Hair Philosophy LIC — Local services in New York

I came here for a perm and had an extremely disappointing experience. The stylist, Jonathan barely asked any questions before booking — we simply agreed upon a date and time. When I asked if I needed to wash my hair before, he said no. There were no forms or consultations like you’d expect before a beauty service, which already seemed unusual.

When I got there, he assumed my hair was virgin hair because it was black. I told him it had been previously dyed. He touched it a few times and we proceeded.

During the appointment, I noticed him and another stylist speaking in Mandarin about my hair, and realized they were discussing its condition — something that was never communicated to me in English until after this procedure was done. He never checked the health of my hair, did a strand or chemical test, or warned that my previously dyed hair might not be suitable for a perm. He and the other woman were talking about how my hair was dry and she asked if he had checked about my hair health before I got there and he said no. Had he had told me that when I got there, I absolutely would not have gone through with it.

After the service, he took several pictures of my hair like I see on his profile, but none were ever posted on Instagram — which says a lot. If the result had turned out well, I’m sure he would’ve proudly shared it as he does with other clients. However, he didn’t which implies he knew it was not good work. I was increasingly nervous because it was softer waves than what I had pictured in my head but I blamed myself on that one for showing him different inspo pics. The perm was done Monday. My hair held up with a “blowout” looking soft wave vibe until I washed it. If it had stayed like that, hey, I would’ve been ok with that because it’s better than nothing. Once I washed my hair and followed his instructions with the leave in conditioner, hair oil, twisting, and water spray, it still became immediately straight again, more dry, and fried in multiple sections. I was terrified I had messed up my hair. I saw a friend two days later and I had tried “air drying” it like instructed and it was awful. Random attempts of waves were shown and I got a second opinion the next day from a licensed cosmetologist. She said I needed to deeply hydrate my hair and suggested NOT to go back to that salon.

When I reached out to Jonathan with my concerns, at first I was offered a perm redo and free hair cut. I asked more questions such as if it would hold this time and he said we would have to assess it. The last option he gave me was “maybe he could talk to the manager and get me a refund.” I went as far as picking a date and booking a flight to go (I don’t live there) and then was advised by 3 people not to go back in fear my hair would be damaged more. When I finally said I wish to try to receive a refund and pointed out these things, he refused accountability and tried to blame me, saying he “relied on the information provided by the client.” But I’m not the professional — I trusted him to assess my hair properly before performing a chemical treatment. Even then, he should’ve just told me I don’t think this is a good idea.

On top of that, he quoted me $350 through Instagram, but when it was time to pay, the total suddenly became $380 + the $90 haircut sprung on + tip. I am embarrassed to say this whole thing cost almost $550 with tip. He still has refused to offer any refund or acknowledgment of the damage or speaking in another language in front of me about me.

Even if my hair had been dyed previously, it was the stylist’s professional responsibility to evaluate whether my hair could safely handle a perm. I am left with damaged hair, wasted money, and regret. Instead of being excited about how to keep my waves nice, I am worried about how to fix my hair. Still no word on the refund. I hope this salon or at least this stylist takes accountability and improves their communication, transparency, and professional standards before causing more damage to...

The keratin treatment ($350 before tip) didn’t even last three days, though it’s supposed to last 3-6 months. I am extremely disappointed I went through a high temperature / damaging hair procedure for just more brittle and frizzy hair afterwards. I will definitely not be going back.

After the treatment, I waited 72 hours rather than 48 hours as Jerry recommended, and religiously stayed away from water or sweat.

I attached before and after photos, each taken the day I washed and dried my hair. You can see my hair was similarly frizzy. I even applied oil and leave in conditioner before snapping the “after” photo.

Haircut was fine, but rather pricey at $90.

I had a keratin treatment done years ago and it definitely lasted a few months then, so I was pretty taken aback this time when it didn’t work at all.

Also, if you have any hair loss issues, DO NOT get this treatment!!! I didn’t realize how damaging this would be for fine hair, and I was already experiencing hair loss (so much that Jerry commented on it right before the keratin was applied). He didn’t mention hair loss could worsen after keratin treatments and recommended I just do a scalp treatment at their salon later, but online forums (and now I) would recommend avoiding keratin treatments altogether because it definitely makes...

My hair is naturally wavy/curly and very frizzy, so I’ve been getting Japanese hair straightening for years. Part of my hair was bleached and some was straightened and some was my natural hair, so I wasn’t even sure if I could get Japanese straightening, but I wanted to talk to them to see my options. Damon was incredibly helpful and so knowledgeable and took time to understand what I wanted and my hair treatment history to figure out how to best do my hair treatment. He explained the process step by step-I definitely recommend going to Damon for straightening. At other salons, because of my hair length/thickness, Japanese straightening took 6-8 hours, but now after my wonderful experience at Hair Philosophy LIC with Damon, I am now realizing that the other salons just made me wait unnecessarily long while they were busy with other customers so they must have overbooked! At Hair Philosophy, they were very efficient with time and worked together so well and it only took 4 hours! It’s a little pricier than the other salons I’ve been to, but quality and efficiency is worth it. I can’t believe I wasted 8 hours at other salons! I will definitely keep coming back to Hair Philosophy for future hair...