Hair Mates

Pay to feel violated.
I made an appointment with Tomoki after reading some good reviews, but I’m guessing those must have been paid reviews. Wow. First of all, the shampoo guy did a horrible job; water going in both ears to no end and at one point, he pulled me by the head trying to get me closer to the basin. During the cut with Tomoki, I told him that my hair is very voluminous and that I’m going for a straight, blunt cut, no layers. Throughout the entire consult, he was cooly nonchalant and disinterested, and after I had explicitly said no layers, what does he do, but layer my hair all over. I was mortified looking at the outcome. Thick Asian hair made to look even bulkier with spiky layers all around the bottom — possibly the worst look for my type of hair. He offered to revise it, but to remove all the layers would mean my hair would be chin length; a far cry from the intended length just above the shoulders. I allowed him to clip about a centimeter more to reduce the layers and he did that in about less than two minutes. The blowout itself was horrible. Cheap old brushes, cheap equipment, nothing looked sanitary. The interior of the salon itself is old and outdated and their presentation says a lot about how they treat their clients. When I went up to the receptionist to pay, I paid in full, but explained what had happened. The receptionist said I should have asked the stylist to revise the cut, but when I told her that had already been done and to get rid of all the layers would be impossible, the girl’s answer was one hideous smirk, suggesting that she didn’t give a damn and that I was being unreasonable. Do not come to this place because you will leave feeling violated.

It was my favorite place when I was in college, after many years, I went to the hairmates with keeping good memories. The tall, dark, mid curly hair and tattoo guy cut my hair. He had no passion about what is doing and looked pretty much pathetic. He didn’t talk at all if I need to stand up after shampooing my hair, neither need to go back to the seat or not. All hair designing process was also lack of passion and care. After finishing hair cut, he didn’t talk and didn’t even come to the reception desk. The hair salon itself looked out of the date, tools were dirty and furniture looked old.
Overall it was very unpleasant moment, wish they took back their fame again

If you ever in town go ask for kino he used to be my hair stylist and only one who I’ve trust with my hair. I miss him the dude and hope to see him once again when I go visit back NYC

I was recommended here by a friend. My friend said the prices were good and the location is convenient so i gave it a try! I got a hair cut it was 25 $ with a junior stylist. My stylist was Steph she was nice but did not listen to what i wanted, it came out way shorter then i wanted it to be. So if you want all your hair hacked off then Steph is the one to go to. I would not recommend her to anyone. Everyone there is nice but not all junior stylist are good so be careful if you go to junior stylist. I was very displeased with this hair cut. Also this place only accepts cash, but there are atms around.

MY SECRET WEAPON!
Recommended here by a friend and I admit when I walked in, I was a bit surprised as she and I both are the types to go to overpriced, pretentious salons (the worst).
Hairmates is the opposite and simply incredible. No frills, no fuss, and a damn good haircut! Excellent scissor work and they really know how to do layers. Ever since my time in Japan, I’ve been unable to find a place that can cut so precisely until visiting Hair Mates.
Highly, highly recommend — especially if you have fine asian /​indian hair — they really know how to work with it. I go to Enoch and haven’t gotten my hair cut by anyone else since
Remember — cash only but there’s an ATM next door

I would recommend this place although the I am on the fence about the service. If you want a pretty cheap and decent hair cut and have straight Asian hair – this place works.
Made an appointment and my hairdresser was 45 minutes late to our appointment. The situation was saved because the stylist did a great job but I wish I hadn’t rushed to get there on time.
I would probably go back because it was good for the price (45 $) but it’s not at all a salon. It’s just where you go to get your hair cut.

It was really convenient. I made an appointment by phone and they told me when I could get there and how much I need to pay.
Kana gave me a regular hair cut ($ 50, cash only). I didn’t have a clue about what kind of hair style I wanted. I just wanted it to be short. Kana was really patient with me and we negotiated a little bit and finally settled on one style.
I’m a really lazy person: I only use shampoo and conditioner and I don’t even blow dry my hair. Kana gave me a lot of tips and they are really useful.
Great experience!
$Cash Only$

I recently got my hair cut into layers and I wish I remembered the lady’s name that did it because she did an amazing job. I love my hair so much, I don’t remember the last time I really liked a haircut I’ve had until now. Also the lady that washed my hair was really good at it. The whole process was done really fast, I got there at like 4:20 and got my hair washed, cut, and blow dried and was done by around 5:15.
Only down side is that it was $ 50 which is pretty expensive but I guess it was worth it.
I would go back again.

Great experience! I got hair cut and high light done by Hide today!
I was supposed to go to Eiji Kiyora hair salon but my appt was cancelled very last minutes when I was about to arrive at salon in 1 block!!! I was so upset and tearing. I called all Japanese salon I could reach around that area, union square. Of course no salon took last min appt but Hair Mate!
Service was great, I love my hair!!! Price was inexpensive. They made my day!

Tamoki has always done an excellent job. Decided to give Enoch a try since Tamoki was out of town. I am very disappointed with the turnout. He reassured me he knew what I wanted but it turned out he didn’t! What was supposed to be a simple trim turned out to be a completely different hair cute! The cut was ok but its not what I asked for.

Enoch has cut my hair twice and he is amazing. I have been to many of the pricier salons in the city (Bumble & Bumble, Pierre Michel, etc) and Enoch cuts hair way better than anyone ever did at those places.
He is very precise with his technique. He also listens carefully to what I tell him I am looking for and I have left the salon very happy both times.
At $ 50 a cut, it is the best deal in the city.

Miho is amazing. Very attentive, consistent, and super nice. Great men’s cut.
Warning: they are cash-​only.

Got another perfect haircut from Enoch yesterday!
Once again, I had no idea how to describe what I wanted (I showed him a selfie I took of my last haircut… kinda embarrassing BUT he totally got what I meant– «oh so you want a long-​ish bob that is textured, okay” — YES. EXACTLY. THANK YOU). I am always thankful to Enoch that he can interpret my bumbling explanations and make it look amazing.
Did I mention that he’s really fast too? Including hairwash, I think it took about 45 minutes.
Thanks again Hairmates!

Came here for a hair perm and was completely unsatisfied, ripped off, and killed my hair.
So I came here for a first time perm and this nice Japanese lady worked on my rolling my hair up in curls and drenched it with this foul smelling chemical and let it sat for about 45minutes. She then took out one curl to see if my hair is curling and if it is staying then rolls it back up and waited another 15 minutes and then took all the the curls out and went for a wash. While I’m sitting back at my seat my hair is visibly uncurly or not what I was expecting. It looked almost straight and the light curls were temporary looking. It literally looked like it’ll go completely straight after a one more hair wash.
At this point I was already pretty upset because my hair is not curly/​wavy and let alone REALLY damaged. There was no hair treatment of any sort for my hair and as I ran through my hair I can feel the hair thinning and brittle. The manager came by because the lady noticed how upset I was and he told me that it the curls will eventually settle after a few days (yeah sure) and if I’m not happy she can redo the curl process again or next time without charge. My hair is already damaged I am not going to be a guinea pig to test out how much my hair can take until it curls like come on now. My hair is about to break off. So since it had it I just wanted to pay and get out not expecting them to charge me full price which is around $ 90 for hair perm. The manager was rather shocked when I said I don’t feel like I should be paying full price for no results and let alone hair being damaged. He stared at me and was so reluctant to give me some kind of discount as good gesture and asked me how much I’d like to pay… I said at least half off since the lady took time to do my hair and I’m not trying to dip without paying anything. So he’s like ok how about $ 70, im like are you kidding me my hair is STRAIGHT by now after speaking to you for 15 minutes. Finally he’s like what about $ 50. I sighed and hand him the money and tried to tip the lady who did my hair because it’s not her fault or anyone’s just that the perm technique didn’t work on my hair and she didn’t want to take my tip so ya. Don’t think I will be coming back here for any hair dos.
Really disappointed on how the Japanese manager dealt with $$$. Really unprofessional and unnecessary.

Dirty tools = possible staph
I had been going to Hairmates for quite a while, trying different stylists, having stylists leave after a few months of working. The usual, but i was a committed customer with a love for head massages and friendly although junior staff.
Unfortunately my last haircut resulted in a nasty infection after i was cut with dirty clippers along my hairline. And so my $ 30 haircut has left me on medication for two weeks and shelling out for doctors visits. To make things worse I can’t get a haircut until its over so I’m also overgrown.
Maybe it was my fault for choosing the cheap men’s haircut deal or wanting to believe in someone who did a good (afforable) job of cutting my hair. Or maybe i should have brought my own green potion of bacteria killing barbicide. My 30 bucks has easily soared to 65.
the most frustrating part was that my formal complaint was met with just an «oh really?» from the manager, an awkward handshake that I’m still unsure if it meant goodbye or «congratulations you’re the winner of a complimentary flesh eating bacteria.» What can you really expect though, i tried to be discreet, and not sure what compensation I would ask for. if i really wanted to stick it to them I would be after them for paying these medical bills.

I thought the place was really good after my last time having hair cut by Tomoki.
And this time, I got my bang cut in a terrible condition! I really doubt whether this guy knows how to make hair cut or not! I said not too short, and he made his first cut shorten my bang to eye brow. I complained that it was not what I want, and I showed him picture before he start, he said the bang on the picture is on the eye brow and bla bla. BUT I am different face shape please!!! Isn’t it stylist’s job to do slightly change with the condition of customer?! ARE DOING A MATH?! JUST COPY EXACTLY EVERY DETAIL AND IGNORE WHAT THE CUSTOMER LOOKS?! My forehead is short, and the bang I got is not even a tiny little bit like the picture I showed. and the short bang makes me looks super stupid and ugly. I’m extremely mad about the stylist since he kept finding excuse for this AWFUL and UGLY bang which makes me feel worse. I forgot to ask his name, he is a dark tall guy with tattoo on his arm.(I thought I found another review that he made the awful hair cut)
Anyway, just don’t trust every stylist in the store, some of them may not know how to do a hair cut.

My friend took me there last Saturday and my hair was cut by Miyo or something starts with an M and 4 characters. My hair is really heavy and I was expecting some layer to it and was hoping I could feel lighter after the cut. However my hair went from long and heavy to shorter and dull. Now I grab the bottom of my hair it feels like a brush– all of it the same length like it was cut straight cross. I never leave comments but this one really disappointed me so much. Maybe other hair dressers are great but not this one…

I give a 5 stars to the service I got from everyone else other than my hairstylist and he got a 1 star for complete my haircut which I was not satisfied.
This guy I’m not sure what his name is Alex/​Enrico? (Dark, tall, tatoos) But really he does not know how to cut layers. All he does was cutting the ends and he is really lazy with his cuts.
I have been going to both hair mates midtown and downtown for some years now and always had a good result for my haircuts. Just yesterday I made an appointment asking for a senior hairstylist for cutting long hair. And he was AWFUL. The worst experience I had in years. I had to show him photos of my previous haircuts, so he could at least imitate the look on the front but the back was not fixed.
I was being polite and still paid and tipped him nicely. But I swore I’ll never let this guy get near my hair again.

I walked in on a snowy day, a coupla days ago, with a single minded focus of getting my hair chopped off.
First of all, my hair is boring shoulder length, your typical Asian «nothing really happening hair». Passing my Hair Mates like I usually do but, again it was snowing, and I said «hell, might as well get my hair finally done.»
So, on a whim I walked in with no appointment and a very vague goal of short hair.
They did incredibly well with what I had. Kana, the stylist was two thumbs up fantastic. Attentive (awesome, check), knowledgeable (double check), quick and efficient (no hair pulling here which I usually get at other salons).
My hair is beautiful and better fitting than my usual long hairdo. A very cute undercut but with a dash of professionalism that I need in my concentration. If you have a vague understanding of what you want but a specific style you are aiming for I would recommend this place. But I think it’s safe to say that you should make an appointment first. I was lucky it wasn’t busy. This is the longest review I’ve ever written.
So, to Kana, Thank you so much!

This review has been long overdue.
I haven’t been a customer to this particular location for that long but I’ve been following my stylist, Seiji, for quite some time so I go where he goes.
Because I live in Flushing, Queens I sometimes get my haircut somewhere closer to me instead of heading downtown. Anywhere I go NO ONE gets my hair right and for the longest time I just assumed I had bad luck with picking the right stylists. But Seiji gets it right all the time. I’ve always thought my hair cut was simple to do and I never fully appreciated how good Seiji is at his craft. He has spoiled me and now I only get my hair cuts from him.
I live in Queens and I have no problem heading downtown Manhattan just for this place. Seiji manages the place and trains other stylists too so I’m confident this location is going to be busting with talented stylists soon (if not already). I highly recommend this place.
On a side note, I get complimented for my hair a lot in public. I always feel guilty for taking the compliment because it’s not like I cut my own hair. It’s all Seiji and he is awesome.

Nice and simple, cash-​only place to grab a haircut. Reservations recommended.
Assuming you have a rapport with one of the hair stylists here, a cut is anywhere from $ 15 — 80. Add more for additional services like perms, washes, color, etc.
A small bench up front for people to sit and wait for openings. Magazine rack up there, and water cooler station, too.

I had an awful experience here.
It’s been three years since my last visit. I am not sure when they started ranking their stylists in different levels, but apparently you can chose to pay from $ 45 — $ 85 for a haircut. And I chose the $ 45.
After waiting for 15 mins, the apprentice girl came over and washed my hair, however I had no idea she’d be my stylist. She looked like 18 or 20 years young.
It was not a surprise that I did not get what I want. My stylist did not advise me with any styles, she simply asked me what I want. I was no expert in hairstyle, so I told her I wanted to look professional. Then she started to cut — neither did she layered my hair nor reduced any volume. She did a good job blow drying though.
I acknowledge the salon’s pricing strategy, however I cannot believe how low they set their bottom line. My stylist obviously needs a considerate amount of training/​observing hours, nevertheless, the management placed an amateur to handle customers hair. What a shame!
It is of great disappointment to reverse my previous 5 star review, however I will not come back, ever.

I’m a big fan of this place. Tomoki is my guy — he knows me, my style and also my tendency to NOT be as aggressive as I might say I am; he reads me so well. I always go in wanting my long hair to look ‘different’, but I think he knows that I actually just notice the details, and he always gives me EXACTLY what I want, to the point where I now trust him to interpret. I’m embarrassingly meticulous and perhaps even obsessive when it comes to my hair appearance. I bring in multiple photos; one inspired by the layers, another by the color, another by the way its styled — and ask him to cobble it together. He is my hair Jedi.
My hair usually takes about 1 – 2 weeks to «settle in», where it gets back some natural bends, and figures out its new tousle after a good cut. So sometimes, after I walk out, I feel a little too smoothed, too perfect, too everything for my typically desired bedhead/touseled/don’t-care-but-looks-amazing-hair — and 2 weeks later. bam. I wake up, and its everything I wanted.
I believe his cuts are now $ 50 — he’s really cool, chats, and also leaves you to read a magazine if you please. He is an artist with the trust of an slightly obsessive client who works in fashion and wants everything fine tuned, her way. I SO prefer coming to Hair-​Mates to an artist, focused on his craft, rather than going to a spot where the hairdresser is chatting about reality TV and trying to show me ‘their style’.Amazing place, amazing Tomoki!

I live in Maryland and I come all the way up here just so Tomoki can cut my hair. The technique is unmatched. I’ve got very thick hair and lots of it and he’s the only one that can cut and style it to the spec that I want it.
I’ve been to Hugo and some other fancy place in Bethesda, MD and I feel like the Hair Cuttery can do the same job… OUCH. But hey, that’s my opinion.
If Tomoki retires, then I’ll try another senior stylist there. I highly recommend this place.