Hair Garden

Helen still cuts hair. She just moved her location to 825 Harrison Street.
So I used to get a very nice haircut from a «stylist» that works on College Avenue in Berkeley.
The last time I went, it cost me $ 85. I am a man and right now, I choose to not spent $ 85 on a haircut, especially since no matter how great it is, I will need another one in 4 – 6 weeks.
So I can roll the dice with a bunch of cheap places and get really bad cuts or I can go to Helen who does a very decent job for the price that she charges. She is fast, usually available on the same day that I call and charges less than $ 20 before tip.
My girlfriend also gets her hair cut from Helen and the last time she got very long hair (six inches below the shoulders) cut into an attractive bob that looked great.
The thing that really differentiates the $ 85 cut from Helen’s cut is how they grow out. My old $ 85 cut got better and better as the hair grew out. Helen’s doesn’t do that as well but by the time I slap some gel in it, the difference is not $ 65 bucks worth.
Helen, I’m coming in next week. See you soon!

This place went out of business. What the hell, Helen?!: (

This lady did a terrible job on my hair! Based on the one previous review, I decided to give her a try. When I called to make my appointment, Helen told me she’d moved to «805 Harrison.» Well, on the day of my appointment I navigated hellish Chinatown traffic and fought for parking only to find… there is no «805 Harrison»! After wandering around for a few minutes thinking «what the heck do I do now?», I called her and said I couldn’t find her place. She said «oh no! 825 Harrison! 825»!
…
She’s apparently set up shop inside another salon with a totally different name. By the time I got there I was 15 minutes late. She greeted me by threatening to cut off my ears (Srsly! joke? not funny!!!), then dragged me over to the shampoo sinks and proceeded to rake her talons so hard over my scalp my head was burning for several days afterwards.
When she finished this torture, we went over to her styling chair and she examined my hair, exclaiming over how long it was (almost to my waist). I told her, point blank, that I hadn’t had a cut in way too long and that she needed to take off at least 6 – 8 inches to get off all the damaged hair.
She didn’t. She only cut an inch off, despite my constant reminders and requests to take more. She didn’t clean up my old layers (didn’t even mention them, in fact), and did a crappy job on the bottom layers. My hair was still full of split ends and tangled at the bottom, so I had to book an appointment somewhere better (see my other reviews) to get my hair cut the way I needed and wanted.
Cost: $ 25 for the cheap hair cut + $ 40 & $ 10 tip for a good hair cut = $ 75.
Bottom line:
1. She gave bad directions.
2. Threatened to cut off my ears!
3. Painful shampoo.
4. Didn’t listen to my explicit requests for the cut.
5. Didn’t clean up or redo my old layers.
6. Had to pay twice to get a decent cut!
Save your money. It’s better to pay for a slightly more expensive stylist rather than waste your money on a «bargain» cut here!