was taking to meet some professional clients and did not have time to drive all the way to Chicago to get one before I left. I saw that this salon had just opened up fairly close to me, had some good reviews, and that being new (though I think they actually were just in a different location), they would know how to cut more contemporary styles.

Overall, I’ve been to this location 4 times now and here’s a breakdown of my...read full review

Jun 2024

To set the context, I'm particularly picky about my haircuts and have made the trek down to Chinatown to get them for more than a decade. In this particular instance though, I was a bit desperate. I needed to get a haircut before a trip I was taking to meet some professional clients and did not have time to drive all the way to Chicago to get one before I left. I saw that this salon had just opened up fairly close to me, had some good reviews, and that being new (though I think they actually were just in a different location), they would know how to cut more contemporary styles. Overall, I've been to this location 4 times now and here's a breakdown of my experience: 1st haircut = 5 stars 2nd haircut = 5 stars 3rd haircut = 3 stars (4th time was to fix what I considered a really uneven haircut) My 1st haircut exceeded my expectations. I was really impressed by how close to what I wanted my hair stylist Yana was able to cut my hair. I showed her a picture, described a few things I wanted, and it felt as though she put in a lot of care and detail to each part of my haircut. My 2nd haircut a month later was essentially the same as the 1st and I was really happy to have found a place to get my haircut that was only 20 minutes away instead of an hour plus. My 3rd haircut though was a huge bummer. In part, it might have been the circumstances because they had a walk-in come in at the same exact time I had scheduled my appointment and they initially confused the walk-in as the person who booked the appointment, and so perhaps it had something to do with the divided attention (she would switch off cutting each of our hair during the shampooing the hair phase - you can opt to do it before or after the haircut). When I got home, my wife remarked at how unevenly cut my hair was. When I compared it to the pictures I took the 1st two times, it felt like a different haircut even though I asked for the exact same thing each time. I called them the next day to ask if I could come in for a fix and after a bit of confusion on the phone, I scheduled something for two days later, a Friday (Yana doesn't go in on Thursdays). To set some additional context, the salon's usual patrons are usually all Korean and are able to speak Korean with the stylists. I bring that up because while I observed that, it wasn't very clear to me how much English was or wasn't understood (since I don't speak Korean nor am I Korean). I just assumed they knew enough to get my haircut done the way I wanted. When making my follow-up appointment for the fix, the confusion became more apparent that it was a language obstacle. When I got there on Friday, I knew something was off because it felt like Yana went through an entire haircut with me. I expected to only spend about 5 minutes getting my hair fixed but it ended up being the usual 25ish minutes with shampoo and everything. It was only after the haircut when this other lady told me the cost, that I had to explain to them I had just come for a fix. I thought Yana would recognize me since I had just gotten a haircut earlier that week but that didn't seem to be the case at the end. To their credit, when they realized the misunderstanding, they were super nice about it and didn't charge me anything and so it ended up with me getting a shorter version of the haircut I initially came for (at least it was even). In the end, I have some mixed feelings. On one hand, I have gotten very good haircuts here in the past and intend on going at least once more to see how it goes, especially because I'm intending to do the same style I've done the past few times. On the other hand, I also recognize that there exists a communication barrier if you're not a Korean speaker, which means if you're asking for a style that is different from what they're used to cutting, things may get lost in translation. I do believe that they will do their best to understand and to accommodate. If in doubt, Google Translate is your friend.