Ochoa Salon & Day Spa

Save your money, while Ochoa may hit or miss on a cut or color– they miss by a wide margin on customer service.

Ochoa is great! I go to Emily, who has done wonders for my hair. I have long and thick hair, and other salons have always cut it much too short and recommended drastic thinning. Emily put these naysayers to shame.
Truly a wonderful salon, and a great experience!

Meagan is outstanding! It was worth the travel and price. She listens and then creates. It was what I envisioned, only better. 5 STARS Meg! Thanks. Also, nice, young staff. Very pleasant and happy to accommodate. The South Hadley Commons are a beautiful spot to walk around, shop and eat as well. Next time, I’ll make a day of it. :-)

So after I was so unhappy with my hair I went back to get it fixed by another hair dresser. I believe her name was Tamara, she was very nice and talkative. She agreed with me that the color was not natural looking, however she also said it was a well done balayage.
Anyways, I explained again that I wanted a very natural light brown color. She suggested some low lights and a darker toner on top of it, which she went ahead with. The results were awesome… exactly what I wanted! Even though I ended up happy with my hair color, it didn’t last long :-/​
It has been now three weeks since my last visit and my hair is back to that very light color that I didn’t want from the gecko. So now I’m forced to use a toner every couple weeks to darken it, unless I wanna spend a bunch of money on a hair dresser again. To me it’s a bummer that I paid $ 140 and didn’t get the results I was used to from my old hair salon :-/

Had the BEST massage, facial, and Pedi! Thanks girls for melting away my stress! A much needed ME DAY… See again soon!!!

Terrible haircut. Terrible experience.
First off, the young women working at the front desk were quite cold and unfriendly. This is not the bad part though.
I went to see Meagan. First of all, throughout the entire haircut she would NOT stop talking about the biker gang that she belongs too. Classy. This is one of the only times I’ve ever actually wanted to just yell «shut up and just cut my hair.»
Throughout the entire haircut she didn’t once stop and ask me about what lengths I want things, what I want done, how I want it done, etc. It was difficult to get a word in myself to attempt to tell her what I wanted with her non stop talk about meeting her biker gang at the pub.
At the end of the haircut, she did not ask me if I liked the way it came out or if I wanted anything changed. Nope. Instead she literally whips the cape off of me and scurries away before I could say a thing.
End result: I left with a haircut that looked exactly like Spock from Start Trek.

I’ve been going to Ochoa since I was a college student in the area and have had a number of different stylists there. The last few years I finally found someone I clicked with and I’m so sad that I’ve since moved away, because Elsa is amazing. I’ve only ever had a hair cut (no dyes or anything), but she always listens to me and styles it exactly how I imagined it. You really can’t beat the price either, I think I’ve only seen one or two small price increases in the 3 years I’ve been going to her. I feel spoiled, because in my new city things are twice as expensive! I’m looking forward to being able to get back out to South Hadley to get a haircut!

Clean, pretty atmosphere inside. Lovely outdoor area.

I moved to the area in May and have yet found a hair salon. I was hoping to get into another salon that a friend had suggested but they were booked. I ended up finding Ochoa here on Unilocal,and I’m so happy I did. Rachel did an amazing job giving me the haircut I’ve been wanting for a while now, Long layers with bangs. I haven’t had a change in quite some time, and I was very very happy with the service and skills here. I will definitely be back

They did an amazing job on my hair, I wanted to go blonde but my hair was too dark to do all at once, they lightened it and highlighted it. It looks gorgeous! I would love to go back if they weren’t SO expensive! Very very pricey! They do a great job though. She even removed the left over hair dye from my head, neck, ears and my arm. I noticed someone else had an issue with that, but they were great about removing excess dye from my skin. I love the hair cut and color but the prices were so high I can’t give them 5 stars.

This is a cute and trendy looking salon in the Pioneer Valley. My wash, cut, and blow dry was $ 37, which I thought was reasonably priced.
I was shocked that my stylist, Amy, did not first take me to the salon chair to do a consultation. Instead, we talked about what I wanted while we stood in front of the sink. I thought the haircut was pretty good. I didn’t absolutely love it. Other people thought I looked nice.
I might go back again if I ever find myself in Western Mass again, but maybe try a different hair stylist???

I recently visited the South Hadley Spa for a Brazillian Wax. I believe the lady who waxed me was Jessica. I am very concerned about the cleanliness and the technique she used. I am not amateur to Brazillians and I noticed she did things that were unsanitary and unusual. First off she double/​quadruple dipped into the wax with the same applicator. This is a concern because if she did it to me then it must be done to others. The place where the wax is kept was full of hairs from previous clients and that is disgusting. On top of this was the first time I have ever bled from being waxed. So she was applying wax and kept dipping it into the wax even when there was blood, nasty. She didn’t pull the skin nor did she ask me to. After I was done my triangle was crooked, I was bleeding and there was wax reside all in between places. She did not thoroughly wax everything leaving spots and then I was charged $ 50 for that terrible experience. I will never go here again and I made sure to tell others about it. I hope I don’t catch anything.

I had my haircut and color by Meagan a few weeks ago and it is so good that I had to write my first ever review on Unilocal!I had been to Ochoa a few times before and was always incredibly pleased with my haircuts but this was the first time I went in for a color.
My hair looked brassy, dry, and scraggly so I asked Meagan what she could do to fix the color to make it look more healthy. Her cure was to lowlight the bottom, faded layer of hair and highlight the top layer crown of my hair; something I had never heard of or even knew was a possible fix to my hair dilemma. After she listened to all my concerns, she went to work with a color and cut better than I could have ever imagined.
Since then, I receive complements on my hair from many random customers at the restaurant I work at. One man even asked if I go to New York to get my haircut. The change was subtle but it has made my life easier by decreasing the time it takes me to wrestle with my hair when I get out of the shower. I swear even my clothes look better with my healthier and shiny hair! I am able to leave the house right when I wake up rather than fretting about the mop of flat and burnt out bedhead protruding around my face. Thank you Ochoa for making my daily routine a quicker and happier experience!

I got my hair cut a lot while at Mount Holyoke by Jen. She is an incredible hairstylist. I returned after graduation and was only able to see Chris. Jen wasn’t in. I was a little bit worried but he seemed to know what he was doing with my curls, but nobody takes care of it as well as Jen does! I was afraid that people in South Hadley would have no idea what to do with hair that wasn’t straight. I was wrong! My first beautiful haircut ever was courtesy of Jen. She cut my hair beautifully and hydrated my hair. I got back to campus and my friends were surprised at how light my hair looked with her haircut. I had gotten several cuts that damaged my hair in NYC and every time, I went back to Jen to get it fixed. It’s my Mount Holyoke reunion in May and I will definitely be making an appointment with Jen. Jen does a great job straightening and blow-​drying curls. I always prefer to have people with curly hair do my hair so Jen will always be my go-​to, no matter where in the world I’m living.

I’ve been seeing Lindsey for over a decade now. I drive from southern connectuicut to see her adn she is WELL worth the drive!

Love Ochoa and Jen… she’s the best! I started getting my hair cut here in 2005 while I was a student at Mount Holyoke College. To this day, I still drive up for a haircut and occasional highlights. The cuts are inexpensive and the quality of the cut is superb. I’ve tried a few other places when I was really desperate for a cut, but I ending up paying double the price and hated the cut. I also love how the stylists never push products on you, though they are happy to offer suggestions if you ask.

I’ve had mixed experiences with Ochoa Day Spa. I love that I work just steps from their door, that they can take appointments at a moment’s notice, and that they charge reasonable prices for their services. But I swear that the estheticians here are instructed to make every service AS FAST AS POSSIBLE. Regardless of who I’m seeing, my experience has consistently been that they are rushing around to get you in and out as quickly as they can. While I appreciate efficiency, in the dozen or so times I’ve had my eyebrows waxed here I’ve left with wax on my face 100% of the time. What is that about?
Ochoa is good in a pinch, but there is better service to be found in the Valley.

Plain and simple: The great stylists at Ochoa know what works.
I literally believed it impossible to cut my excessively thick hair in a flattering way until I met Shelly. What talent she has. During my college years at Mount Holyoke she provided me with countless excellent cuts and even introduced me to the world that is haircolor!
Now that I’ve graduated to Alumna status I’ve only been back once for a cut and color, and boy do I regret it. Having my hair cut at a local Boston salon has only made me realize how talented the folks at Ochoa really are.
I strongly recommend that anybody with the ability to travel to Ochoa pay a visit to Shelly – or any of the other talent at the salon. I know I certainly plan on going back soon!

Think it’s impossible to get chic haircut in the 413? Before you get on the Mass Pike eastbound, be advised: Ochoa has you covered. The ladies and gents styling hair at the South Hadley location have never let me down, excelling in the fine art of balancing the wishes of the customer with their own creativity. The atmosphere is stylish but not overly edgy, though wild dye jobs are known to happen here, when requested. Ochoa specializes in a sleek, fun look – customers might leave with newly angular bangs, a snappy bob, or a few artfully tousled layers, but I’ve never witnessed anyone leaving dissatisfied. My own stylist, Kate (a curly hair expert) inspires such loyalty that I eschew the trumped-​up Princeton salon scene altogether, instead waiting to get a haircuts whenever I find myself back on the old Pioneer Valley turf.