Lumo Salon — Local services in Vancouver

I got a perm by the 1 stylist at this salon 2 years ago. At the time there was only 1 male stylist and 2 assistants. Basically, I didn't have a good experience and felt like it was because there was a language barrier.

I was attended to pretty promptly, there was only 2 other people in the salon and I expected to be there for 3 hours, maybe 4 for a cut and perm. I was there for 7.5 hours. There was a friendly Korean girl who pretty much got the exact same service as me. She came in 1 hour later than me and finished about half an hour earlier. The assistants didn't approach me for a drink until they approached her first. This is what I mean about the language barrier, possibly being nervous about speaking English. I can empathize with their situation but as a customer, I don't feel great about it.

Later I wasn't happy with my perm. I thought that was the best he could do and what it was supposed to look like, so I paid $350 + some tip. He took a photo of the back of my hair, I left. I got home and tried to be happy with my new hairstyle. It was definitely very soft and he tried to keep some of my length. I just thought it seemed uneven. I texted him the next day and asked if he could do anything about fixing it. He said no. It took a lot of time and it's costly. Basically he wouldn't recitfy it for me. He did offer to teach me how to style it if I come in again. I didn't get an offer to return me some money, return my tip, rectify my hair; nothing. But beyond everything, I think the worst thing he did was tell me it looked really good and the result was great, basically trying to convince me it was great. He then sent me THE OTHER GIRL'S PHOTO. I think it's both hilarious and unprofessional. I watched her get her services the entire time and I know for a fact (and because of the smell of perm) that she got the same services. Her hair looked.so.good. Mine was kind of flat and uneven and I think he knew that and thought his work was too good to look like the photo he took of my hair. Which he sent me later and I was even more disappointed than I already was.

TLDR: I got a perm here and it was bad. The male stylist didn't offer any solution. I spent $350 on a good conditioning and mediocre haircut.

and also PSA don't go here if you...

I booked an appointment 29 days in advance, on a Friday at 1pm. On the day of my appointment, Mini texted me and said that she’d see me at 1:30pm. I sent her a screenshot of my booking and asked her to confirm, and she said “oh”, “1:30”, then sent and quickly deleted a message that asked me to come at 1:50pm. Anyway, I got there at 1:30pm, she washed my hair (a bit aggressively), then we discussed what I was looking for (just some long layers as my hair was one length at the time). She did some fast cutting, some blow drying, and some curling, and I was out the door. I looked at my watch and I was in and out in under 40 minutes. When I got to my car, I realized that my roots were still wet - she only blow dried the ends (I don’t know how dry) before proceeding to use a hot curling iron on them.

After going home and washing my hair the next day, I realized my layers were uneven. One side had longer layers than the other, and one side was “choppier”. I wasn’t able to message the owner until after a couple weeks about all of the above (a dying family member took precedence over my hair concerns). He messaged right away to apologize and said he’d speak to Mini. A day later, he messaged me to ask me to come back so Mini could fix my hair. I thanked him for getting back to me and said that I was not willing to let Mini touch my hair again after she already botched it. He offered for refund me and I declined as it wasn’t his fault that his employee did a terrible job on my hair, and I didn’t think it would be fair to take it out on his salon financially.

In the end, I don’t recommend going to Mini. I’ve had my hair cut before by the owner and it was fine, so make sure you ask for him instead.

It’s interesting to see the suspicious influx of positive reviews for Mini to balance out the negative reviews. Choose her at...

I've never written reviews for salons before, but I feel compelled to share my experience here because I received the worst haircut I've had in years. I decided to give Lumo Salon a try based on the numerous positive reviews I had read, particularly about Mini. So I booked an appointment with Mini.

Regrettably, my experience with Mini was far from positive. Throughout the entire haircut, there was a lack of communication. After I sat in the chair, she briefly asked me what I wanted and I showed her a photo. However, that was essentially the extent of our interaction. Admittedly, I must take partial responsibility for not ensuring that we were on the same page, but Mini gave me the impression that she knew what she was doing, and so I trusted her. However, the end result looked nothing like the photo I had shown her. While I wanted a layered bob cut for my short hair, she gave me a pixie bob cut. Her explanation was that I had mentioned my hair grows fast, so she cut it shorter to make it last longer.

To be fair, this was my first time having my hair cut by Mini, so it's understandable that there may be a learning curve in understanding my hair type and finding the right cut for my face shape. Nevertheless, it is disappointing that she proceeded without consulting me and the haircut turned out to be unsatisfying. Now, I have to live with it for a few months.

Considering my experience, I cannot...