Things To Do During Spring Break In San Francisco: The Three Best Hair Salons to Find Diversity
As a new transplant to San Francisco, brainstorming where to go and what to do become an off-duty thing. Finding places where you can see yourself as a regular is never an easy thing, especially concerning a trustworthy place to get your hair done. With spring break just around the corner, Fashion School Daily talked to Academy of Art students from different backgrounds and different communities, and got on-the-spot interviews with three hair salons, featuring the best Asian, high-end, and LGBT-friendly hair salons in San Francisco. Beside representing diversity, edgy hair styles are a must among the three.
Best Asian: Nepenji Beauty Clinic
Walking into a natural light of Nepenji salon in the center of Japantown on a weekday afternoon, the first thing one notices is that it was crowded with people.It’s clear that people there were not tourists. Owner Michinori Ono said “It’s not that busy. This is normal.” In 2016, Mr. Ono brought his 20-year family business from Tokyo to San Francisco. “Next month, April 11, will be the two-year anniversary of our salon in San Francisco.” Mr. Ono said proudly. At the beginning, he was hesitating to open the salon in San Francisco or New York City. However, he was convinced by the diversity and fashion here. “There is another reason because it’s close to Japan, compared to New York,” he added quite frankly. Well, there’s always a reason. Mr. Ono has quite a lot followers of Asians who can only find his unique haircut and air wave perm technology and at his salon.
No Student Discount. But mentioning Fashion School Daily, get 10% off.
(1825 Post St, Ste 160, San Francisco, CA 94115)
Best High-End: The Pretty Pretty Collective
A sort of mash-up of retro fixtures, paring with sleek modern interior design, certainly stands out. Rather calling The Pretty Pretty Collective a hair salon, it’s more like a brand, as it describes itself as, “a lifestyle brand,” and claims to explore, “beauty, hair, make-up, art, fashion, rock and roll, tattoos, hot rods, motorcycles, coffee, food, and above all, fun and creativity. ” Featured by Refinery29, Timeout, with over 6000 followers on Instagram, The Pretty Pretty Collective knows how to social media. Their stylish and fashionable contents, with hashtags for more exposure purpose on Instagram, is very much what a newly emerging brand would do. The Pretty Pretty Collective is serving trendy cuts, color, and serving high-quality service by word of mouth. Also, they host special events in the hair styling industry. The most recent one would be famous hair colorists Victoria Hunter and Larry Raspanti on March 26th.
No Student Discount.
(3290 22nd Street, San Francisco, CA 94110)
Best LGBT-Friendly: Public Barber Salon
This is an LGBT- friendly hair salon. They won the “Best Of The Bay” by San Francisco Bay Guardian in 2014. The owner, also a hair designer and barber cosmetologist himself, Steve Jester came up with the name, hoping that everyone can come here. There is a combination of employees, all types of people: transgenders, lesbians, gays, and straights. Public Barber has two locations in San Francisco. The old location has 5 chairs in 900 square feet in a cultural complex neighborhood called Tenderloin, while the new location, not that brand-new, opened in North Beach five years ago, satisfy the owner’s desires for visibility and a vibrant emerging community. Each Location gets different products, but both are high-end side: Bumble and Bumble Exclusive (owned by Estee Lauder Company) for North Beach, and MALIN+GOETZ for Tenderloin. In addition, Public Barber is dedicated to supporting local artists, helping them selling their artwork.
No student discount. Beer is severed if you’re OVER 21yrs.
(Tenderloin: 571 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102; North Beach: 1528 Grant Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133)
Photo credits
Lee Cheung, Zhang
The Pretty Pretty Collective Tumblr
