Panache On College

I called Panache yesterday for a last minute haircut and got an appointment with Olga. Needless to say, Olga is a miracle worker! She knew exactly what to do with my hair to flatter my face shape, and textured and layered it so that my hair would feel lighter, since I felt like it had been weighing down on me since I had last cut it. My hair looks so much better and healthier and I’ll definitely be going back!

Trust Nishan with your hair. Trust Nishan with your life. Okay, maybe just trust her with your hair.

As much as it pains me to write this (you wanna keep some of the really good stuff tight lipped, ya know what I mean?!), I just had to. I just moved to the Bay Area from Los Angeles and have been trying to find a stylist in the area that can do a good blonde — I am talking a gooooood blonde. I saw a few stylists and just wasn’t sold. I decided to try a salon in Emeryville near my house, and needless to say, the results were terribly sub-​par. Disappointing, in fact.
Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday and just generally operating under a normal sense of wanting to look presentable, I scrambled to find a place that could fix the mess. I even called the original salon and emailed the original stylist and their «no can do for 2 weeks» attitude really chapped my you know what. Not going to work for me.
I called Panache on a whim to see if they might possibly, pretty pretty please, with a cherry on top squeeze me in for the next day for a color correction. They said they could. Woo hoo.
If you aren’t familiar with a color correction for a blonde, let me tell you, it’s a process. A necessary process if you want to look normal again. And it is very risky for stylists. One wrong move, and your hair snaps in half like a Twix bar. So Panache cleared the schedule for me the following day and boy oh boy am I glad I came.
I saw Elena (I am sad to have to tell you her name, because now, I am probably never going to be able to get in to see her). Damn, that girl is good. She bleach capped, Olaplexed, highlighted my hair until the cows came home. The results were astonishing. As if my hair had never been ruined in the first place. I have never once had a blonde so bright and perfectly suited for my skin tone. it was so good that if someone ever told me they had a bad experience here, I would call them a liar to their face. Elena was so patient and meticulous and kind. She walked me through each step, explained what she was going to do, told me how to be generally kinder to my hair and even pushed back her appointments after mine since we ran a wee bit late. I am as loyal as they come to my people (which includes my hair stylist) and I ain’t going nowhere else. Ever. I am again the guerrita I was intended to be (gracias guapa por todo).
Don’t kid yourself. Call and make an appointment.

This is an overdue review for Angel. He used to cut my hair 5 – 6 years ago, when I was in Berkeley for grad school. Loved how he offered complimentary bang trims. After I moved away, I tried various other people in the city, and along the peninsula and south bay (all great reviews on Unilocal), and it honestly wasn’t the same. Now with 2 young kids, it’s hard getting out to Berkeley but I had time one week and he was able to squeeze me in. So I went for it. Best decision that week!
My hair was really long, and I wanted it chopped off. I loosely had an idea of what I wanted and showed him a few pictures of different hairstyles. He told me which one would suit my face best, and he ended up giving me an amazing a-​line long bob– or lob. I don’t know how Angel does it, but whenever he cuts my hair, it continues to fall in a way like it should, even after a hair wash or waking up. And this is the most compliments I’ve received in a long time, probably since the last time Angel cut it!
I use Unilocal all the time, but rarely write reviews. But I know I needed to write one for Angel. What really stands out is how much he genuinely cares about his clients. He remembered me even though I hadn’t seen him in years. Not only that but he even remembered details about my hair, as well as the stuff we used to chat about. Angel is really awesome!

I’ve never regretted getting my hair done at a salon before coming here.
I came in yesterday to fix my roots and asked if it was easier for them to either match my roots to my actual hair color or just break up the black color to light brown and blend it into my hair.
Chris choose to bleach my roots blonde which is fine, I obviously want the hair salonist to do whats easier for them so my hair doesn’t look horrible.
But what I got definitely was not what I asked for and I cringe everytime I look in the mirror. I was VERY happy with my original hair color and now what I have is a very light golden scalp that doesnt blend well into my actual hair color which is a few shades darker.
I had hoped when I saw how light my hair was getting that the toner chris put over it would make it more of an ash blonde but that didn’t work. To be honest I much preferred what my hair looked like roots and all to this.