Happy Hair Salon — Local services in Burlingame

I would caution anyone considering this salon. I wasn't planning to write a review, but after encouragement from friends, I felt it was important to share my experience, so others don't walk out with a botched haircut like I did.

I chose this salon because of the glowing reviews, especially for Amy. Her portfolio looked great, and I trusted that she would know how to work with my thick Asian hair. Unfortunately, that trust was misplaced. I urge people to read the one star reviews before making an appointment.

Amy used thinning shears excessively, removing what feels like 50% of my hair. The most alarming part is that she used them just an inch and a half from the roots, leaving the under layers of my hair short and spiky. I've had bad haircuts before, but this is by far the worst I've ever had. The texture is ruined, and I'm now facing a long and grow out period that could take up to two years just to reach chin length.

On top of that, I felt pressured by repeated upselling throughout the appointment. Amy was late so a guy washed my hair first. The guy pushed a $70 deep conditioning treatment and stated that it would only take 15 minutes. I know my hair is dry, but there's no need to remind me multiple times just to convince me to agree to the treatment. Then he recommended keratin hair perming and that it would help smooth the hair. I said I don't want hair perming as I dislike the visible demarcation line once the hair grows. After that, I was led to a chair where I waited for Amy.

I explained I hadn't gotten a haircut for over a year, so I asked for some shape and long layers. Amy seemed knowledgeable and recommended styles to suit my face shape. She was suggesting services I hadn't asked for, like hair coloring to match my skin tone, despite me never mentioning any interest in dyeing my hair. She also pushed a hair straightening treatment, stating that my puffy hair would look great if straightened in the back with face-framing pieces in the front. That she will tailor her cutting if I plan on getting the hair straightening service. I asked how long it would take as I had plans after this appointment. She said it wouldn't take long at all as there's another stylist on standby and that it would only take 2.5 hours if two people worked on my hair simultaneously. I told her I'd consider booking it for next weekend and to cut my hair where I would be able to style it at home. By this point I was 45 mins into the 1 hour appointment and just wanted her to start cutting so that I could get out of the chair.

Yet, even near the end, Amy again pushed for the straightening treatment, asking if I was in a rush to go somewhere. What's ironic is that the thinned hair is so short (about an inch and a half long) so it would be very hard to straighten.

This experience was incredibly exhausting and disappointing. I hope my review helps others make a more...

Posting on behalf of my partner: My hair went to Happy Hair Salon—and it came out very unhappy.

Terrible customer service. I had a haircut appointment scheduled for 1:30 PM with Amy. When I arrived, she was still dyeing another customer’s hair because she was running behind on her previous appointment.

Then, another employee came up to me and said he was going to do a treatment on my hair. I clearly told him I did not want the treatment. He insisted and went ahead with it anyway, which was incredibly frustrating.

Once the treatment was done, he disappeared, and I ended up sitting under a heat lamp until 2:30 PM—a full hour after my scheduled appointment time—with no haircut yet. That same guy eventually returned, this time with food in hand.

Since Amy was still running very late, I was eventually told that Steven would be cutting my hair instead. At that point, I was tired of waiting, so I just said okay—even though I had an appointment with Amy. Thankfully, Steven was great—no complaints there.

But then came the bill. The same guy who forced the unwanted treatment on me charged me $80 for the treatment I never agreed to. I told him I never asked for the treatment and that he never mentioned the price. His response? “Oh, well since I didn’t tell you the price, I’ll give you a discount, it'll be $60 instead of $80." Are you kidding me? He made it seem like the treatment was complimentary in order to buy Amy time instead of me sitting there waiting but no it was so much worse.

This is an extremely shady business practice. The fact that he tried to make it seem like he was doing me a favor just made it worse. I paid for the haircut and the "discounted treatment" but didn’t leave a tip—and then he had the nerve to ask me if I was going to tip the person who cut my hair. I handed him the cash and told him to give it to Steven, the only pleasant person in the entire experience. He then asked if I was okay because I seemed upset? Oh really, you don't say? Do not go here!!!! I’m very unhappy with the...

I scheduled an appointment with Patrick Lee for 3:00pm and when I arrived, I waited 15 minutes until Patrick came up to me and asked if I could return later. I asked him when the earliest would be and he said 5pm. I was annoyed for the reschedule but I decided to wait it out just to see if this place was worth it. At around 4:30, Patrick texts me and asks if I could come by at 4:45pm. I agreed and made it there on the dot. I ended up waiting 20 min (I'm a patient guy) until he finally arrived and he looked confused that I was there. He spoke with the other stuff, and it felt like he didn't want to cut my hair for some reason. After some back and forth with the staff, he takes me to wash my hair and tells me to take a seat in one of the haircut chairs. He immediately goes to the register and begins helping someone else pay. Mind you, there were 3 members of staff that could've helped but he took it upon himself to do it.

So I didn't get a haircut from Patrick and instead got a haircut from Amy who did a great job. Honestly, I'm only giving three stars because of her. There was a bit of a language barrier but she was able to give me what I wanted.

The experience really soured my view on this place since I wasn't helped by the person I booked with and the scheduling conflicts. It also didn't help that during my haircut, a walk in dropped by and Patrick was way more eager to help them and didn't treat them like an outsider.

Amy is good and if I do ever return, I will ask for her again. I'm not sure if I will return though since this might be a place where scheduled times dont...