Ramirez Tran Salon

For the past two years I’ve been trying to grow out my hair due to a bad bob haircut I had received, I had been avoiding haircuts left and right but it would be more damaging than anything. I finally decided to get an actual haircut and booked an appointment with Aaron Watkins and have never been so happy with the results of a harcut! Everyone at the salon was very polite and even gave my dog a little bowl of water while we waited. Aaron listened and went above and beyond then what I hoped for, he even showed me how to style my little short bob which is a big deal especially since straightening it can get boring. Thank you Aaron, I definitely recommend him and will be back again!

I cannot speak to other colorists and stylists– this review is for Cherin Choi and Sal. My first attempt to get my hair light resulted in a streaky orange… It was not lifted far enough and the bayalage resulted in irregular and scattered areas of orange. Needless to say my hair was also so damaged. Sal rescued my length with a fresh cut and trimmed off split ends with a technique called dusting. Cherin is a color genius and was able to correct my hair to a gorgeous ash blonde. She is thorough and detail oriented and it shows– my hair looks great whether it’s straight or curled… Almost a month later the cut is growing out gorgeous and my hair looks even healthier than before (the magic of a great cut!). These guys are moving to Benjamin salon in the arts district and I will definitely be following them! Overall the staff and assistants at Ramirez Tran are very professional and attentive and engaging and I love the work they produce– many stylists and colorists I follow on Instagram work here. They are clearly talented and dedicated. My advice to any Asian girl trying to go blonde — don’t waste your money by trying to go somewhere else cheaper, that will only ruin your hair. Invest in yourself and come to Cherin and Sal– you won’t regret it.

This review is for Slim: Slim you are great! Great, warm, professional personality. She really listened to me. She took the time and looked at the photos I brought along. She asked me the thoughtful question: «What is it about these photos/​highlights you like?» She then proceeded to give me the color that was like the photos I showed her, but something that also worked with my skin tone and eyes. I was in and out in 4 hours! (this is the quickest time I have been in and out of this place for… generally I am in there for like 7 hours…). Her price was reasonable. She only had one assistant, so that was nice (you only have one assistant to tip). She used Olaplex to lighten my dark hair. Overall, I would highly recommend her. She did a great job! Now, hopefully, the hair will grown out nicely and I won’t need to come in for maintenance too soon… we will see!
Btw, the new valet system they have outside is a pain. Not liking having to pay an additional $ 10 added to the steep $ hair color + cut + tip etc…

Beautiful salon, excellent service & amazing results!!! Thanks Andrew!

Once you find a good hairstylist you never want to leave them no matter where they go. I met Matt R. While he was working at a salon in Sherman Oaks and he’s great. The best hair stylist I’ve ever had in my life. That being said I did not hesitate to follow him to this salon.
Everyone here knows exactly what they’re doing. I have difficult wavy hair to work with but Matt along with his two assistants are able to get the job done and have me looking like a million bucks by the time I leave. It’s gotten to the point where I allow them to do whatever I want them to do with my hair– that’s how much one can trust these stylists. I’ve never once left the salon upset at my cut.
Everyone is incredibly attentive making sure you’re comfortable and even offering you drinks throughout your time there. It’s a chic salon, really nice in design.
The prices are a bit steep depending on what you’re used to paying for a haircut. Without a tip it’ll come out to around $ 175. But it’s so incredibly worth it.
Highly recommend it.

Specifically for my dear Grace Zip:
She is the most fabulous hair stylist I have ever been to. I can trust her with my eyes closed. Her touch is truly magical. I am so glad to have crossed paths with her and so is my hair. Never have I had such healthy, beautiful hair.
She is a color genius, from highlights to rainbow hair!
Her cuts are top notch as well as the extensions she does. Her skills and expertise amaze me.
I won’t let anyone else touch my hair, ever again.
For the salon:
Super clean and chic! The staff is always there to make you a latte, get you some water or go pick up food from nearby!
They have many great products for hair.
Beautiful décor in the waiting room and all around!
You really enjoy yourself here. (And I’ve spent 6+hours in one day) trust me!

He’s a hoax. Pretends it takes hours to do a professional job. All he cares about is money. He’s from the streets n he’s a poser. Check out Meche!

Have your cheesy cousin who just finished beauty school in Sheboyban highlight your hair and steel your wallet instead, it will be easier to forgive them because they are your family.
Now I have exactly what I asked not to get: ombré with stripes around my face and so much regret and rage. This place is the center of what I find most terrible about LA. It’s dirty, crowded, cheesy, and the staff spends more time looking at their phone and their own reflection than they do their own clients’ hair.

I have gotten my hair colored by Johnny for the last 3.5 years! He is the only person I will ever let near my head again with color.
What to expect:
— A perfect hair product if you’ve explained what you want and remain vocal throughout your appointment.
— A very long day. Color corrections took more than 8 hours. Recently, my appointments are 3 – 4 hours long.
— A team of people dedicated to your hair process. Johnny will consult you, apply color and direct his assistants to complete other tasks. I find his team to be delightful.
What not to expect:
— Spa treatment. This is not a head massage. Johnny’s process creates a beautiful product, but it isn’t exactly pain-​free. Your hair will be teased and combed out (perhaps multiple times). I’m not tender-​headed, so this doesn’t bother me, but I’ve read other reviews where this is over exaggerated.
Parking: Now they have valet options on their busier days ($ 5, Wed-​Sunday) and a small lot available for self-​parking on the other days.
Booking: I always book far in advance by calling the salon.
Environment: Cool/​trendy.
Cost: $ 400+ for coloring. I consider this to be a steal given that I color my hair once every 18 months; ultimately it’s cheaper than maintaining root-​to-​tip highlights and «lived in» hair looks a million times better.
What to bring:
— Cash for tips
— Books/​entertainment
— Snacks (or kindly ask an assistant if they’ll be doing restaurant runs)
Overall, Johnny is the only colorist I’d recommend in LA. I get non-​stop compliments from strangers on my hair… and I consider him worth every hour and penny I spend in his salon.

This review is for the one and only SLIM! Hair angel, hair fairy, hair guru– all are under statements for this colorist’s talent. She has been doing my hair for over 5 years now– I will never go to anyone else!
She’s worked under the best hair colorist’s in the business such as Tracey Cunningham and has worked on clients from JLo to Paul McCartney.
Let me tell you my hair is difficult, curly, and frizzy. She can handle it, and beyond that leaves me waking out with a blow dry worthy of the gods. She’s colored me through all my hair phases from a heavy balayaged blonde, dimensional light brown, to a sleek shiny Snow White dimensional dark brown and is patient beyond measure with my neurotic questions about how it’s going to turn out. (Which is always fabulous.)
I always get compliments on my color. She uses Olaplex every step of the way to ensure my hair is not only on point color wise– but HEALTH wise too! I’ve also referred her to a family member and some friends in the past who are always obsessed with their hair after Slim’s worked on it! Not only that, she’s the best person to have doing your hair as not only is she a PERFECTIONIST but she listens to you and is such an amazing spirit.
GO TO SLIM FOR YOUR COLOR!!! Your hair will thank you again and again…
And again.

I went in for a simple haircut with Donovan and let me tell you, this guy butchered my hair! Not only that for what they did it was completely over priced ($ 125.00) for a haircut. The staff was rude and uppity. They think they’re hot sh! t. I would never go there again. This place was a total and complete disaster and they charge you way too much without warning. Also, telling you that they need your credit card number before so they can charge you if you miss the appointment is unfounded. This place totally sucks. If you value your head of hair take it someplace else but not to this money-​making scam. I can’t wait till my hair grows back again I feel completely violated. If I would give this zero stars I would. Even zero stars would be a compliment.

Keary, Keary, Keary!
His understanding of hair and cutting is genius! Just when I thought I knew what a great cut and styling was, he showed me that there is no one else close to his gifts and talents! He’s my one and only from now on!

Everyone here is a total rockstar. The salon in general is gorgeous and quirky; one of the lamps is an octopuses’ legs; Johnny’s dog, Cisco (apologies if I spelled it incorrectly, Johnny) lounges around the salon floor.
I saw Johnny last year for my hair color when I had hair extensions. He got me to the perfect «inside of a banana» blonde that I was yearning for; many colorists have a hard time getting my hair to be a cool tone instead of golden. Anh is an amazing stylist who not only knows how to make fine hair look and feel thicker, but he’s a whiz at styling too. You always get the perfect wave at this salon — not those perfect, too-​done curls that you might get at a blowout bar or another salon.
After I had my extensions removed, I sad about having shorter hair, but it was the best thing I did because Johnny was able to get my hair to a healthy state — while still coloring it – and even though Sal had to cut it short, it made all the difference as it grew out.
Here’s the deal: it’s a super busy salon, and the process that Johnny has for his clients is lengthy. It’s not a two hour ordeal; I’ve spent between 5 – 7 hours there before. It’s because there are many steps: you get highlights, then they spritz the ends to make sure the bleach doesn’t damage that area. Then you get heat. Then you wash. They you they tone your base so when it grows out, you don’t have a line. You might go through this process several times in order to achieve your desired look.
I am follower of Johnny and I trust him with my hair — I only go every six months, and I always get complements on my hair color. (Even with roots!) It keeps my hair healthy and allows it to grow. Before, I was getting my hair done every 8 weeks and it really did damage my hair. Now I can get the color I want without destroying my hair’s integrity in the process.
I have met so many colorists in LA and Johnny (and really everyone at RT) is in the top tier. They just get it. So do the stylists.
For color, I recommend:
Johnny (the owner.
)
Matt Rez (does Margot Robbie’s hair
)
Cherin Choi (I haven’t seen her personally, but she is amazing with transformative hair color
)
For cuts/​styling:
Anh (The owner.
)
Sal (Cut my hair after I removed my extensions. I had to go super short, but then I didn’t have to see him again for another 8 months — my hair was in fantastic shape after his magic. Trained under Johnny and Anh.
)
Donovan and Buddy: both trained under Johnny and Anh.
Honestly, everyone here is a gem, so you can’t go wrong with anyone on the floor. Everyone I mentioned above has touched my hair at some point, so I wanted to suggest them as my rec!

Aaron completely saved me! Without realizing it, apparently I have turned into a bit of a haircut snob.
Background: I’ve been moving a lot lately, so haven’t had the time to figure out a «regular haircut» person… so when I saw last fall that Anh was going to be visiting Chicago I jumped at the opportunity to book an appointment. As it goes without saying… absolutely. awesome. haircut. Seriously. It was that good. So after that amazing experience, its been hard to find someone who compares. The straw that broke the camels back was last month, when I made the mistake of visiting some random salon and got my hair butchered by a junior stylist.
Luckily I had an upcoming trip to LA on the calendar. I quickly called and heard that Anh wasn’t going to be in town, but I figured, anyone there should be fine. Fine is totally an understandment. Aaron listened to all my grievances super patiently and then did a miraculous job fixing what the other lady destroyed. I have a lot of hair on the back of my head and he did an amazing job (I think with the undercut?!) lightening it and making it WAY more manageable. I also have super fine hair, so in the front it is especially susceptible to bad layering techniques and he added movement without making it look choppy and ick.
I literally floated out of the salon. It is SO wonderful to find someone who knows what you are looking for and then able to execute it to perfection. My only regret is that I don’t live in LA so I can’t see him all the time. But anytime I am back… Aaron is my main man! THANK YOU AARON! xoxoxo

My Ramirez /​Tran salon experience was incredible…
I normally don’t write reviews on Unilocal but after reading all the negative reviews about this salon and Johnny and his team, I knew I had to.
I made my appt for Johnny after being so in love with his work & doing my share of research, I knew I wanted him to be the one to make me a blonde. (I don’t trust Unilocal reviews)
Walking in — this salon is the cutest, greeted by johnnys assistants & first thing taking the infamous blank white wall before pic.
Johnny took a moment from his 3 clients he was working on all at once in his beautiful skylight room, to talk to me about my vision and hear me out. With my background of dying hair & knowing a lot about hair/​beauty & life, I understood that his style of dying would be damaging to my hair, he even asked me «are you a hairstylist?» Which was inspiring– as I’ve always wanted to be… He said that we could do the test strand and see how fast it lifts, however he offered me an amazing other stylist in house @slim_color whom is trained on olaplex… (A bonding treatment, so you don’t have much breakage when dying black-​blonde)
Which he forgot to mention that she was the VP of education for olaplex. Amazing!
Of course I was bummed I wouldn’t be working with Johnny but i trusted him with the process, and knew he had great intentions for me. & once we get the blonde the healthy way, I could always come back & see him do my touch up blonde.
Going onto Slims review. She was amazing. After a 12 hour day spent with this lady, i am truly amazed with everything! I was expecting walking out just Carmel balayage (I had black hair) but nope! Slim gave me my blonde that I wanted!
After showing her my dream picture, we did just that and more! I’ve never had a bigger smile on my face! Slim PERFECTED my hair, she would see a copper strand and dye it, & just keep perfecting my hair until it was finished. These appts are well worth the 8 – 12 hour experience.
— P. s– if your into hair and beauty like I am, you will love this salon, so many talented and amazing artists! Keary cut my hair & gave me the chic-​y deeky Lob that I wanted! So much texture in my hair.
Though they told me my color will last for at least 6 months —
For a celebrity salon, I felt & was treated just like one. It’s been a few days now and I’m still so amazed
I can’t wait to book my next appt or come in for a cut in between color!

Matt Rez is a truly amazing colorist. He gave me a very natural and beautiful balayage. It was a big change for me, so it took me about 2weeks to get used to the color, but now I love it and I get complements on my color all the time.
They are very busy at this salon, so at first I was a little bit unsure if they are perhaps not too rushed with everything… (Rather ironic thought when you spend 7hours having your hair done.)
I was used to more relaxed and personal atmosphere in the past, but at the end of the day the hair is the priority, so I don’t care if they listen to my stories
as long as my hair looks good.
Keary Bladel gave me honestly the best haircut ever.
I highly recommend him.
He is a true genius. Sweet, attentive, relaxed and über talented.
I’m actually quite a difficult client, obsessed with my thin and needy hair, always seeing every little wrong thing about it.
Historically, I had situations where I had to correct my haircuts even with top celebrity stylists or I wasn’t completely happy, but this might be the first time in my life when I’m 100% happy with my haircut. So thankful. Truly the best feeling.

Went in with medium-​long length hair with long layers over the past weekend. Definitely needed a cut. Asked for a few inches off to get rid of the dead ends, LONG layers, some undercutting to break up my thickness and to have it all flow. Well, few days later I let it all ‘settle’ and my ‘lived in’ hair ended up being really choppy and I have short layers all throughout my hair that don’t even blend since my hair is so thick. I asked to have it thinned out under the base layer to take away some thickness… but nope. I specifically asked for long layers and nothing to be choppy or drastic and thats all I got. Absolutely a HUGE let down for such a pricey haircut.
To boot, I also ended up getting uneven layers on each side of my head (front face layers don’t match at all), awkward short layers that make an a-​line from the back of my head to the front and it’s just super choppy (not trying to pull the Rachel Gellar look, ugh). Ended up with weird layers then the bottom of my hair. Just no blending or transitions. Even my stylist said ‘it looks choppy but after you wash it and after a few days, it’ll look great’ so he knew what was up when he went chop crazy. Just wish I didn’t spend hundreds on my hair cut when I just want to throw it in a bun until it grows out so I can get a blunt cut and avoid these issues since apparently long layers that flow don’t exist. Just really bummed about this whole thing.
The entire time I was there, Johnny was sending random people ‘to get their hair cut’ while I was there. Obviously, since the owner says so, my stylist follows (and I totally get it — he’s the boss) but it’s just rude to the clients there on the owners behalf. If I am going to spend hundreds on a cut, I expect the attention and quality of a one on one time and it’s unfair he puts his employees in a situation where they have to neglect THEIR clients. The receptionists were absolutely rude as well. Didn’t smile, greet you or anything. Just bad vibes, but, my guy was extremely sweet — just botched my hair which really sucks. Worst part? When it dries, I want to cry… going elsewhere to fix it. Won’t ever return. When I go and spend hundreds on a cut without even adding color, I expect to at least like it.
Sad face.

Updating my review: I have been going to this salon for years now. Used to only go to the salon owners Johnny Ramirez for highlights and Anh Co Tran for cuts but now I am extremely happy with Matt R for balayage highlights and Sal Salcedo for haircuts. Highly recommend them. I’ve attached a photo of my latest highlights from Matt and hair cut from Sal. Both great hair stylists and a really sweet guys. The salon is pricey for haircut/​highlights but if you’re like me and have long hair do a natural blonde, bronde ombré or tortoiseshell sunkissed look you only need to come to the salon 2x to 3x a year. Just ask for a low maintainance natural look.

This review is for Johnny and Anh in NYC.
Every other month or so, Johnny, Anh, and their teams come to NYC to do hair in a host salon. I went for my first cut and color in March of last year and have since been back twice to see them when they’re in the city. I’m ruined for other stylists forever, since I can’t stand the thought of anyone else doing my hair.
When I first set out on my ombré mission, I had already spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on other colorists who had given me yellow, clearly demarcated highlights and didn’t know how to tone properly. I would always have to dye my hair dark to undo the embarrassing color jobs — effectively throwing away money. After seeing all the amazing images on Pinterest and Instagram, I decided to finally take the plunge and see what a celebrity colorist and stylist can really do.
Since I’ve seen them multiple times now, I’ll give an overview of their NYC appointments. You definitely have more face time with Anh, who is super friendly and talkative and will make sure you absolutely love your cut. His assistants might help him style you («wave you out») but he always makes sure to see the end result and run his fingers through your ‘do. You might see him twice if he cuts you before Johnny does the color.
Once you get to Johnny, you’ll notice that he’s much less talkative but still polite. I just think he’s always so exhausted from traveling and working. Usually he and an assistant will tease/​bleach/​foil your hair, and you’ll get up from his chair looking like something out of a sci-​fi adaptation of «Beauty Shop.» He’s very fast and usually isn’t checking to see if foil is poking you anywhere, so mind your eyeballs.
After the initial bleaching, there is a lot of sitting around and being checked on by assistants, so bring a good book or make sure your phone is full of juice. Sometimes the salon gets crowded and they need to move people around so keep an eye on your belongings. I get why a lot of people would complain about Johnny not actually doing all stages the color process himself; for upwards of $ 500 I would expect his magical hands to never leave my hair for a second. However, you have to realize that he would need 50 hands to able to physically manage all the different clients and their varying phases of being bleached. In my experience, all his assistants are highly skilled and are being directed by Johnny since he can’t actually be in two places at once. I have seen Johnny confer and discuss with his team over the course of an appointment. Don’t freak out if you look like Sideshow Bob, it will all be worth it.
Once your hair goes through the 7 rings of hair hell (lots of foils, heat, and de-​tangling), they will dry a strip of hair to see if the color is up to your expectations. I’ve had them bring me down a few shades before, and they were more than happy to help me get to my desired color. Once you’re all good with color, back to Anh to get styled and photographed.
You will definitely be here all day if you have medium to long hair and are seeing both Johnny and Anh. You will be about $ 400-​$ 1000 poorer depending on what you’re having done. You will tell yourself it’s only just this once to see how it is, but then realize that no one else can create the same magic on your head and you will resolve to save all your money so you can come back in 6 – 9 months. Your friends will think you’re crazy, until they get so jealous of your hair that they go see Johnny and Anh for themselves. True story.

Not sure why they have two Unilocal pages — so I’ll post this again here:
I waited nearly 8 weeks to write this review so I could figure out how I really felt about the process, the price, and the outcome… and I am less than thrilled.
Let me say quickly before I get bogged down — I like Anh and think his hair cuts are great. I would say they are probably only worthwhile if you want to do something layered and you plan on curling your hair regularly. Because of my color experience, I haven’t been doing a lot of heat styling… so the haircut ended up being a bust. But my first haircut with Anh last year, where I didn’t do any color, was a lot more impactful…
Anyway — color with Johnny. I am not happy at all. Like others have said, it’s a factory/​assembly line. I don’t think Johnny is worth the hefty $ 500 price tag… but what you’re honestly paying for is the team of 10 or so other people that work on your hair (or, at least I hope you are… they don’t seem to love Johnny, so maybe they aren’t being paid very well). I barely spent any time with Johnny at all. There were multiple other people who painted in the first set of highlights, then the second set of highlights, then washed, etc. All Johnny did was the «tipping» — that is to say he just put a smattering of the lightest shade of blonde on my ends (which honestly seems like the easiest and least risky part to me… if that doesn’t go well, you can at least cut your hair shorter to get rid of it). After he did that, other people did everything else (there was more painting on of highlights, removing foils, toning, etc.). In my EIGHT HOUR appointment, I spent about 45 minutes with him max.
This in and of itself would be OK with me except that I was not thrilled with how my hair turned out — I didn’t love it immediately and I DEFINITELY don’t love it now. By hour five of my appointment, Johnny had left for the day. Now, I started at noon and there were at least five other women who started after me, and he didn’t have the courtesy to stick around in the salon to see our color treatments through. He never checked on our progress — not even when he was there — and then he was long gone by the time we were done. So, he never weighed in on whether or not his team did a good job, if the color was what we had discussed at the outset (it wasn’t), etc.
I had gone in asking for something really natural and soft like what was pictured in the article NYMag did on him that very same week — except not quite as light — and instead I got a huge chunk of white blonde hair in the front of my head, and thin little sad stripey pieces all over the rest of my head. They did NOT adequately tone the roots to make the highlights blend in naturally. And the highlights were never even painted all the way to my roots, so from week one my hair looked cheap and «old,» as if it had been growing out for a couple of weeks already.
What I am MOST upset about, however, is how ridiculously damaged my hair is. I went in with pretty much virgin hair. I had some year-​old bleach on the ends — it had once been dip-​dyed blonde — but I’m talking maybe 1.5 inches, and some of that got cut off before we started, so from my roots almost to the ends was very healthy. His insane process of doing the «tipping» I mentioned above involves teasing your hair to an insane level and creating the most hellacious rats nest of tangled hair you could ever possibly imagine. It took two people about half an hour to brush it all out. This on its own created a TON of damage, and then the very bright white around my face has caused so much damage and breakage. I have so many broken, frizzy hairs sticking up all the time. It’s mortifying. I feel like every day is a bad hair day. And I am trying SO HARD to keep my hair healthy. I have an expensive T3 water filter on my shower head, I’m using all sulfate-​free Oribe hair products (from the Gold Lust collection), I only wash and blow dry twice a week, I use a heat protectant spray and cream every time I style my hair, I don’t curl my hair more than once a month, I do a deep conditioning treatment every week, etc. I literally have no idea what more I could do. With such a damaging coloring process — you’d think they’d throw in something like Olaplex with the $ 500 color treatment (for free — or I’d even be willing to pay for it to avoid the disgusting damaged mess that is my hair now). But they don’t even offer you ANYTHING that might help with the breakage.
I am doing a weekly at-​home Olaplex régime until I feel like my hair is healthy enough to just dye brown and cover up these gross, streaky highlights. All people say about my hair is that it looks so dry and I should just go back to being a brunette…
Oh — when I checked out, I could only leave a credit card tip for Johnny — not for any members of his team. I thought that was pretty awful when he barely did anything and wasn’t even there for the last few hours of my appointment.