The Shortland Barber — Local services in Waitematā

I went to this salon at the recommendation of a friend, who has curly hair like I do. He's raved for years about how skilled the woman who works here is, so I thought I'd give it a try, considering that most barbers in NZ are quite timid about curls. I went to the door of the salon and had an awful experience with the woman who cuts here. To be clear, my issue is not that she couldn't cut my hair--it is that she was rude, hurtful and went out of her way to treat me in a way that was really humiliating.

I went to the door of the salon, and she came to the door and poked her head out. I knew that she only takes walk-ins, but she wasn't inviting me in, so I asked, "do you take walk-ins?" and she began to laugh. She then said "I do, but I don't cut THAT," and pointed to my head with a look of disgust on her face. She then continued laughing while her customer inside also began to chuckle. I started to explain that my curly-haired friend has been coming in for years, and that every time he goes there, he recommends her to me. She shut the door in my face and walked away before I could finish my sentence.

I thought, gee, that's a really rude way to treat someone whether you're capable of cutting their hair or not. So I messaged the business on facebook, explaining that I had a negative experience with the stylist, and I wanted someone to call me to talk about it. She then blocked me on facebook!! The phone number for the salon is not ever active, so I have no way to talk to this stylist directly. I have encountered lots of stylists in Auckland who aren't comfortable cutting curls. Most stylists will explain that apologetically, or even just politely. This was such a shocking experience and really made me feel insecure about my curls for a moment before I remembered that some people are...

I think I had the worst experience in my life for cutting my hair today! It was my very first time visiting this “barbershop”! I asked the lady who cut my hair for zero fade and ironically the barber didn’t even know what number to use for this style!!! ! Even though I tried to show her what I meant, she refused to even see!!! Finally, I didn’t even get zero fade!

Unfriendly with bad communication! (not even had a normal conversation with me. also didn’t ask me how short I want my hair to be cut and many other details that you usually need to be asked)

I don’t recommend to anyone! It’s good for people who wants a simple casual, cheap hair cut but...

Michelle is fantastic, and as I'm regular, she knows exactly how I like my hair. Very experienced and the cuts are quick and (given some prices nearby), very reasonable. Extremely friendly and as other reviewer's mentioned, you never have to wait long, if at all. I wasn't sure about the "no-booking, just walk-in" policy, but it works extremely well and if there is someone else there, grabbing a coffee at the coffee shop just next door is an easy way to make tasty use of a few minutes! Have been going there for a couple of years and...