MJ 美发 Salon — Attraction in West Allis

I frequently come to this shopping mall area because I love the Chinese restaurant next door and the Asian market on the corner. Now there’s a boba shop located here as well and pretty popular! Every time we came to this shopping mall, I kept eyeing this salon. This salon came to mind because I had an appointment today with my regular hair stylist who at the last minute needed to cancel my appointment for a family emergency. (Life happens to it’s okay!) however, I needed a cut badly today for a vacation I was going on tomorrow. My hair was wayyy overdue and I wanted my hair freshened up for vacation. My hair needs layers bad.. doing blowouts with overgrown layers doesn’t look the best. So, I took a chance today and stopped in. I called first & was told that I could walk-in without an appointment. When I got there, my first impressions were - there are only men stylist working and the salon remind me of a 90s hair salon. I wasn’t bothered by that, but don’t come here expecting modern day salon vibes lol definitely has old school Asian salon vibes.

Anyway, about the cut and service - hands down, my favorite haircut! I have fine Asian hair and it’s really hard to find somewhere in the city that knows how to cut my Asian hair, the way I picture it. The guys who work here don’t speak much English at all, in fact, the guy who cut my hair used his phone to translate, so that I could understand. I showed him a picture of the style cut I was going for and he nailed it! While he was cutting.. I just knew my hair was gonna be bomb! I was surprised that I got a wash, shampoo, cut and style for only $40! ($40 for all of this, is very uncommon in 2024!) I will say that the wash and shampoo is typically my favorite part, when getting a cut in the salon but don’t expect a head massage here lolol they just get right to the point and get you back in the chair to cut lol & to be honest, I loved that! I spent about 30-45mins to get a wash, shampoo, cut and style and I was immediately surprised and impressed with the results.

If you were on the fence about coming here, please give them a chance! Sure there’s a language barrier and the shop could use some upgrades and some love but the service and cut experience was awesome! I still can’t believe i got everything done for $40 and it’s my favorite haircut that I had in a while! This would typically cost me $100+ easily… with my regular hair stylist. Even though I’m pretty loyal to my hair stylist… however, I’m going to come back here as a second option going forward or whenever I’m in a bind on funds because the cuts here are super affordable and I love love love my...

My experience here was horrific. I was the first one to enter because I showed up right after open. I sat and waited about 10 minutes before the owner sat me down. He doesn’t speak any English. I showed him what I wanted and he said he couldn’t do that because it would take too long so we opted for a second option. He started with my haircut. He was very abrasive when combing my hair and wasn’t very gentle when trying to remove the tangles. After the haircut he started with my lighting my hair with the bleach process and then he did a root touch up. He didn’t cover my entire roots, he just sort of looked for grey hairs on my head. After he was done, he took 3 customers from start to finish. By the time he came back to me, my scalp was itching. I already knew it was a bad sign. He took me to the washing station and washed it out. He put the color on my scalp and immediately I started telling him “ow, it hurts, it burns!”. He put cold water on my scalp to cool it down but it was hardly any relief. He continued to put more color on and my scalp was burning. He told me to wait 15 minutes while he started and finished another customer. I was crying and fidgety and having a panic attack in his chair. When he washed my hair, I just told him I wanted to leave. He quickly finished. I was in the salon for 4 hours. He served 4 customers during my service. My hair looks nothing like the inspiration pictures. Its now dry, red, and orange and already faded. The color didn’t last more than 4 hours. It’s 2 days later and my scalp is red, scabby, and so itchy. I’m so sad I spent $260 to have my hair and scalp ruined. I would never go back and I would never recommend this...

I would definitely recommend this salon more for haircuts and styling rather than coloring or bleaching. I got a layered haircut here, and I really liked how it turned out. The stylist did a great job, and the overall experience was pleasant.

When it came to coloring, though, I did have some concerns. I don’t think the process felt rushed and the stylists were clearly doing their best while juggling a few clients, and they were trying to be very kind and considerate throughout. That said, the way the bleach was handled was a bit rough on my hair. After the bleach dried on the bottom and middle sections, my hair got tangled. Like it was flaking off. So when they applied more bleach over it, the tugging hurt a bit.

I also noticed that the bleach and dye were left in my hair for a pretty long time. The bleach sat for about 50 minutes the first round, and then another 40 minutes when applied to my scalp. It started to tingle and feel almost like a burn. The same thing happened when I had it dyed again for a different color, it stayed on long enough that my scalp felt sensitive afterward.

Again, I think they did a really good job overall, and I appreciated how nice and attentive they were. I just personally didn’t like how long the bleach and dye were left in, and how harsh it felt on my hair and scalp. If you're looking for a good cut or style, I’d say this is a great place. But if you're planning to bleach or color your hair, maybe ask them to check in more often or be a little gentler during...