Foxycut Salon — Local services in Seattle

If you are planning to see Miguel, I strongly suggest you read this first. This review is my genuine opinion of this establishment and I have no personal or business relationship with Foxycuts. In mid-January, I called Foxycuts to schedule an appointment with Miguel. They told me that he does his bookings online. I went to their website and requested an appointment for a cut, dye and full balayage for 10am on Feb. 24th. I added a note saying that they would need to reserve extra time for me since I have very long hair. I got a confirmation text and email saying the booking was approved. Miguel is the owner and has some glowing reviews and pics online. When I arrived, he was speaking with a client in the waiting area. I waited 10 or 15 minutes. Then he told me I was only booked for a 15-minute slot. Apparently they were having problems with their new booking system. I mentioned my note and that I had booked this over a month ago. He made a few calls, and luckily one of his clients said she wouldn't make it. My hair is naturally medium brown and I wanted to dye it very dark brown with lighter brown balayage. We spent time talking about this. He said it would be very hard to achieve and take all day. He brushed my hair out and then told me he had a man and his son coming in for a quick haircut. I was confused because I thought we were about to start. "So, like 30 minutes?" I asked. "Uhhhh, 45 maybe," he said, and sent me back to the waiting area. An hour later, Miguel was finally finished with the pair. He then sat down in front of me to enjoy a lunch of Mexican food. When I finally got back in that salon chair around noon, I told him I just wanted the dye and cut and that maybe I'd come back for the balayage. "Are you serious?!" He asked incredulously. I said yes. "Do you have to be somewhere?" I reminded him that I had already been there for two hours. He said, "Ok, I understand." A few moments later he said, "You know, you've been really patient so I'll tell you what. If you come back for the balayage, I'll do it for free." I was very surprised, but appreciative. Turns out his offer had a catch. He later said that since he was doing me such a big favor, I was obligated to let him do a bright, unnatural color like pink so he could use it for his portfolio. This was disappointing. I didn't want a funky color. Later on a guy came in and said he had an appointment with Miyoko, who was out sick. Miguel said he'd take him, and then rushed through my cut. As he was blow drying my hair he asked if I liked braids. He said that he wanted me to leave with something amazing. So I said ok and he put a fancy but very tight and painful five-strand braid in my hair. The braid was cool looking but I had frizz sticking out everywhere. The next morning--this is 100% true--I woke up with an awful migraine from both the tight braid and the strain on my neck while he was braiding. On top of all that, when we rescheduled the balayage, he was totally unaccommodating. I asked for a weekday evening slot (I work until 5:15) and he said nope because they close at six. Their other stylists  have offered to stay later so that I could come in after work, but not Miguel. I would have to come in on a Saturday again, and his first opening was in another month. And finally, as I was paying him, he threw in another caveat to my "free" balayage. He said that because my hair would be so damaged by the process, I would have to buy at least $70 worth of product from him. I spent a long time straightening my hair the next day to see what the cut actually looked like. One side was tapered a lot shorter than the other and the ends had a straight edge with no layering (not point-cut like in the picture I showed him.) Ultimately I decided to write this review instead of taking him up on his offer. Miguel's behavior was so unprofessional that I won't be patronizing...

I had a terrible curly haircut from Miguel. I have natural 2C wavy/curly hair that is slightly wavy at the roots but forms ringlets towards the ends when styled correctly. It has portions that are closer to type 2a/2b. I've had a lot of bad haircuts in the past and have a lot of anxiety because my hair grows slowly so it takes awhile to outgrow a bad or too-short cut. I was very hopeful because I had gotten a couple of pretty good haircuts from other stylists at this salon, one of which was cut a bit shorter than I'd liked, but not terribly so. I had high hopes this would be even better.

I didn't go in with inspiration pictures as there aren't a lot of natural waves like mine that are shown online, it's mostly hair that is a much tighter curl pattern or waves made with a flat iron. I didn't think that would matter though. I asked for layers with the shortest layer being at my shoulders when dried in natural curls and the longest layer being a few inches shorter than my initial length. I thought this was simple enough. However Miguel googled a bunch of different inspiration pictures and had me decide which I liked, which seemed unnecessary and most of the models had a tighter curl pattern than mine. I figured showing him exactly where I wanted my layers to land that he could take it from there.

My shortest layer ended up being at my cheekbones when dried and curly! The layers around my face are at the awkward length when you're trying to grow out bangs and they're just long enough to get in your face but too short to throw in a ponytail. I specifically said I wanted the shortest pieces long enough for a ponytail and they definitely aren't. I pointed this out and Miguel took the hair and stretched it out straight so that it was closer to my shoulder to try to show it was that length? But I wear my hair natural 100% of the time and was under the impression that this salon of all places should account for shrinkage. He styled it in tiny pieces that fell flat and looked like the Rachel cut with choppy layers by that evening. For how many short layers are in the front and sides of my head, there are shockingly few on the back of my head which is where I wanted more of them. It just doesn't look cohesive with no blending between layers. He didn't take into account that the bottom has a loose curl pattern and the crown is curlier. It really felt like a haircut for someone with a tighter curl pattern. Miguel insisted that the curls would spring up at the roots with better styling, but that's just genetics!

The experience itself wasn't fun. He didn't use detangler when combing out my hair and was just very rough with it in general. There was loud music playing with obnoxious music videos, but I could've looked past all that if it weren't for his attitude. When I said the shortest layers were too short, pointing to the pieces around my face, he said "you're gonna hyperfocus on those aren't you? Those will grow back in 2 months." Well I need my hair out of my face for work, and they will just live in clips for the next year it'll take to grow them out to the length I initially wanted, because my hair doesn't grow fast at all. He gaslit me and insisted that was the shape I wanted with super short layers in front but I was crystal clear on what lengths I wanted. He said "well I think it's a great cut" but it's not what I wanted and certainly not what I paid $150 for. I feel like he'd be better with 3c and tighter curls but just did not have any idea how to work with loose curls and waves. I'm so...

Let me preface this review by first saying that I couldn't be happier with the end result. Working with Miguel and this awesome new bleach allowed me to take my dark, Asian hair to a bright wine red in one sitting without completely frying it. After over 2 months of having vibrant purple/pink hair, I can definitely speak to the longevity of the color. Miguel sent me home with tons of product to keep the color going for as long as possible (more on that later) and it definitely worked. With that, let's break down this review.

EXPERIENCE: I found Miguel and Foxycut Salon in a way that I assume most people find them: via reviews and searches for the "best hair salon/stylists in Seattle." Having read all the 5 star reviews and browsed through countless pictures of previous coloring jobs on their website and Facebook, I went ahead and booked an appointment with Miguel via StyleSeat. As other reviewers have mentioned, if you want an appointment with Miguel, plan ahead (about 6 weeks)!

Unfortunately, after waiting those 6 or 7 weeks for my appointment, Miguel was sick and had to cancel. Lucky for me, a client ended up canceling their appointment and I was able to get into the salon only a couple days after my previously scheduled appointment. Throughout the scheduling process, Miguel was quick to respond to my messages with professionalism and poise.

My experience within the salon was positive as well. Miguel is quite funny and was making conversation with both stylists and clients throughout the appointment. I'm not a talker myself and I didn't feel forced to carry on the conversation, opting to simply interject now and then. When it came to answering my more technical questions about maintaining my color and taking care of my hair, Miguel left me feeling confident and much more knowledgeable about the bleaching process, color-safe products, and more. This salon definitely lived up to my expectations!

PRICE: Miguel’s pricing structure is pretty straightforward. There’s a base price that accounts for the skill involved in doing your hair and additional costs account for how much product you use (bleach, color, etc). I have pretty long, thick hair so a majority of my costs fell in the “product” category. Again, plan ahead! I ended up paying a bit more than expected, but the results were definitely worth it. If you have no idea how much bleaching and coloring costs, I recommend scheduling a consultation with Miguel to talk about your hair coloring plans.

LOCATION: Foxycut Salon is pretty easy to get to even without a car. For a college student like myself, that’s great! It’s right across from the Link Station at Pioneer Square. Pioneer Square tends to be pretty noisy and hosts quite a few homeless people, buskers, etc. but that’s the norm.

BONUS POINTS: Foxycut Salon sells Olaplex, a product straight from the hair gods. Miguel offered me free refills whenever I bring the bottle in, which is great considering how tiny it is. This stuff kept my hair from completely getting fried by all the processing.

I’m not going to lie. It’s not cheap to get your hair done at Foxycut Salon. I will say that Miguel and the other stylists at the salon know what they’re doing and will do their best to get the results you want. As someone who went from virgin, black Asian hair to a vibrant red/pink in a single day (almost unheard of), I would definitely recommend Foxycut to anyone who wants the job done right...