Kaori Hair Salon

I’m Japanese and l was looking for good Japanese hair stylist. She is nice and has Japanese hair cut quality.(Asian hair is different than us people hair) I wanted donate my hair for cancer people wig. She knows how to do that and make a great hair style after that! I love my hair now! Thank you kaori!!!

My teen son insists on having his hair cut at Kaori Salon! We live in Marin but it is worth the drive across the bridge to get his unruly, long, thick, shaggy hair shaped, thinned, and styled in the way he likes it. Kaori shampoos, cuts, blow-​dries and then does an additional once-​over with the scissors to style and tidy up my son’s hair so that it will look great — whether he runs a comb through it or not.
Bridge Toll — $ 6.25
Haircut/​tip — $ 60
Enjoying Japantown with my kid — priceless

Kaori is great! She cut my hair really well and I love how thin she made it. Haircuts are about $ 70 and she only takes cash. It’s worth the money though as she gives you an amazing haircut, head massage + shampoo, and even throws in a shoulder rub. Her Japanese style of hair cutting is great! The location is hard to find since there’s not a sign but it’s the place by the nail salon with a large window.

Love her Hair Salon! I visited her place for twice, and she did amazing job! She is also a nice person and fun to talk to. I was struggling finding a job, so I told her how much it is difficult to get a job and she encouraged me to be positive. I really appreciate her personality and skill. The price is cheap as well, so you won’t be disappointed.

After moving here from New York, I was fairly upset by having to find a new hair salon. I’m really glad I found Kaori. I have extremely fine and straight Asian hair, which means every mistake shows, and I tend to go to Japanese salons as I need somebody who understands Asian hair and can cut with precision. Kaori listened to exactly what I wanted and did a great job. My haircut was perfectly executed and blown out. I did a full wash, cut, and blow with her, and it came to $ 60. She also gave me a quick shoulder massage at the end, which was very much appreciated. The salon is not at all ritzy or glamorous– it’s pretty simple and bare bones, but that’s far less important to me than the quality of the cut. My only wish is that she would take credit cards.

I love getting my hair cut by Kaori-​san. She is such a professional and cuts the hair in a very methodical, detail-​oriented way. I have a long Asian hair with bangs. Her hair cut grows out beautifully, and the bangs are perfection. The price also is very reasonable. Can’t wait to go back next time I’m in the city. She’s truly a hidden gem!

It took me years to find a hairdresser who knows Asian hair. Finally I found Kaori who does an amazing job on layering my very fine/​straight hair and takes time on each haircut (not rushing).

I liked how detail oriented and personable Kaori was.
To be honest, my haircut was not complicated, I just wanted my hair to be shorter. She was able to ask the right questions and guide the haircut to something I wanted.
I also enjoyed being able to talk to her in Japanese.
Being able to walk in at 7pm on a weekday for a haircut is also a plus.

Come here if you want a hair dresser that will listen to your requests and work with you to make sure you leave with a haircut you like, even if that means your appointment runs long.
I decided to try out Kaori a year ago when I moved to the Japantown area, and although I’ve tried several other cheaper places to get my hair cut, I’ve ultimately settled on Kaori.
I don’t think I’m Kaori’s typical client but I’ve tried out several styles and always been satisfied. She takes her time and triple checks her work, so haircuts take about an hour. Sometimes you even get a nice mini-​shoulder massage at the end!

満足～‼
After reading all the reviews, I decided to go to Kaori. And her clients review is right!
So happy with hair cut and service. She’s nice & does very thorough job.
My hair is very coarse & little wavy and have a lot. I had a European & American stylist before. They’ll do decent job on front & side, but they don’t know what to do with the back. So I was never satisfied.
I will recommend Kaori definitely!
I drive 1 hour without traffic, pay 2 bridge tolls. But it’s worth it. She’s the stylist for me.

I went back to Kaori. I hadn’t been back for 7 months and she remembered me.
Why I hadn’t been back? I didn’t need another haircut! She did such a great job that my hair stayed light and in style for several months! The 60 buck I paid for my previous cut was definitely well worth it.
This time I asked her to color my hair too. It was a little difficult to explain what I wanted since she doesn’t use a color plate like some other hair salons do. But she understood me and I came out loving both the cut and the color. It took about 2.5 hours and 140 bucks — very reasonable amount of time and money for the excellent job she did. We also had a nice chat about our favorite places and food in Japan town. I think she has good taste both for food and for hair styles :)
I’ve been traveling between places for many years and Kaori is one of the two stylists that I knew I would keep going back to when I return to her city and whom I will miss when i need to be working somewhere else.

Wow! This place was amazing, and deserves 5 Stars. I’m extremely picky when it comes to my hair… I have really UNRULY hair that would give any stylist a nightmare.
Kaori managed to fit me in at the end of her day and was such great company to boot. She listened to exactly what I wanted and she worked her magic!
She gave me a shampoo/​conditioner and massaged my scalp. Then during my trimming, she oiled my hair and gave me a neck/​shoulder massage! What a treat! She listened to exactly how I wanted my hair done and was very non destructive. Usually most places fry your hair straight to cut; but here they gently dry, cut to how your hair naturally rests and does a soft iron to finish.
Truly a care package for just $ 55 (don’t forget to add TIP). Got a great cut and style that I just had to Unilocal it. She’s the best when it comes to taming hair, so I’m coming back!

I had long, thick hair that was desperately in need of a cut and trim. I’m glad I came to Kaori; she’s sweet, friendly, and follows your request well. I wasn’t ready to give up my long hair, so she cut off around an inch in length and fixed up my layers. She also trimmed off the dry surfaces, which turned out to be a lot of hair in the end (I have a lot of hair!), but as a result my hair felt significantly lighter and more manageable. I appreciated her checking up on the progress to make sure that I liked the length. I gave her four stars out of five because I wasn’t blown away by the haircut. It was simple and I liked what she did, but it wasn’t anything that far exceeded my expectations. I see her salon as a safe and reliable place to go for a simple haircut where I can get satisfactory results for a good price (my cut was $ 55). Overall Kaori did a great job with my hair, and I would definitely go back to her the next time I need a trim.

She is really just alright… I dont think my hair cut worth $ 60. shampoo wasn’t long, no massage, and total hair cutting time is only about 45mins (including shampoo). I showed some pictures to her before the cut, she didn’t really look at them, and my hair came out nothing like the pictures I showed to her. next time I would go back to Arty or Japanese beauty clinic.

Ever since moving to SF, I have trouble finding a hairstylist that I like. I recall going to different hairstylist every month until I found Kaori. My hair isn’t complicated but I am just very demanding! Previously trained and worked in Japan, Kaori isn’t your typical hairstylist. She is very detail-​oriented and able to create hair layers that so many American hairstylist are unable to do. Highly recommended to all who likes getting Japanese haircut.

A lot of us guys don’t usually care about our hair very much. I was totally fine with my old Hair Cut chain «special», which consisted of simply clippering off the sides of my head and leaving a little bit extra hair on the top for styling. This seemed to be the only way to deal with the unfortunate cowlicks all around my head (my side hair sticks straight out). It wasn’t until I met Kaori that someone was really able to put in some real work and totally redone my hair, no shortcuts (no pun intended). I came in with a bulbous head of hair looking like an onion with dog ears and I ended up with a haircut that I could wear three or four different ways. She has some real skills.
I’ve passed by the very small Clips Hair Salon many times in the past and never gave it much thought, especially with the other ritzier places to get a haircut in Japantown. I heard a great things about her and decided to make an appointment and take a chance.
I went into the salon about 15 minutes early and tried to browse through the magazines trying to find a picture to point to. My turn was up and I had no picture chosen! Yet, she helped me out and asked me about my previous haircuts and really took a good long look at my weird head of hair. My instructions were vague: please, no clipper cut and leave some extra because I want some styling options. After a shampooing, she started cutting and thinning out my hair quickly, but very meticulously, going through my hair like a pro. She was very nice and we talked a little bit, but mostly I was paying attention to her scissor work.
After about a half hour of reducing the hair bulk and cutting, she led me to rinse my hair. At this point, I asked her about her recommendation for styling wax and she replied «I’ll tell you later.» I thought we were done, but instead we went back to the chair, got a towel for my face, got some aftershave type thing sprayed on my scalp and got a little scalp and shoulder massage. Then, more cutting! When we were finally finished, she showed me how to style it a couple of different ways: First a downward fringe with some spiky in the back, and a messy bedhead type of style with a single stroke of a hand. And for work, I can still do a business side part. Cool! Even better than that, I got home and played around with a flatiron and a blow-​dryer and noticed that I had even more styles possible with what initially looked like a pretty regular haircut. My cowlicks are better tamed and my hair which had so much bulk on the sides feels lighter and is easier to style now.
Back to my question about her recommendation of wax, she had an opportunity to up-​sell me some pretty pricey waxes, but said the Gatsby stuff I used was good for me.
Now, I’m having fun with my hair. Perhaps way too much fun for a grown man.

I have the most coarse, unruly, hard to style Asian hair ever so I am always careful to choose a hair stylist who fully understands how to work with Asian hair types such as mine. After looking through reviews on Unilocal,I decided to try out Kaori last winter. To be honest, the salon isn’t the super high class type, but it is still very welcoming and I felt well at home right upon entering. I was really unsure as to how to have my hair cut this time and randomly pointed at pictures in a Japanese magazine Kaori gave me. Without question, she said she knew exactly what I wanted and started snipping away. After an hour of cutting and styling, I came out of the shop looking like a J-​pop star. For $ 55, I received excellent service from the sweetest lady ever and many many compliments on my hair days afterward; Some people even THOUGHT I was Japanese because of my new do’ (I’m Chinese). I’ve come back to her since then twice for both cut and hair color, both which were just as amazing as the first. =)
Oh and did I mention that I joined Unilocal,JUST to Unilocal her?

Kaori has been cutting my 13 year old son’s hair into cool, easy haircuts that wear well. I was so impressed with her I decided to try her as well and now I’m hooked. She’s a real find! In fact, I’m calling her right now for our next haircuts.

I’m a cheap bastard, just ask my ex-​girlfriends. My threads are Old Navy, my ride is a previously wrecked Honda Civic, I could go on. So why have I been happily paying $ 50 for haircuts from Kaori for 12 years? Because she’s so meticulous and good at what she does. In a perfect world, the folks at Supercuts, in Chinatown, at your local barbershop, and at that hipster salon in the Mission could give you a rocking haircut. But they can’t. Kaori can. Oh and like Jason S., I’m a white guy and with curly, impossible to cut hair. Bring cash or a check.

I am a harsh critic of hair cuts. I’ve only gotten a handful of them that I ever truly liked in my life time, and I love the cut I got there.
I wasn’t even sure what I wanted since I never seem to pick a hair style that suits me, but she took my rambling and pointing at various pictures in hair magazines and made it into a freaking awesome hair cut. She’s so precise and deliberate with each snip. She actually takes time and looks at your head to see what would look best. And the light massages during shampoo and mid-​cut were such a nice touch. I’m tempted to move there just to have a stylist like that in the vicinity.