Sejong Hair Salon — Attraction in Vancouver

Beware: Expect nothing (not even water, unless you ask) but verbal apologies from this salon if they cancel on your appointment two times in a row with only a few hours notice. I do not recommend this salon if you want to make reliable plans. Below are details of my recent experience with Sejong.

Heard great things about Sejong and decided to give it a try back in March 2022 by making a reservation a month in advance through their booking system. They reached out to me with less than 1h notice as I had a morning appointment to let me know my stylist was ill and asked me to go back to their booking system to reschedule, which meant I had to reschedule for April 2022. Did not offer anything due to the inconvenience, but a verbal apology which was very disappointing as I had made plans to take important pictures right after my hair appointment that same day. My whole weekend plans were ruined and I received NOTHING but a verbal apology.

Decided to give them a try again in June 2022 and made two appointments as I wanted to bring a friend over. Same story. Had to make the booking well in advance and got a call saying one of the stylists was ill so I would have to reschedule one of the appointments. I perhaps was incredibly unlucky as I even picked two different stylists this time around yet I still got one being ill that same day. Although this time I got 2.5h notice before cancellation, the same story repeated itself again. However, I was this time offered a replacement appointment the next business day after my initial one (which was helpful but I was offered this only after I asked). But that still ruined my plans as my friend and I had taken a day off from work to get our hair done together as we were flying abroad a few days after that. When I went there, I did not receive any time of special treatment. I even had to ask for some water myself. The front desk person was on her personal phone and my stylist was not nearby whilst I was waiting for my next step during my 2.5h session at the salon. And you likely are ready to read this but the salon DID NOT offer anything else to me other than verbal apologies over the phone when they called 2.5h before my appointment and right after I made my payment (full price plus gratuity).

Unsure if the owner is still around as I wasn't able to book Julien but this experience was very disappointing. Perhaps I was unlucky as this happened to me twice back-to-back but it's definitely something that I don't recommend to anyone. And I'd like to remind you this is a salon that charges a cancellation fee (35% of your services booked) if you do not give them any notification 48h hours prior to your appointment plus they blacklist you if you make these type of changes consecutively yet offer NOTHING to their clients (not even water without them asking) when they do this to them.

And you are likely wondering if my friend went there for the appointment that was offered. No, my friend needed something reliable and decided to go with a different salon for her services instead.

Attaching their cancellation policy script for reference

Important info 예약 당일 취소 또는 사전 예고없이 매장에 나타나지 않을 경우 다음 방문시 취소 된 예약 금액의 35 %를 지불하셔야하므로 신중하게 예약 해주시기 바랍니다. 잦은 예약 변경은 (3회 이상) 블랙리스트에 오르게 될 수 있음을 알려드립니다. If you cancel on the day of the reservation or do not show up at the store without prior notice, you will be required to pay 35% of the canceled reservation amount at the next visit, so please make a reservation carefully. You may be blacklisted due to frequent reservation changes (more than 3 times). Cancellation policy. Please avoid cancelling within 48...

I’m really grateful for my haircut. I often walk out of a haircut session really doubtful of my new hair, and shrugging it off that it’s not the worse, but I walked out of this session here very happy with the end result.

One thing Angela can improve on is communicating with me more frequently and discuss what kind of look I am hoping for with each section she is cutting. Since I am committing to short hair after years of really long hair (around elbow length), going in was really nerve wracking for me, and I’m not the only person I know with hair cut anxiety. It would’ve been really helpful to just know what she was doing, and why she was doing it, and what kind of effect she was going for.

I told her briefly how I wanted my bangs to look and that I was contemplating above shoulder length hair. Before I could process more about whether I really wanted that or stay with medium length hair just below collar bone, my hair was chopped short. Okay, since I was somewhat prepared to get short hair, it was easy to calm down and come to terms with where the direction was going in now. She then told me that she will wash, dry, and cut some more, and I said okay. Then when she was cutting, she took my bangs and again, before we could discuss what I am currently liking and how I hope it could turn out, I was getting curtain bangs. While I do like how they look, midway through the haircut, I was starting to like the no bangs, short hair look. It was a different look compared to having curtain bangs. But snip the scissors went, and there was no room to go back after the hair was severed.

Thankfully, I do like the end result. But please understand that many people like me have lots of anxiety going into haircuts, and it’s okay if English is not their first language. Just do your best, communicate as best as you can. It can make a world of difference for clients and they can walk out with no doubt that this hair is what...

tl;dr - Angela and Amber are amazing at what they do. Book them now.

I’m typically a hard critic especially when it comes to something that might affects my daily mood such a good or a bad haircut. To give you a reference, I live in San Francisco and even after exploring countless salons, I’ve yet to find a hairstylist that I can consistently trust.

So whenever I get a chance to fly back to Vancouver, you know I’ll reserve Angela for the afternoon way ahead of time. She’s such a cute and sweet girl with a true passion for making you look good. I’ve been getting haircuts and perms with her for the past 3 years and I have ALWAYS been in love with myself when I leave. She takes her time and makes sure that every detail is perfect. I never have to second guess that she has my best interest in mind.

Amber is another stylist that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting more recently and she’s helped my girlfriend with her bleaching, coloring and haircut. I personally did not realize how time and effort intensive it was to do all this and I made the mistake of waiting for her. Amber was so dedicated to giving my girlfriend the result that she wanted that she stayed until 8pm, despite the store closing at 6:30pm!! Amber then went even more above and beyond and even offered to help us do the color at another time free of charge because she wasn’t satisfied with her own work. We were already happy with the results at that point but she obviously had higher standards than us.

Angela stayed with us that night until 8pm despite finishing way earlier and could have gone home but she stayed to help. Jesus, these people are absolute angels and definitely people that you can trust with your hair and your...