San Francisco College of Cosmetology

I love this School!
I really appreciate that it is not a chain.
It is ran and operated by one local woman Collene. Her focus is to get you educated and prepared for the State Board Exam. This is the very basics of cosmetology. Once you get the basics down and pass your state board exam you can start taking advanced training courses but you must get the basics first and you must pass this test! She has a high rate of her students passing this exam. Collene cares about your education. I know because I came in last year for a refresher course to retake the exam.
Collene and her instructors were kind and patient with me. They stuck by me every day. Sent me home with tools and homework every day and I passed the exam the first time!!!
I am so grateful for Collene and her staff for going above and beyond with me.
THANK YOU Collene!!!
For those of you that are leaving mean one star reviews, please keep in mind this is a school this is where students are learning to perform the services that you are requesting so it may not be perfect every time but they are trying their best. Most good schools provide an environment for students to make mistakes because we as human learn from our mistakes so be patient be understanding please be more compassionate about you’re reviews.

HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND DISRESPECTFUL!!!
Went in to ask about a quick trim, guy at counter says it will be $ 10 for girls and I could get it cut now. Told him I want to see if they have a haircut book or talk to a stylist about my cut before proceeding. He told me I must pay first, then says something in another language to a lady working next to him. She smirks at the remark, he then TURNS HIS BACK TO ME AND PRETENDS TO IGNORE ME. I then said to him «excuse me, sir, are you trying to ignore me?! Not only is that rude but that’s horrible customer service!» He then turns around and demands I pay him first. I replied «No, with your horrible customer service, I rather not!» And left. Please do not even go in this shop, this is such a level of disrespect no wonder it was empty with barely any customers!

Yikes! can I say my hair was butchered? the Chinese lady that cut my hair didn’t seem to understand what I wanted or what I was trying to tell her. I wanted her to wash my hair and all she kept doing was nodding her head. I told her I want long layers and V shaped cut and she gave me a straight cut. I tried to speak to her and she just didn’t seem to understand a spit of English. The guy that supervises? came by and said LONG LAYERS OK??? again nodded her head… couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there… Paid an additional $ 30 bucks to get my hair layered next door… needless to say this was a lesson learned…
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR… Nice people, but they need more supervision from the teacher (s).

If you are contemplating a career in cosmetology or esthetics, you should really look into this college. They offer the best pricing for beauty school and services in San Francisco. During my attendance I found the instructors to be knowledgeable in their fields and very helpful to the students. There is a good radio of students to instructors which allows them to assist students throughout services. Ms. Twee, in particular, is a master in her field. She can shape any eyebrow to perfection and trains her students based on her waxing techniques.

I went there for a mani and originally wanted a beige/​nude colour on my nails, but since no one spoke english I didn’t manage to communicate that, so I gave up and just said: french. I had to pay 2 dollars extra and it looks lika a kid did them, and one day later it has been worn of due to the poor quality.
It was cheap, but still not worth it.

Let me start by saying that I would not advise anyone to attend this school. Horrible business owner Colleen Nyugen. Beware of the scams. Not professional at all. Worst experience I’ve had.

This is quite possibly THE WORST Cosmetology School to possibly get one’s hair cut in! I have walked by many times. It is located in a very nasty part of Mission Street. (Sorry if it is offensive, but it is true) Anyway, this place is always very busy, and the students working here are beginners. Its nearly like trusting children to chop your hair!
The absolute worst thing about this school are the students & instructors SMOKING outside (IN UNIFORM!) in front of the school. It is incredibly nasty to look at and also just makes the school look BAD. I’d never have anything done here and would never trust them.
There are plenty of other schools in San Francisco where you can get cheap hair cuts, much better one’s in the Mission, none the less, that do much better work. This place is at the very bottom of the worst in the Mission! Don’t go here unless you want to be an experiment for students needing hands on experience.

Went in to get a mani pedi and European facial. I have never had my hands doted on so carefully and all the cuticles removed so thoroughly. They did my hands and feet at the same time, I felt like a celebrity! Some girls are obviously better then other at doing nails, the girl that did my feet kept dropping her filing board and then the lotion and several other things, I guess she was nervous!
I wasn’t expecting a super amazing perfect and stellar job for a school but they did a good job! I’m happy and it’s good enough for me!
The facial they take you into the back room, the products that they use, the steamer, the tools, the moisturizers and the exofoliater are the real deal. I got kind of super skimped on the massage that was superposed to be included with my facial. I guess the girl didn’t want to or didn’t know how to but I had really been looking forward to that. And then WTF they kept opening and closing the door and girls came in and were talking and my relaxing quiet facial got really loud and the blow dryers were being used and they kept leaving the door open. I actually had to open my eyes, stop the woman and ask the woman to close the door, it was really distracting and LOUD. Again, you get what you paid for. And I barley paid anything and my pores are squeeeeakkaayy clean! The instructors are there the entire time! Everyone was really nice however there are many girls and maybe even instructors and defiantly the front desk person, who speak no English except for things like ‘manicure’ ‘shorter’ ‘harder’ ‘thank you’.
Despite the language barrier I still had a great time and realize I’m not going to get top notch stuff from students. If you go in with those expectations you’ll be dissapointed but I’m happy that I got to give myself some TLC for so cheap and my nails look great and my skin feels so soft!

Got a haircut here yesterday, the lady did a good job. Have some patience these people are just learning their trade. Leave a good tip too.

my friend goes here all the time! took me one day got a mani and a hair cut for hecka cheap i was happy! they were super nice here too. i just need to remember it is a school and i need to be patient.

Where else in San Francisco can a girl get a cut for $ 7? Well I did tip $ 1 but that still makes $ 8.
I walked in about 4 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon. The place was going to close at 5 p.m. but they quickly accommodated me. I have about shoulder length hair and just needed a trim so it was not a huge production. However, the student got the job done, asked her teacher to look at her work and then he made a few snips here and there and then I was done!
I definitely want to try the nail services and maybe the facial services. I may leave waxing to the professionals.
Great way to save!

I am writing this review on behalf of my elderly parents who feel that they were greatly mistreated at this place.
My father came here for 2 reasons: the price was right at $ 5 and it was walking distance from home.
The young lady that attended to him sat him down and asked if he wanted the number 1 guard. My father did not understand what she was saying and only told her that he would like his hair cut short. Mind you, this man barely has a head of hair to begin with but it grows just enough for a trim. The young gal began using the buzzer on my dad at which my mom protests and yells out asking why it was being used on him.
From what my parents say, things escalate to where this girl starts yelling at my 77 year old father telling him that she asked him if that was the number guard he wanted used. She then leaves my dad on the seat with his hair buzzed halfway. Her instructor takes over after apologizing to my parents stating that the student is just «hyper». After the incident, my parents are told to never come back. I have called and spoken to the President of the school and am told I will hear back from her after she investigates what had happened.
I understand that these are just students but they need to be taught professionalism and composure when dealing with unsatisfied customers.

i have mixed feelings about this place, because the two services i got in the same visit were so vastly different.
i’m poor. no bones about it. i got no money, so a $ 10 haircut & $ 10 pedi seemed like my kinda deal.
walked in the door, and the first impression is of the overwhelming smell of hair bleach. you get used to it pretty quick, but sensitive folks would prolly get a head hurt.
sat down for a few minutes and waited for someone to scoop me up. a girl walked over and pointed at me, then looked at the receptionist, clearly a question «is this her?» yes, i was. no hello, no smile, no eye contact. she sat me down in a chair and stuffed my feet into a tub with a plastic bag in it filled with tepid water. still not a word spoken. she proceeded with the pedi, and to be honest, it was the worst i’ve ever had. this is a classic example of getting what you pay for: they had a paltry selection of polishes to choose from, super cheap brands, and it showed when she painted. the color is uneven, and watery. she neglected to paint half of one of my nails, which looks like crap, needless to say. then she had someone come over to tell me my nails were dry after she wandered away. they weren’t. they immediately smudged, but since she was already gone, i was FUBAR.
as i sat there in relative silence getting a crappy pedi, i watched the students. they only spoke to one another, and ignored all of the customers in the place. one customer came out of the facial room, and the girl who was doing her facial walked behind her gesturing and mocking her. as soon as she saw me watching her, she smiled, turned to her friends, and kept mocking the woman. i was amazed. apparently, they don’t teach customer service at this place.
i was ready to walk out after witnessing this, but since they make you pay in advance, i didn’t want to lose my $ 10 for the haircut (poor, remember?).
thankfully, the gal that did my haircut was spot on. she gets all three of my stars, because practically everyone else was a fail. we had a quick chat about what i wanted, and she got straight to work. she diligently separated each layer of hair and concentrated on doing a great job. and she did. i love my new hair, and i love that she really strove to do great work. unlike every other person i saw ‘working’ there (with the exception of the receptionist, who helped put the finishing touches on my ‘do), she ignored all the gossipy flighty BS around her, and focused on her craft. kudos to that. i hope she lands somewhere people appreciate her.
i probably won’t go back here, but will make the trek up to zenzi’s, the place i used to go before they moved allllllllllll the way up to the marina. blerg.

Who cares if they do not speak English … It’s a good price, serves and work…

I have to totally disagree with all the other haters. I had a $ 12 pedi and the gal who did it took like 45 minutes to do it and she did a great job. Just as good as the $ 20 pedis I get elsewhere. As for the $ 28 facial, I have mostly great things to say (thanks Winnie, she was wonderful. An hour facial. very thorough, very relaxing. The place is not swank looking at all but it is clean and adequate. She did a fabulous job and I am very pleased. The only things I think could be improved is if they used higher quality products from a reputable line (rather than plain wrap/​generic) and also it was very noisy because the facial room is wedged between the front classroom and the back break rooms so the constant jabber was a bit distracting. What do you want for 28 bones? I would absolutely go back.

I think I’m one of the few lucky ones that got away with a good student. I was feeling cheap & didn’t feel like paying $ 100 for a layered trim, so I found this place & near work. They only charge $ 10 & I knew that it’ll be a student who’ll work on my hair.
I wanted a basic layer, nothing fancy. But Peter didn’t seem to know what a layer was! I thought this was as basic as learning to use the scissors. There were 2 other students & an instructor behind me. They were all yapping in Vietnamese, but from Peter’s look (he did the swallowing of the throat) he looked confused. I can tell that all of them was trying to tell him that he wasn’t layering my hair correctly. They even showed him a demo on a mannequin. So luckily, a frustrated student whose station is next to him helped the fellow out. (I think his name is Marco). Marco took over my hair & he did a great job. He even did the checking if all the layers are even move.
I’m no expert, but I cut my hair for a long time & been to many salons in my lifetime. Think twice about coming here because it is surely a gamble, even with a simple trim.

Never again! One star is generous and the $ 5 manicure expensive for what I got.
I thought that my last manicure was a fluke — a couple nails flaked off within 24 hours. I had brought my own polish so I thought it might have been due to the the drug-​store quality.
Well, it only took about 12 hours this time to loose 2 nails — using their colors — in my sleep. The rest were easily picked off as whole pieces — no need for polish remover.
The student hacked at my hands like a dental hygienist going after years’ of accumulated plaque on her cheatin’ husband’s teeth. Even after I tried to ask her to be more gentle, she filed my thumb nail down below the natural line and rubbed away skin on other fingers. Ouch! Granted, I don’t think she knew even one word of English, but she should at least know basic facial expressions of disapproval or gestures of pain. When I got home, I noticed that the filing was crooked and the polish was all bubbly — probably from the drying spray she used at the end.
Bad, bad, bad.

Account hacked!

1 star for manicure– 3 stars for eyebrow wax.
DON’T come here for a manicure, esp. first thing in the morning. I came because I wanted to get one for an afternoon job interview. They supposedly open at 8:30am but only a few students were there and weren’t ready. The guy who runs the place speaks broken English and is quite brusque/​rude, demanding payment before services.
They might get a lot of traffic from the seedy Mission/​16^th St. BART area because they require clients to wash their hands before starting. Forget hot towels or warm water to soak your hands in. Students wear the cheapest white nylon lab coats possible, almost translucent. The print job on them with the school logo looked uneven, a misalignedment no one noticed.
Students began drifting in one by one. They lounged with their legs up on the chair arms, eating, hanging out in the client service area. Many of them seemed to have English as a 2^nd language– either Spanish or Vietnamese was their first.
There was one woman who stood out who turned out to be a transfer student from another college. She was fluent in English, friendly to her fellow classmates, was really into one’s haircut, and talked about experiments she was going to do with her hair. She was INTO it, in a way that her classmates didn’t seem to be.
At about 9am my manicure was done, but the eyebrow person had just gotten in and the wax wasn’t hot. I waited for 15 minutes and asked again, and was told to come back. (It would have been nice if they had given me a time estimate but professionalism isn’t a strong point here.) I had an errand to run so I came back at 10:15.
The back room for waxing is slightly more private. The student was closely observed by a teacher who helped when necessary. The result was really terrific. Other students did keep coming in and out and not shutting the door that separated the wax room from the larger noisy nail/​hair room.
Summary– Wax is good, but don’t go first thing in the morning. From what I saw in the other review, the hair cutting is a disaster.

**DO NOT** go to the SF College of Cosmetology, especially if you have curly hair.
They are especially full of EPIC CURLY HAIR FAIL, and are probably also probably full of Epic Haircut Fail in general.
The other beauty schools I’ve been to in San Francisco (Paul Mitchell & Zenzi’s) have treated my curly hair great, so I figured SFCC would be fine. There are many curly-​haired folks in the Bay, right? How hard could a simple curly haircut be?
I specifically said, «I want my hair layered, shorter in the back and longer in the front, and I want it to progressively get longer at an angle down the sides.» I also gestured to show what I wanted. It is a haircut I’ve gotten a bunch of times, and nobody has ever had trouble interpreting what I wanted.
My stylists (and there were multiple) at SFCC did. They cut and layered the back to the nape of my neck, which I wanted, but they did not even touch the sides or front of my head (???).
When I said «Hey, you cut the back, but not the sides, and I said I’d like the sides cut as well,» they tried to charge me more:
Them: That’s another haircut.
Me: Uh. No – IT’S WHAT I ASKED FOR ORIGINALLY, FOR YOU TO CUT BOTH THE BACK AND THE SIDES.
Them: No, you’re asking for another haircut. We have to charge you for a second haircut.
!!!
I left, and got an awesome fix-​up at Zenzi’s. They even gave me a *discount* at Zenzi’s ($ 15 instead of the usual $ 20!) when I told them what happened at SFCC.
In conclusion:
Zenzi’s = Yay!
SFCC = EPIC FAIL