Mai Hoa Beauty Salon — Local services in Minneapolis

6/11/2023 Reply: Thank you Kim for replying to my post and for your response. I hope the issue is addressed. Unfortunately, I'll have to decline your offer to come in again. I don't live nearby anymore and was only in town for the week.

6/09/2023: I've been going here for years and have had good experiences, but I had to leave a review after this time.

Don't let anyone color your hair but Trang.

Cut was great. The person who cut my hair today was newer, and she did a great job. The only reason this is 2 stars instead of 1.

I had some one else color my hair this time and requested a natural looking light towards the bottom of my hair. I gave them a reference photo for color and style (I can't post the reference photo due to Google policy, but it was a dark-red brown lowlights? at the bottom of the hair while the top of the head was undyed to look like a natural transition). A shorter girl with purple/grey ends did my color and basically highlighted my entire head (see front facing photo). I asked them to redo it since it didn't look anything like the reference photo as the top is supposed to be darker. To fix it, she dyed my hair to darken it and now you can't tell there is any color (see full back photo). Another stylist, Rona? was helping dry my hair and even commented ,"There's no more hightlights?"

The cut was great and my color turned out okay, but there's a reason why I'm writing this:

The worst part and point of this review was the fact the the women who dyed my hair and another women (pink hair ends) gossiped in Vietnamese over me as they were trying to fix my hair. I didn't talk much and only spoke in English (I can understand basic Vietnamese but can't speak it well). But saying that I don't know what I'm requesting among other things was mean. After the fix, this colorist assured me that the color was there and would be apparent after I washed my hair (I was worried and asked about it). I didn't want to stay there any longer, so I paid and left even if unhappy. But to the lady who colored my hair, I hope you know your words are the reason I cried when I got to my car. I heard you say that you couldn't tell there's any color as I walk through the door. And my comment, "Yeah, I can't tell either!" was fully...

If I could give a zero, I would. This salon hands down is the worst. I will never come back. Extremely unprofessional and I felt nauseous from the terrible ventilation. I left an hour ago and my head still burns. Never has my head ever burned like this and I feel dizzy. FYI I had a men’s cut plus color service.

They had left the color in for 50 minutes!!! That’s crazy. I talked to the owner and she admitted it takes 30 minutes. They only washed my hair after I had visibly pointed out my watch. As I write this review, I still feel really sick. Such a long terrible experience.

The owner apologized and said they were busy. That’s a terrible excuse because it wasn’t about busyness. It was apparent that it was greediness and packing way more people they can handle. I had an appointment but it didn’t seem to have mattered. Communication and organization was non-existent.

The owner plays up to be very friendly and nice in English but I understand Vietnamese and she’s not very nice in her native language. I have empathy for small businesses including for its employees. I support local businesses. Myself having owned multiple companies, I am extra understanding and patient. But this place makes me want to go to a chain salon.

Regarding the existing 4.2 rated reviews. The reviews are wildly incorrect and doesn’t reflect the reality. I’m perplexed.

The entire establishment should be ashamed of their treatment to their own community. For nearly 1.5 hrs, all I saw was a lack of respect for customers. My hair person was inattentive. The person who washed my hair was rough and their fingernails gashed my ears twice. The owner does a great job of having Bambi eyes to get away with an extremely unprofessional salon. I can see through fake kindness… disingenuous Bambi eyes and “so sorry’s” don’t work on me.

PS. I have been a long time reviewer on Google and this by far is the most upsetting review I have ever written. Not only was I not happy with the service, but I felt offended...

Update: My hair was severely damaged after my visit, it was burned. It hasn’t been reversible and now I have this visible crease in my hair from where it was burned. Highly advise not to trust them with your hair. They are not trained well on the right temperature to use on your hair for these services.

Original review:

The short version is I had to wait 20-30 mins after my appointment to be seen. Got steam burned with a flat iron on my ear and scalp. My scalp was scratched so hard during washing it burned. And they used really cold water it hurt and I had to pull away. The back of my clothes were wet. It is also filthy. I came home with my purse strap covered in a strangers hair. Would I recommend, no.

I just moved to MN so I am looking for an Asian salon that is up to date with hair trends and services. But my requested service of a flat iron straight perm is not even that new. It’s been decades since it’s been around. But they don’t know how to do it properly that I walked out with hat hair. They flattened it so much to my scalp I look like I have hat hair. They also crimped it at my scalp it looks like I also have bed hair. I walked out or rather ran out of there. It was the worst salon experience I have ever had. Sure they were busy but they were also busy asking each other the entire time who is next and what to do. It’s so unorganized my anxiety was so high. I will say that they cut hair pretty well. But with the assistants being tasked to do my $220 perm, it came out worse than what I could’ve done at home. The assistants were also rude imo and they made me feel like I was overreacting for my burned scalp and torturous...