I have been to other Tony & Guy salons, but I my new favorite is the one in the Hilton that just opened up in December 2009... It is very easy to get ( 2 blocks north of Lainmaqiao metro (line 10)) and has a good vibe. I had my hair cut by Scarlet and really love it.

I got one in Sanlitun. I had medium-long hair, but I wanted the back a short trim shorter to catch the front with the back so it didn't look like I had a mullet. I now have a ridiculous haircut where the front is twice as long as the back. Since I want to have indie-type longish hair, I'm torn between growing it back out and dealing with a sh*t haircut or just cutting it.

So my answer: the one in Sanlitun - bad.

No, they are crap.

After getting pretty bad local haircuts (10, 20 kuai jobs) for the past five years or so, I decided to treat myself to a "decent haircut" for once.

They have different prices for who cuts your hair- up to 3,000RMB! I chose "senior stylist" at 270RMB.
Yeah, really expensive but about the same as at home.

Well, they didn't have any photos available so I described what I wanted. Pretty simple. Short sides, some length on top...

Well, the guy screwed it up big time.
The right side was clearly longer than the left side, and yet he did nothing.
I mean, he spent about half an hour meticulously cutting on the left side then about ten on the right.
Doesn't make sense!
Nothing special. Not much different from a 10-kuai job.

So, never going back there (Guanghua Lu branch).

By the way, when I was there the staff were attending to a FOB laowai woman... quoting everything in US dollars! In the end, once she'd decided what she wanted, they said US$600!!!

The woman did her calculations and decided that was a fair deal.

Does anyone know if there is a specific day and time you need to go to the Toni & Guy Academy to get your hair done (since it is free but you are volunteering)? Or can you just walk in?

For real I don't really expect can get any good haircut in beijing since they have very different sense of beauty. Don't know, probably just let my hair grow free style~haha >

if you're going to put up a fake review...

-don't use a name thats a short version of "irina lyna" which you've used for posting ads about C de france. not to mention the new user name is 1 day old

-go easy on the bull. "absolute mess at a cheap local salon and CdF is amazing!!!

-oh, and you just happen to be so overjoyed you have a complete address listing

-and did you really just stab coworkers in the back? "They do have a range of stylists on hand, to meet your budget, but i would definitely opt to stay with the french stylists who have obviously got great experience working internationally and know what they doing."

I had a great hair cut (maybe the best haircut I've ever had) and Hi Hair salon in Chaowai SOHO with the cheapest guy on the team, the trainee stylist for 88 kuai. I went back just recently to go and get my hair done again - but he'd left.

Seeing as the trainee guy cut it so well, I assumed that the senior stylists would actually be amazing.

The guy who ended up cutting my hair for me - well, he was terrible. It was terrible. I had to direct him even though he was a 'senior stylist'. My hair now looks f*cking awful. I'm tying it in a pony tail and letting it grow out over the next few months, then ... I dunno, I hope to find a good stylist.

The moral here is: In China, a salon may have one good hair dresser and the rest are terrible, so it's hard to recommend a good salon, unless you can also recommend the stylist to see too.

I often wonder what the recruitment criteria is for hair stylists here. The trainee stylist was amazing and really knew what he was doing. He cut it like the hair dressers do back home. The senior stylist made me wince the moment he did that first snip.

I got my haircut at the end of December in the Sanlitun one, by a "Stylist" (for 150 kuai). I think he's last name was Gay or Guy. I just wanted the tips of my hair. I must say he did a great job, even thought I said I wanted 3 fingers long cut off, he only did 1 to 2, because my hair is still full of splices everywhere. Maybe he knew that when a "waiguoren" says 3 she really means 1, Hahaha. I don't know, the case is, I don't think it's expensive and I will be back there pretty soon, to get "four fingers cut off". Like, SERIOUSLY 4 finger lenght,

It seems nowadays a whole lot of people got bad experiences with hairstylists. I think,firstly, the biggest problem is bad consultation. Some "hairstylist" couldnt figer out what exactly his/her client want through the consultation, that cause a terrible result.

Secondly,another factor causes people loosing their confidence in hairstylist is that the certification for the"hairstylists"is quite weak nowadays,which means their work performance can not be gareented each time. Sad thing is, clients wont trust hairstylists anymore, each time they try a new hairdresser, they got the feeling of being at risk.

Thirdly, more and more hairstylists are becoming computerized. Few hairdressers are professional enough to spend time on analyizing his/her client's head shape,, hair texture, facial feature,etc.Comercialization, another factor bring this business down. Hairdressers are loosing their characteristics nowadays. They just wanna make money out of a client easily and fastly,regardless the after-care of his/her client.

Maybe i am blablaing too much. I cannot help express myself according to this topic, beacuse hairdressing is my carrers, and for sure i care about this business, and i care about public opinions.

I wish everyone will find his/her won "destiny hair-artist"!

Does anyone know where Ken the hairdresser from Australia has gone? His number isn't working and couldn't find Heat Hair Salon at Soho Shangdu. Thanks in advance

If anyone is wondering, Scarlet has recently moved to Tata Salon in Sunlitun right next to the Beijing Workers' Stadium. Just thought I'd pass this info along. Cheers!

You cut to the contour of the head, it doesn't matter if it is round, square, or (in the case of T&G staff)concave. T&G Sanlitun has Chinese staff. The only 'nice job' they do on clients is to take them for a ride. I BEG EVERY PROSPECTIVE CLIENT, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT GOING TO TONY AND GUYS, THEY WILL DESTROY YOUR HAIR!

Even idiots need haircuts.
You're obviously a Yeti... the doggy seems to think so

no but seriously, if it's as bad as you say it is, why do you keep going back?

Wish you can find good one here in BJ. Of course hairdressers do
understand the skull shape and etc (some doesn't sadly)

but here is some tips when you go for a foreign hairdresser.

- check if they have working experience in your country.

- let him/her know your hair texture and dos & don'ts.
For local people, it's hard imagine how frizzy/curly blond hair
can be.

- Check if they can do consultation with your language.

- Bring the reference picture

- Heat / Digital perm on Thin mid-long hair, no Cold perm
(it works with short hair though)

- See what kind of brush/hairdryer they use.
.Bore hair brush for thick/asian hair.
.Metal brush for thin/western hair.
.High heat/low powered hairdryer for Asian hair
.Low heat/High powered hairdryer for Western hair.
.Relatively light-weight product for blond hair.

From a hairdresser point of view, what people's demand is is
quite different. Asian people generally like hair without too much
volume so layering high and thin out too much (use thinning scissors), but they like volume on top. That's why you can see some scary small perm on their root. Oh also they REALLY into Vidal Sassoon Style (so called Sassoon-tou (means Sassoon's geometric style)
so you can safely get classic style like bob or one length style.

Of course western people doesn't want this all the time, and hair texture after shampoo need to be considered especially they don't do blow-dry.

- Blow dry backward like 80's style can be look good on asian hair,
but not on westerner especially American.
also asian loves mohawk style like Mcgyber but westerner doesn't
(right?)

Please don't expect local or even Korean/japanese hairdresser
understand those cultural issues perfectly. it takes time and good
experience.

So, Please mind those tips when you try foreign hairdresser in BJ.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!

KIM