good hair stylist in beijing

[ksl0588]

Hey, does anyone know a good place to have a nice haircut? I want a western stylist because I heard that they are good. I tried the salon in U-Center, the one located at the 6th floor of the mall (probably a Korean salon) and paid 80 RMB for a haircut which does not look good at all. That is why I want a place where the stylist knows what type of hair looks good on you, and can speak english as well any suggestions? Thank you

[Xiwang]

I don't have a recommendation but I also went to the same hair salon in the U-Center. I don't remember the haircut but do remember sitting next to two Chinese-American girls who assumed that I was a local who did not understand English. The best part of their conversation was the following:

Girl No. 1: How was your date with X? Are you going to go out with him again?

Girl No. 2: I don't know. Right now, I don't think I'm physically attracted to him.

Girl No. 1: But you saw him in the daylight before you agreed to go out with him.

Girl No. 2: Yeah, I know . . .

[Scoobyqueen]

Go to Tony and Guy, a UK chain, in Sanlitun for example. or opposite I think I saw a hair salon called Eric which is a French chain. There is also a Tony and Guy in Hilton if you are looking for highlights. They do them really well there.

[Brian US]

My friend goes to the U-center one and had her hair cut by the same guy for over a year. He left and she didn't really like her new stylist, so I think it is more hit or miss.

[roddy]

The directory listings on thebeijinger.com is probably your best bet. There's also this, but it's a few years old.

[ksl0588]

im a guy by the way, so im looking for a stylist who is good with men's haircut hehe

[Scoobyqueen]

Tony and Guy is also the right choice for a guy looking for a trendy hair cut.

[roddy]

Any cheapo place around Wudaokou should be used to dealing with foreign hair by now, are you sure the problem wasn't communicating what you wanted?

[Holly]

I second this request. I'm a girl in dire need of a hair trim, and I have no clue where to go. No one has been able to point me in the right direction. I'm about a 30/40 minute walk from Wudaokou, so if there's something there that's decent, let me know. I saw a salon on the sixth floor of a mall there, but it looked quite fancy, and I don't want a super expensive hair cut. Nothing more than $30...unless hair cuts are more expensive in China than in America? No clue, but I'm DESPERATE!!!

[Holly]

Can anyone tell me if the people at the Wudaokou U-Center mall can speak English? NO ONE in Beijing seems to be able to point me in the right direction to a salon that'll work... I'm going nuts here.

[anonymoose]

Keep your hair on - it's not a matter of life or death.

[Holly]

No, it's not, but I have short hair and it's extremely grown out, and I look like crap. It's embarassing.

[doumeizhen]

I used to go to Xiao Long at Punk in Wundaokou. While he doesn't have much hair of his own, he always did a great job on my hair, including color!

[Holly]

Can he speak any English?

Where is Punk, btw? I saw something called "Puk." Not sure if that's it...

[madik]

i am also looking for a hairstylist as my hair bang is growing out and i don't care how long my back hair gets but i do care for my bang as i might have to wear a cap for a month or so if i get a really bad one.

i prefer nearby wudaokou but i think it's worth making a trip if the other side of beijing has a english-speaking hairstylist. any suggestions?

thank you in advance.

[Holly]

Good luck, madik. I still haven't found one. Look godawful...

[gato]

Have you tried Toni & Guy, yet?

http://www.thebeijinger.com/directory/Toni-and-Guy

English speaking usually means expensive in China, though.

[Holly]

I've heard some very mixed things about Toni & Guy (bad haircut, couldn't actually speak English, wanted to do their own cut/styling despite the customers' protests, etc), although I did see one at a Zhongguancun mall (forgot which one) when I was out shopping last week. The Zhongguancun area is only about a 10/15 minute walk from my house. There's actually some "L'Oreal Professionals" salon right outside my apartment complex (it's like a "gated" apartment community), and I guess one of the girls in our study program went there. She said it was okay, and that they cut her hair well and spoke a tiiiny bit of English, but she has long hair that's hard to mess up, y'know?

Expensive is okay. A bad haircut for a girl is pretty darn bad, especially when you have shorter hair, want to take lots of pictures to remember your trip, and get stared at by EVERY CHINESE PERSON! Haha... So I'm willing to pay extra to look good, although preferably no more than $35 US dollars. And for that, I really do need someone who speaks at least basic English. I'm used to paying high prices for things, too, because I can't eat Chinese food for medical reasons! So I've been forking over lots of money for imported food.

I have a haircut that's really common in Korea and China - a bowl cut style bob - so I'm hoping that might help. It's very popular with Korean celebrities and younger women right now. But they might not be used to cutting Western hair...

[Holly]

Last request for help - still need a haircut. A girl in our program got one last week at a place in Wudaokou and went home in tears. She looks pretty...well...yeah. And before she just had a relatively standard shoulder-length cut. She said she asked for the same style in Chinese (and her Chinese is decent), and the guy decided to try something else. That, or he was drunk.

Heard a guy say my hair was strange the other day, so I'm feeling pretty ridiculous right now. It wouldn't be so bad if every Chinese person didn't stare at me like I'm an alien, regardless of what my hair looks like. But I would prefer the nice hair.

I know there are some salons that cater mainly to international patrons, but they're not in my area, and the last time I tried to print out an address and get there via cab was a disaster. The cab driver just took me to the general area, and despite the fact that I asked for help from roughly 10 people - cab drivers, guards, police officers, and random people - and had the address to show them, I couldn't find it. So I'm nervous about spending a lot of time and money trying to get someplace far away, only to not find it again.

I had my fingers crossed before I left that there would be at least some hairdressers who could speak English. Everyone was telling me how hard it would be to get Chinese people to talk to me in Mandarin, because they would want to practice their English, but I haven't run into more than 2-3 people yet who can speak English, and bad, basic English (yes, no, thank you) at that.

[madik]

Sorry Holly,

I am still looking for a decent hairstylist like you and I have been actually trimming my hairbang by myself. My language partner went to this hair salon on campus and having seen how they have murdered her hairbang, I have no intention of going to the ones on campus and am still searching now. I am good to go for the next month or so and am hoping that by the end of November I can find a decent hairstylist who speaks English in Wudaokou area. We will see how that goes.....