Designer Cuts

This place is okay for a haircut… For dudes it’s about $ 19. It’s more than what I pay for from having fellow students cut my hair. Also to mention, and I’m sorry ladies, but they’re better with men’s hair. I guess it depends on the stylist.
For some, I requested a fade and I ended up with a frizzy fohawk that was just really off. Sometimes, they get it right. In all, I would say that if you can find another hair salon, go for it. Else if you need a decent cut, this is the spot for you.

Very good! I asked for Anne due to a recommendation from a friend. She’s Asian so she knows Asian hair!
I went in about 20 minutes early and another haircut lady (middle aged, she had two buns, Caucasian, on her phone all the time) was pretty snarky and rude to me when I said I had an appointment. I waited and watched her deal with a customer, in which she remained making snarky comments to the customer. All the other stylists seemed nice though, it was just that lady.
I sat on the chair and Anne cut my hair so good! I had worn a hat that day so she even shampooed my hair mid-​haircut for free! She paid attention to detail and carefully listened to what I wanted my hair to be cut like.
A men’s haircut is $ 19 which is pretty pricey for a place that isn’t a barber shop, but it was worth it!

Yes, they are actually the only place that opens early in Goleta/​SB. However, they are very unprofessional. When you pay they ask for tip-​you have to tell them upfront-​which makes it uncomfortable and indescrete. Staff is either too nice or too impersonal. It’s dirty, the décor is old and tacky: 1970’s China meets Quincenera. Would not recommend.

This is a Review For Ann, She is the Asian Hair stylist here. She cuts the best hair for Asian Men. I’ve been to numerous hairstylist all around Santa Barbara including the high end places downtown that charge 80 dollars for a haircut and claim to do a great job. I warn you, They cannot cut Asian Men’s hair, it does grow differently and needs someone with experience cutting this type of hair. Do not go elsewhere. Ann is the best in town for Asian Male Hair. 17 bucks to boot and does a great job. I don’t go anywhere else unless I’m in a different city with a large Asian population.

I have been getting my hair cut here every month since 2005. I highly recommend it for dudes (sorry ladies). There is a slight language barrier with some of the stylists, but if you are patient and explain what you want, and make sure they understand… then you are good to go. It has always cost $ 17 and has never increased in price.
I find it hilarious that stylists (anywhere) can cut your hair well, but send you out the door wishing you had a hood. What’s up with that?
Anyway…it is a solid, reliable place.

I go to Imelda at Designer Cuts and haven’t had a bad cut yet — short hair — which CAN BE a disaster. She has never cut it too short, and I’ve been seeing her for about two years now. I know how getting a bad haircut can really ruin your day/​month/​year!

I’ve gotten two cuts here. I don’t remember the name of the first woman who did my hair (I really wish I did!!). She was pretty good, and worth more than the $ 20 + tip I paid. She took her time and made sure she did a good job. I liked the style, and it fell nicely. Even though I didn’t really think she understood what I was saying very well (I don’t speak Spanish), it didn’t matter. This was quite a while ago. I’d give her 5 stars, as a combination of quality and cost.
More recently, I went back for a simple trim. I had expected it to go somewhere between ok and great since the shop had fine reviews on GMaps at the time, I wanted something very simple, and I liked my last cut there. There was only one woman other than the owner, and the owner told her to give me a haircut. I asked her to take off 1−2″ off the back to get rid of split ends, and if she could maybe layer it just a tad, so it wouldn’t be straight with a blunt end. I also asked her to trim and straighten my bangs. The stylist finished my hair in under 5 minutes. I’m not kidding. I’ve never had my hair cut so fast, since I like to keep it medium length or longer. She was literally cutting through all of my hair at once, instead of cutting it section-​by-​section, which is what every single other stylist I’ve ever been to does. She did my bangs, then I made the mistake of asking her to feather the front a little. She didn’t even ask me how far up I wanted it to go. SNIP! She immediately cut a wide angle something like 5″ up in a single cut. I had to let her do the other side to even it out.
When I got the mirror (as I hadn’t been given the opportunity to see what was going on previously), my jaw dropped. She had done an incredibly awful job. It was at this point that I could see the floor where she’d been cutting, and I noticed that the pieces of hair on the floor were 4−6″ long, which made me angry, since I had wanted to keep my hair long for a special event. My bangs were crooked, but short enough that if I got them straightened, I’d have super-​short bangs. And the «feathering» she had just cut in the front wasn’t even. It was incredibly awful, and the hair I’d taken so long to grow was now gone. I found out later that she used thinning shears on my hair (which I definitely don’t need) and I don’t know if it’s something about the tools she used or just how she used them, but I’ve noticed I have a ton more split ends than usual, and they formed a lot more quickly than usual. I normally only need a haircut once a year, but I’m going to need another one soon to get rid of the split ends. Granted, I had gone to another salon to have the cut salvaged, but since I wanted the girl to keep my hair as long as possible, she mostly just evened out the edges, rather than really re-​doing the cut entirely. Together, the two cuts ended up being around $ 70 all together, my hair was way too short, and it seems like she damaged it. I would give her negative stars if I could. That coupled with the (more distant past) score = 2 stars.
Long story short, unless you specifically know the name of the stylist here who does a good job (assuming she still works there), you should go somewhere else to get your hair cut. $ 20 is not cheap when you have to get another cut somewhere else immediately afterwards.

If you are a male and you care about how your hair looks, do not get a haircut here.
I went in to get a haircut, and there was no wait. Went right to the chair to start my haircut.
Asked for a taper cut with a 2. Normally, this haircut would take around 15 – 20 minutes. It only took about 4 minutes to get my haircut. Yes, 4 minutes. I was surprised. Once i got home, i noticed she didnt cut my hair evenly at all. she does not know how to cut a taper at all, and before starting my haircut i asked if she knew how to cut a taper and she said yes.
Once the cut was done, i asked her to do a simple lineup, and she said she did not know how to.
She didnt even use the clippers to line up the hairline on the back of my head, or my sideburns. Im hoping this person had some type of certificate that she passed the exam, because with the hair cut i was given, it shows she had no idea what she was doing.
Im not too sure how all the other barbers are with haircuts, but this lady had no idea what she was doing. $ 17 dollars for a haircut that was horrible.
If you have to get a haircut at this place, do not get it with the person whose station is the first on the right. The worst hair cut you will get. I am going to go to another barber and spend more money so they can fix my hair.

This place seems to be like a SuperCuts (aka Russian Roulette of haircuts). If you know someone who’s good, it’s totally worthwhile and an absolute deal. Otherwise, steer clear:
I got my hair cut here a year ago. The woman did a wonderful job. She took her time and was very laid back about it all, and I felt it was as good as the cut I got at this fancy studio in San Francisco years previously, for a fraction of the price. It’s hard to find people who will do a good job on Asian hair. So, naturally, when it came time for a trim, I decided to come back here. I forgot the woman’s name, but I’d read reviews saying that everyone here is good, so I just took the first available stylist.
I just got home. This is the single most god-​awful hair cut I’ve ever gotten in my entire life. That includes the time I decided to cut my own hair for kicks in intermediate school, and the haircuts my mom used to give me as a child.
I just asked for her to trim off ~2″ to get rid of my split ends and to layer it a bit, and said I wanted to keep it as long as possible. Something like 3−6″ later (depending on what part of my head you look at), I just told her to stop, and left. She cut haphazardly in full snips (better places cut it straight a little at a time and then feather it), and wasn’t even checking if the left and right side were the same length as she went. I don’t think she had a clue of what she was doing, and certainly had no idea what «layers» meant, other than «the hair should be different lengths». She kept saying «I add more layers» but really what she did was add more rat bites.
Everything I asked her to fix became even more uneven. I was trying to grow out my hair for a special event, and now that’s not going to be an option for me anymore, since I’ll need to get a fairly short cut to even it out. I’m absolutely heartbroken.

If you are looking for a good place to cut your hair, keep looking!
I haven’t cut my hair in about a year. My hair is pretty normal, long and straight. All I asked was from the «stylist» was to cut it a couple inches shorter with some layers.
She was pretty rough, she would flip my wet hair, slapping into my eyes. when she would cut the ends, she wasn’t even looking at where she was cutting, but out the window.
At the end, my hair was shorter than expected and so choppy. It looked like she used left hand kindergarten scissors and decided to cut wherever and whenever she felt! It was terrible.
The worst thing is that I think she tried her best, but I honestly didn’t think she could do better. I went back up to SF where I usually cut my hair to fix it.
She did so much damage though, that I asked to get a high a line bob. But they said that she did so much damage that my bob would not be normal, and i would have to settle with some layers in the front because it was so short and chopped up already!
If anyone knows of any other decent and friendly hair stylist they can recommend in Santa Barbara please let me know, because I do not feel like driving 336 miles everytime I need a haircut!

Let’s face it, Santa Barbara and Goleta is typically a white town, so they don’t have much experience in giving Asians haircuts. Okay, Asian males who like to keep his hair longer than a few inches, has layers, and texture. Geez I sound like a girl.
I’ve been to many hair cut parlors around Goleta and Santa Barbara, and in my experience no one gives me a haircut as well as they do.
How I tell them to cut my hair, they will do exactly. These people actually listen. I’ve gotten my haircut from over 5 different people there so far over the past few years, and they’ve all been consistent in giving me good haircuts.
If you find a good stylist, stick with them. My stylist is named Claudia.