Hair Club 20 — Local services in San Gabriel

I've been here about 3 times for peakaboo highlights and haircut. I would give this place a solid 4 stars for coloring skills, but take care to assess the condition of your hair because this place doesn't seem to care that much about it and will bleach the heck out of it to get nice IG photos (or maybe this is typical of salons, idk). I've seen them pull out someone else's damaged hair from over bleaching and the hair just kept breaking off every time they combed it. They also apply bleach directly into your scalp and all 3 times I've came back with incredibly itchy and painful scalp from bleach burns. The 1-2 days after the visits were my most miserable moments.

Results from first and third coloring sessions were great. I came early morning and they took their time. Color was even throughout, but can't comment much on blending root touchups because I got ombre. My second session was not good. I came a bit after noon and they were rushing to close. I got a rose gold and the color was not even at all at the roots that were touched up. The rest of my hair was a nice pink but there were pink-orange blotches at the roots.

For haircuts, I would give this 2-3 stars IF they really did charge me ~$50+ for it (I never asked for a cost breakdown but I got my hair cut with coloring services). Chris runs scissors through my hair without really making sure left side matches with right. Takes 10-15 mins for a cut, at best. Other places where I pay $60 for a haircut would take about 45 mins and actually be carefully/strategically cut to my face shape and where hair needed volume.

Other notes: The assistants are super friendly and gentle with hair. The hair colorist not so much gentle, would forcefully run comb through hair even if there were kinks. Pretty damaging esp since bleached hair is already weak and...

It was an OK experience.

Cons: Person (male) doing my hair spoke little to no English (or broken English). It was hard to understand anything he was trying to say and communicating with him was difficult. He asked me at the end if I wanted curls, and I said I don't think so, which he must have heard something else because he then did my curls..also I don't like the way he was cutting my hair. I've never seen someone cut hair that way. This is just a preference of mine. Probably not a reflection of the hair cutter.

2hr parking limit - someone rushed into the hair salon while I was there and said a towing trunk was on its way, so anyone who is parked longer than 2 hrs needs to move their car. I was there for about 3 hours total and saw no towing trunk, but that does not give me a good incentive to come back. Nothing ruins your day more than the thought of being towed. Hair takes a long time! Especially if you're doing coloring! I was relaxed before someone mentioned towing...and then it was all I could think about.

Pros: Alexis. She's nice, attentive, and I would recommend her if you do go here. She's nice to chat with, and asked me if I wanted water (sparkling water!) while I waited, and gave a GREAT head massage when rinsing the hair color. She gets a 10/10 in my book. She did a fantastic job doing the coloring of my hair. I would come...

I will give 2 stars to this place only because the lady who washed my hair did such a great job.

Everything else was just terribly disappointing. I went there for a blow-dry and when I left the salon, my hair was still wet!

I’m also not sure about their work ethics, because I actually went there by mistake. I had made an appointment with Hair Club 20 in Arcadia but went to their location by mistake since the 2 salons have the same name. When I got there, I said “I have an appointment at 5:30pm” and they asked me my name and just told me to have a seat. They didn’t tell me that I didn’t have an appointment with them and it was probably with the other location in Arcadia. Because when the other salon called me to check if I was coming, I realized my mistake and they told me “Oh, don’t worry, it happens all the time.” So, they knew I wasn’t their customer but didn’t say anything.

I called them after I left the salon and told the guy that my hair was still wet after the blow-dry. He told me to come back but I had other plans. So, basically spent $59 (including $9 tip) for a quick shampoo.

Note: I think only one person speaks English here, so if you’re going for a haircut or something more complicated than shampoo, go with a picture...