Haute Hair Studio

Joelle knows exactly what to do to get the results I want. As someone who has been through several stylists, I come back to Joelle because she understands my fine, curly hair.
After toning ever so slightly, my highlights have lasted over 6 months! That’s a record!
Plus, she’s honest. I told her I was growing out my hair– she said, «don’t cut it for 6 months, use leave in conditioner and that’s it!»
I trust her, her work is great, fair prices.

I had my hair done here in 2013 and had an okay, albeit slightly uncomfortable experience due to buying a Groupon and the owner preemptively not wanting to redeem it before I even pulled it up for her. Made things a lil awkward, ya know?
Two years later I receive an incredibly hostile, confusing private message from her. Then there was more! She created two separate Unilocal accounts to continue to harass me after I was forced to block her from messaging me. This is the business owner, which is very worrisome, guys :/​
So, allow me share the below instead of my original review — it says much more anyway:
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«Thanks for your misunderstanding of all my personal feelings… dead wrong. Well you are a youngster. You shouldn’t assume the worst in every possible way. It’s a big world and not everyone is negative. Glad you liked your hair! Can you please delete your photo, it is too bad you didn’t get to step out and get a really fun view. BTW yes right now I am being a snip rude… I find it is a fair shake letting you know how warped your perception is on my feelings… this. THIS is rude. Your an annoying Unilocal attention weird-​o! Unless you get paid. then I could roll with it. Anyway your photo is terrible. REMOVE — and go love „your boss“?! He will really really enjoy that.
enjoy being treat with blinders…? Nope.
Ethical behavior is sadly on the decline. I am through having — literally misunderstanding — misinterpretations of negative minds all flooding and considered normal. DONE SUPER UnilocalER… Kiss off for your minds warped views k. again this here is impolite I acknowledge!»
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So there it is.
You’re welcome.
You’re.

I really wanted to like this place. I’m new to the Bay Area so I don’t have a regular salon here and I did some research when it was time to touch up my blond highlights. I read a bunch of positive reviews for Joelle so I booked an appointment with her. I’ll just say that my heart skipped a beat while I was looking in the mirror and she was blowdrying my hair after completely changing the color. All I wanted were highlights but she completely changed my hair color (a pale blond/​grey) and darkened my roots by adding a dark base. She claimed my hair was too brassy, and I agreed to an extent, so she offered to help take some of that away. I never thought that would entail darkening my roots and sloppily throwing some orangey highlights in there which were not blended in well at all. At the end of the day, I asked for thin, blended-​in and natural looking highlights, but I got the complete opposite. I left the salon, completely confused and upset and truly hoped it was just the lighting in the salon and that it would look better in broad daylight. It was actually worse than I expected. After inspecting her work in the mirror once I got home, it was sloppier than I thought and I became even more upset. Maybe Joelle is better at coloring darker hair, but she doesn’t seem to know what she’s doing with blond hair. I recommend not going here for color, especially if you have blond hair and want a natural look.

Joelle is a super friendly and talented colorist.

Joelle did my hair. It wasn’t bad, she toned it and made it look less brassy. But I have to say, if you’re easily offended (i’m not) you won’t like her. She’s very condescending and a little kooky. Weirdest personality I have ever come across regarding any hairdresser. She also won’t apologize if she is late. I don’t know, I’m glad I liked my hair at least but sitting in a chair with her for almost an hour was not enjoyable at all.

Joelle knows hair. She is the only hair person I have stuck with for more than a year since moving to SF. She does a dry cut which is perfect because it allows her to see the texture of your hair (how it actually is) so that she can choose the right type of cut/​layers to put in. She does a great color as well, I have been doing some partial highlights with her and I am very happy with them. They grow out nicely and look great for months.

This was my second appointment with Joele and I am just so impressed with her! I usually have only a vague clue as to what I want to do and she managed to ask the right questions and show me various pictures until we both had a much clearer idea of what would happen– then I just sat back and let the magic happen!
Joele really is a dear and is very talented with colour! I’ve gone from dark brown to strawberry blonde and now to a saucy reddish plum. It is fun to experiment and she has made both looks– look amazing! Thank you, Joele! I’ll be back.

I’m honestly not sure how I feel about the haircut and coloring I received at this studio.
I did partial highlights and trim with Joelle, and I walked out feeling a bit confused. I actually went in with a different haircut (style) in mind, and also a different color, and walked out with much shorter bangs and also a different color.
Joelle was running 40 mins late when I arrived so I waited on a small couch until she finished up. I was a bit annoyed by that point, but she was super nice and asked my what I wanted. At some point my bangs were trimmed way too short, and she said that can be fix with a baseball hat AND that my hair will grow back in a month if I don’t like it… I think I was speechless at this point because she was still holding the scissors and snipping away. When I mentioned that I wanted my hair to look like it had more volume, she started taking random pieces of my hair and snipping those off… it was pretty worrisome.
Anyway, the haircut didn’t turn out too bad, but it is different than what I normally go for– the bangs are definitely too short. The hairlights turned out pretty nice, but I do wish they are a bit lighter. She mentioned that they should lightened up over time…(is this true?). The entire process took around 2 hours… and it felt much longer (in a bad way since I was so nervous about the haircut).
I think that maybe my hair will look better in a month or so after it grows out. But that’s not what I normally want after visiting a salon.

I gotta be honest, I had a dramatic hair color change with Joelle about a week ago. And it kind of freaked me out! I went from a reddish light brunette all the way to a cool blonde and I was scared! She calmed me down, told me to give it a few days, and now I think I may have gotten the best hair color of my life, not to mention the sick cut!
You guys, Joelle knows hair, and she knows it better than you or I do. Definitely coming back.

I booked an appointment here after purchasing a deal for haircut + highlights through Lifebooker. The salon is small, yet cute and relaxed. Joelle seemed to be very knowledgeable about her craft. She did a great job listening to what I wanted and gave me a basic trim with subtle face-​framing highlights.

I just had one of the best experiences with my hair in a long time. Joelle is a lovely gifted colorist and talented mistress of the shears. I am so happy to have found her and so pleased with the results. So far, my nearest and dearest have complimented my hair; explicitly the color, «…this is the best color I’ve ever seen your hair, cute bangs and so shiny!» end quote from my toughest critic. I found her on Lifebooker, but chose to forego a coupon. Her prices are reasonable and she was a delight.

I bought a lifebooker deal for a partial highlight and cut, and was really excited to come in on Friday after work to get my hair done. I had a wedding to go to on Saturday, so it was perfect timing.
Fast forward to 3:40 pm on Friday, and I had received a text from Joelle just after 3pm saying that she was «running late late» and could I reschedule for tomorrow. Since the wedding I’m going to is tomorrow, I of course cannot reschedule.
I spoke with her on the phone, and she said if I still wanted to come in, I would have to wait an hour and half. I told her that honestly I am not trying to be rude, but this is really unprofessional behavior.
Just as a side note, I am not a confrontational person, and it is not like me to complain to someone about service etc, but I just thought this was ridiculous. I’ve never had a salon give less than two hours notice that they would not be able to make an appointment, or would be severely late. I would have been willing to wait 20 or 30 minutes, but not an hour and a half!
When I asked her what caused the delay, she made a bunch of excuses about someone cancelling, someone’s highlights not coming in well etcetc. All of this together did not give me confidence that she would be able to do a good job on my hair. I cancelled the appointment and am getting a refund on my purchase.
All I can say is that this is not the way to treat potential new customers. I wish I had had a better experience, but this is one salon I will never set foot in. Needless to say, this has started my weekend off on a sour note.

I’ve been seeing Joelle for a couple years now for regular cuts and highlights. She has managed to take my fine, dull, flat hair to long, healthy, dimensional, full blonde. She is great to chat with, really takes her time to get things right and makes for an overall great salon experience. I am excited to be having her get my hair ready for my wedding day this summer. Definitely see Joelle if you need excellent color advice and technique!

Joelle is an amazing hair stylist, and she’s also funny and has a great personality! I came in on Wednesday for a haircut and partial highlights, and she listened to all my specifications of how I wanted my hair and also made some recommendations! I am particularly cautious on who I go to for my hair, and I always do some research before I go and try a new place! I usually get my hair done in Fresno, but since I moved to SF, it was hard to go so far, and also my original hair stylist was retiring.
I got a lifebooker deal for a cut, partial highlights, and a blowout. Joelle snipped away and gave me a voluminous head of hair, and then she went in to highlight. After she finished, I thought the highlights were a little too dark, and just blended in with my hair too much. I told her my concerns, and she told me to take a day and think about it, and call her back if anything. I ended up calling her the day after, asking if she could lighten my hair a bit more. She made room for me Friday morning, and went to work. Now, I LOVE my hair color, and she did alot more work than what I actually paid for with the coupon. I’ll upload some pictures. She really knows hair, and she was generous enough to have me again, and do extra work on my hair to get it to where I wanted. Thank you so much Joelle, you’re fantastic! I’ll definitely be coming back once I save up.

Ok this is a little late but… Joelle is awesome!
I gave myself a single girl valentines present a couple weeks ago and splurged on partial highlights + hair cut.
The cut is amazing. Prob the best cut I’ve ever had. And I have really thin straight white girl hair so like-​haired girls pay attention!
The highlights were subtle, she suggested I do 1 blonde streak instead of several. I definitely love the results.
Joelle is a professional with a sick sense of humor so get ready for a great do & entertainment to boot!

Joelle is amazing!!! Best highlights I’ve had in the city by far! Always looks natural and doesn’t damage hair.

I was going to get a deal from Lifebooker for a cut, partial highlights and a blowdry. When I called to see what appointments they had available first, Joelle asked me if I would not get the deal and she would still honor it since Lifebooker takes a lot of the money. I agreed and made an appointment.
I went it there teliing her that I needed a trim and highlights. She used a lot of terms I did not really know and long story short, started working on my hair. The haircut was great! I’m really happy with how it turned out, given it was only a trim.
My color is a different story. I have blonde hair and I really loved the color of my blonde hair. By the end of the appointment I had a completely different haircolor and one that I was very unhappy with. My roots were a brassy orange color and my hair was an extremely dull blonde that looked grey with purple, yes purple, highlights. After she blow dried my hair, I was extremely unhappy and made her make some changes to my grey, orange and purple hair. She did and after the second time of blowdrying I was still extremely unhappy, it took everything in me from crying. I only wanted highlights and somehow she ended up changing all of my hair color. The worst part about it was when I had said I did not like the purple (OBVIOUSLY) she said «some people can’t handle that».
As soon as I got home I had to call the girl who normally does my hair and make an emergency appointment for her to fix my hair the next day. Once she saw my hair, she was appalled with what had happened and the way my hair was colored. Thankfully she was able to fix it and I am now very happy with my hair after she came to the rescue!
Not only was I unhappy with my hair color but she was somewhat unprofessional as well. Her boyfriend was in there while I was getting my haircut and she was talking to him for majority of the time I was in there and ordering food with him. Joelle was sweet but I would not recommend her for hair coloring, at least not for blondes. I really wish I would have bought the Lifebooker deal instead of going through her so I could get my money back through them. I was extremely unsatisfied and will not be returning.

I meant to write this review like 3 months back…
I saw Joelle had a groupon now deal going on and I called her to see if she could squeeze me in like ASAP because I had wanted to get highlights before I went on vacation to Hawaii. She asked me what kind of hair i had and what i wanted to do. i had virgin jet black asian hair and i wanted sun-​kissed highlights. she sounded super excited to do that and told me she would honor the price on groupon since it’s a pain going through groupon.
I showed up 30minutes earlier than I said she would and her assistant (at least I think she is Joelle’s assistant) asked if I wanted anything. At checkout I even received some chocolate and she did honor the price.
Pro: my hair looks amazing! Very natural, just what I was going for. And I didn’t seem to notice any ill-​nature or anything.
Con: I felt that getting my highlights might have taken too long (probably because there was another client in there before me but I did notice that she seemed to pay much more attention to her)
Overall I’m very satisfied with my look but since it’s just so pricy even with the deal, I probably wouldn’t come back often.

$$$ Pricey haircut, but it’s the closest-​to-​perfect haircut I’ve had in the Bay area in the past year I’ve been here.
I have thick hair, and Joelle carefully cut my hair that it looks great! No ends were sticking out, the cut was symmetrical/​even length on the right and left (all the ways OTHER hairdressers have messed up my hair).
With Joelle’s work, the ends were smooth-​looking, my side-​bangs looked great.
Hair always looks good when you leave the salon, so the ultimate test is if my hair looks good the next day, after I wash it… yep, it did!
Quick facts: Tipping in cash is better (as with any hair/​nail/​spa place), appointment only, no parking (this is downtown SF after all).

Yay! They’re still open! This location is way better than the last. Still in union square, thankfully.
Joelle did a wonderful job on my hair! The color is multidimensional and super shiny. She’s very attentive to detail when it comes to what she does. I’ll definitely be coming back for the immaculate view of San Francisco, champagne, and refined styling technique that I have yet to find elsewhere.