May’s Hair Design

Wish I could only give ½ of 1 star. Most awful hair experience I have ever had in my life. Just had surgery and all I wanted was a relaxing hair trim and shampoo. The minute I walked in the door I was met by both hair stylists bombarding me claiming they both had cut my hair before and should be doing my cut. I honestly couldn’t remember and didn’t care, but the entire time they kept arguing with each other and harassing me about who was entitled to cut my hair because they worked on commission. I told them I just wanted a shampoo with quiet relaxation time since I wasn’t feeling well after surgery. They continued to harass my husband and then continued to chase me out the door with their business cards about who to come back and see next time. This wasn’t relaxing at all to say the least and I will NEVER be coming back here again. Not only did you lose a customer with your catty inability to get along and not argue in front of customers, but your unprofessionalism at this place is beyond ridiculous. Grow up already. I’m done with it here.

May is super nice and actually remembers you, which is always helpful for a hair cut spot since you don’t have to remind her what kind of hair style you’d like. The place is a quick, no-​frills place, that always gets the job done for me.

I like to come here for a regular cut, but nothing too fancy. They have a nice system and most of the hairdressers know what they’re doing around an A line or Bob but don’t expect much if you want an undercut or some outrageous updo. I would give them a four star rating if it wasnt for the communication issues which always seem to need some sort of clarification. If you’re clear with what you want and don’t want to spend too much on a nice cut, it’s usually a good bet.

I love getting my hair cut here! Maureen is fantastic. My trims are pretty simple, so the price is right and I am always very happy with my cut and chatting with Maureen during it.

WORST HAIRCUT EVER.
Came here because I was having dinner in the area and it had decent reviews. First off, I am NOT picky about my haircuts. All I wanted was a quick trim to get rid of my split ends. Called in and was told I could be seen in 20 minutes. When I arrived, there was one guy before me and May tells him to wait a few minutes because mine should be fast. And it was. It literally took about 1 – 2 minutes to cut my hair. I asked for a trim, no more than an inch, and to keep my current hairstyle.
Now the horror, she literally combed all my hair to my back and cut straight across and said I was done. When I saw the look on my boyfriend’s face, I knew something was terribly wrong. My hair was originally past my chest, but now its above my shoulders. And on top of that, it was crooked. My boyfriend could of cut my hair and it would of turned out better. It was so bad that I didn’t even want her to fix it.
DO NOT COME HERE. You’re better off cutting your own hair with your eyes closed.

May is amazing. I’ve been coming here since moving to the neighborhood a year ago. She’s very friendly, and you can’t beat $ 10 for a great haircut. She takes a lot of attention with your cut and has been consistently good every time I’ve gone.

Came in after I made an appointment first… Very quick service and affordable price for shampoo n blow dry ($ 15)+$ 5 tip!

I feel like I’m missing something since this place had such great reviews… But man my experience was nothing like what people described.
Pro: she was super honest about what haircut work/doesn’t work, and price is cheap (kinda??) and the end result was not disastrous (because it doesn’t look like anything changed)
Cons: she literally spent 5 minutes total on my hair. I asked for bangs, cut, layering, etc. I felt like I just sat down, she went cut cut cut and was just done, pulled up a mirror to show me for 2 seconds and that was it.
So for some context if you didn’t know, this isn’t a «Salon» like the fancier kinds, it’s a bit of a sketchy Chinese haircut place. That said I’ve been to ones like this and they’re never spent this little time.
When I first sat down at around 5:20pm this guy comes in who is clearly their friend is like «hey guys I need a haircut before my date. I need it done and I need to get to the date by 6pm. Seriously I can’t be late.» So I don’t know if they did it fast cause they wanted to help their friend, but either way it kinda sucked. I don’t notice any difference when I looked in the mirror. $ 25 total including tips for that (no shampooing, no blow drying, barely 10min of cutting).
Also I called in early to book an appointment, the lady on the line was just like «yeah yeah yeah just come.» When I got there Maureen was like «soo it’ll be better if you booked an appointment next time.» Wtf? Clearly it was their friend that dropped in without notice.
Oh also it’s cash only. (I walked to boa and back for this place) basically spent WAY more time preparing to get the haircut than actually getting it.

I’m giving Maureen 2 stars only because she was honest, otherwise my hair cut doesn’t deserve any. I wanted to tone my hair to get rid of the brassiness, but she said that she won’t do it because she didn’t want to damage my hair. Thank god, because she probably would have turned my hair green or something. Anyways I asked for a simple trim, no layers, just a simple U shape without it being thinned out. Instead I got a trim that’s super thinned out and layered. But that’s not the worst part. It’s uneven. One side is choppier and thinner than the other and it’s quite noticeable. Sucks because I have very little hair, and now it looks like I have even less! And no, I didn’t tell her to fix it because I didn’t want her to do anymore damage. But what was I expecting. The hair cut was only $ 15. But that’s an additional 15 on top of what I have to pay to fix it now.

I’ve been to May 4 times now since I’ve been introduced to this salon back in December/​January. (That’s a lot of hair cuts for it only being ⁶⁄₇ months!) But after YEARS and YEARS of not being able to find a good stylist who can cut my hair the way I like. After coming the first time I just kept wanting to come back for trims and other cuts.
She ALWAYS listens to what YOU want. She’ll cut it the first time for length and go more in depth once you like where your hair’s at. She’s the one stylist I know that DOESN’T want to chop all your hair off at once!

I come here for Maureen once in every couple or months or so. She’s quick, fun, super friendly and knows exactly what I want every single time. It’s great as a walk-​in, but even better if you call ahead and set a time with her. Price is a real bargain which is awesome for my rapidly growing hair. I juggle between Maureen and a regular barber because I like getting clean shaved in the barber, and Maureen will perfect it with her trimming and texturizing skills. I’ve never been disappointed with this place ever and I’ve come here often since the past couple of years.

I’ll be honest, I’m a pretty minimal girl to maintain. I just want my hair trimmed and layered, but I’m not willing to pay over $ 60 for it. With that being said, thank GOD for May’s Hair Design in the city !
I’ve been coming here for quarterly trims for a few years now. She is super fast and efficient (~20min) for a trim and layers my hair nicely. She’s a little vain. she’ll only charge $ 15 if she thinks you’re pretty. The girl next to me had to pay $ 20 for the same haircut. I felt bad, but hey! that extra $ 5 just goes into her pocket as tip :)
May always cuts my hair, but the rest of her staff does just as well. I love this place because it’s the first «cheap Asian haircut place» that doesn’t try to give me some HK pop star style cut.
Go here if you want a quick trim (nothing fancy, ~20 min for men and women), for a cheap price ($ 20+) ! No appointment necessary. Hope that helps =P

Cash Only. $ 10 for men’s cut. $ 75 for full highlights.
Yay on not insisting on using bleach! Red highlights could be done with just developer crème. Maureen was very meticulous in making the high/​lowlights thin and up to the roots. I recommend making an appointment as it is just Maureen and May. Nicest ladies ever, but they will insist on «fixing» your hair (no charge) even if you just got it cut — so make sure you are clear on whether it is ok or not.
I would come back again =)

I’m sad to say that my bangs were butchered.
I’m fairly bad about going in for regular haircuts, largely due to the fact that dead keratin forms from my scalp at a snail’s pace. Also, my complete void of hair styling and my lazy stubbornness for natural hair drying after showering leaves my hair relatively free of split ends. So, I only get haircuts if a year or more has passed (told you I was bad about it), or if I want a new hairstyle. Or, if I want to correct some hairstyle screwup. Which is what this most recent trip was intended for.
Back in January, I had gotten the ballsy idea to cut my own drastic straight side bangs after getting sideswept bangs by Michelle. The bangs ended up turning out all right, but my adjustments utilized too much hair. In March, I visited a salonist in Asia who was able to recover and readjust what she could, and I was satisfied until I got tired of maintaining my bangs on a biweekly basis. Eventually, I decided to grow out my bangs in the hope of getting them properly cut by a salonist in the city. Fast forward to July, where my bangs have grown out to an unbearably awkward length. I was in dire need of some hair help.
I was considering repaying a visit to Wendy, whose hair salon is across the street (how convenient). But I figured I would give May’s place a shot, since it had decent reviews on Unilocal.I showed up on a Friday afternoon without an appointment to find May finishing a gentleman’s trim. I only had to wait about 5 minutes until it was my turn in the hot seat.
During my $ 15 haircut sans wash, May and I had a friendly yet somewhat halted conversation – perhaps she was concentrating on cutting my hair, since I did have fairly specific requests of wanting no layers, only ~1″ off max (my hair falls to a bit below the bra band), and straight side bangs, similar to what I had cut in the past, that would rest above the top of the rims of my glasses (I also showed her a picture of my past bangs). All of this, plus whatever personal stylistic discretion she had.
What I ended up with 20 minutes later was something very different from my picture and my vision. My hair looked okay in the shop, but after I went home, showered, and let my hair dry naturally, the end result looked vastly different. My side bangs, albeit at a good length, were thinned at the ends and yielded a very rough, choppy appearance across my forehead. Consequently, I found myself spending way too much time in front of my mirror at home snipping at my bangs to reshape them straight across, at the cost of considerably shortening my bangs. As for the rest of my hair, she managed to cut that straight across… or so it seemed. I should have wondered why she brought out a flat iron to straighten my hair onsite (and I have never, ever had my hair straightened… because my straight-​a$$ Asian hair really doesn’t ever need to be straightened… ever). Undoubtedly, my hair looked straight onsite, but after the good ol’ shower & air dry, it was shockingly evident that the straight snips were all at slightly different lengths, creating a jagged outline. Also, the right column of hair turned out longer than the left. Doesn’t seem quite straight to me.
May is a sweet lady, and she chops hair at affordable prices, but I would not come back for straight side bangs nor straight cuts for long hair. I think I need to pay Excellent Hair Salon in Fremont a visit…

May is awesome! She gave me an amazing haircut. and she is a bargain. Highly recommend this place.

Maureen and May are both great — they’ve been here since I was a kid.
I initially didn’t want to get a haircut. My cousin needed one, and I was just accompanying her. Maureen took one look at my choppy layers and knew that the last person did a terrible, terrible job with the «fast approach razor». She said she could fix it, so I gave it a try. My hair turned out great! I loved how Maureen talked me through what she was doing and why. I could tell she was using good technique.
I feel connected to her as I would to an Asian auntie, and would definitely recommend this salon out of all the salons in Sunset. They even opened their store later than normal to accommodate us. ⁵⁄₅!

Pretty good bargain haircut by May.
Ten dollars, she listens to what you want, and she’s pretty fast No shampoo or anything, but then its a ten dollar haircut.

My new go-​to salon in San Francisco. May is super friendly and has a great attention to detail. I’m usually in and out within 45 minutes– including shampoo and cut. Not to mention– totally affordable! Go, May! :)

May’s skills are fine, but what I didn’t like was that she packed her customers in and told everyone «you’re next» when clearly, they were not.
Also make sure you ask how much the haircut is since the 10 or 15 and up on the window is just a starting price. Around this part of town for a simple trim (though my hair is about shoulder length), I can get it for under the $ 25 + tip she charged.
After washing my hair, she had me sit under the blow dryer while she took a walk in male client and cut his hair. I’ve NEVER had that happen to me. Isn’t the point of washing the hair to cut it while it’s damp? Not only that, when she finished with him she also trimmed another lady’s hair before finally getting back to me.
When I started washing my hair, it was almost 1pm, but she told the two girls that came in for a 1pm appointment that «you’re next in English» which she also told these other two girls who walked in afterwards in Chinese. In the meanwhile she was also helping another client with hair color.
She may be fine but the fact that he was paying attention to 4 people at once does not give me any comfort. Eventually at 1:30pm the 1pm appointment people walked out. She didn’t notice at first and when she did, she walked out to the street to try to find them in the middle of my haircut.
Of course when someone called to ask if there’s availability at 2pm, she said sure, even though at the time there were at least 3 people behind me in line and there was no way she could have gotten to them.

Seven years later and I’m still going to Maureen at May’s Hair Design. I admit, when my hair was long, I only went once or twice a year so it wasn’t a big deal. It was pretty hard to mess up a simple, no frills, long hair haircut. Also, with me becoming unemployed, I was trying to cut back on unnecessary expenses, so I was trying to highlight/​dye my hair by myself. Not entirely unsuccessfully either.
About 6 months ago, I decided I was going to go short. So I brought in a picture to show Maureen and she painstakingly cut and shaped my hair to get it just the way I wanted. A chin length, A-​line bob. Very sleek. I gotta tell you, I’ve never gotten so many compliments on my hair cut than I’ve gotten with this one. When I tell them I got it cut at a Chinese hair salon, their jaws always drop in disbelief, «They can do hair cuts like this at a Chinese salon?» Yeah, I guess so.
I’ve gone back twice to clean it up a bit.
Bottom line: my haircut rocks my socks.
Side note: Customer service here does not always rock my socks. My sister had an experience where she made an appointment with May, but May kept making her wait and was taking all the walk-​ins before her. When my sister finally got fed up and was about to leave, May hurriedly told her she would do her hair. If you have an appointment and arrive to your appointment on time, they should help you first — not the walk-​ins. Just sayin’