L Salon and Color Group — Local services in San Mateo

I can’t recommend Gina at L Salon enough.

Lenny, the owner and my hair stylist, encouraged me to book with Gina—the salon’s Master Colorist—when I shared a special color idea. I’m so glad I did.

Gina truly listened. She talked through placement with me, made no big promises (given my hair’s history), and approached the process with care. I had a few complicating factors: a box color rinse from a few months back, an old perm, hair that doesn’t lift easily, and a medium-short layered cut—which makes color placement even trickier.

She handled it with calm expertise. Gina took time to study my hair’s texture, history, and movement, and mapped out where the light should fall to frame my face just right. The result was better than I imagined!

I was so impressed that I booked a one-on-one makeup session. Gina was a professional makeup artist before she became a colorist.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve felt unsure about how to work with my face—it’s changed. Gina actually looked at my face as it is now, and helped me enhance it in a way that felt natural and real. She used what I already had in my makeup bag and made a few thoughtful suggestions. I left actually liking my makeup—maybe for the first time. It felt like me, but better—enhanced, not overdone, and flattering.

Gina brings together technical mastery, intuition, and heart. I highly...

UPDATE: Downgraded to 2 stars. I called L Salon and left a message for Gina to schedule a color appointment with her. The front desk person, who I've known for years, was very snide to me, and Gina never returned my call. I DO NOT recommend L Salon.

I have been a loyal customer of Katie's for about 14 years. She's always done a great job until recently. My hair came out too dark in a previous color appointment, and I wanted it blonde again. Katie used a new method on my hair, some clay thing, and I asked her before she started "Are you sure that's going to lift enough to get to blonde?" She assured me yes. She dyed my hair ORANGE. Yes, ORANGE. When I texted her pictures and told her I was unhappy with it, she dropped me as a client via text. After 14 years, she TEXTED me that she was no longer going to do my hair as if I had done something wrong by telling her I was unhappy with ORANGE HAIR. How unprofessional! I DO NOT RECOMMEND KATIE! Gina, however, is awesome. She started to try to fix my hair, but it's a process that needs several appointments, and unfortunately, I have not had enough money to schedule another appointment with her. Gina knows color. I HIGHLY...

I have been coming to L salon for over a year. I just got my roots colored every 3 weeks by Danielle, who is just starting out. I was always raving about her and was very kind to her. I would call myself a redhead, with some brown in it. I trusted her totally. I know you might not believe this, but I have the worst vision. I do not look in the mirror with my glasses on, and you might find it hard to believe but I didn't notice my hair getting very dark. Not a redhead anymore. People I came into contact with never noticed the change. Danielle and I never discussed making my hair very dark. No more red. She used to put this glaze on after she did my roots. I asked her, what this does, and she never really gave me an answer. No one will ever know what she did. Maybe she made a mistake in mixing the color, or it was just very poor communication. Nothing can be done now. I wrote her a letter and phone call for explanation and was ignored.. Make sure you communicate with this woman about your hair. You know hairdressers make bad mistakes also, but she is not a...