MIO Spa & Salon

I go to Claudia to get my eyebrows and lip waxed — she does a fantastic job every time. They’ve been incredibly kind when I’ve had to adjust my appointments (even last minute) and are always very accommodating. Highly recommend!

I’ve been taking my daughter to Lliza for several years and haven’t minded the slightly higher price. However, Lliza just charged me $ 45 for a 15 minute haircut for my 11-​year-​old daughter. Their range is $ 35 – 45 for a 45 – 65 minute haircut. Since ours only took 15 minutes, we really should have been charged the lower amount. When I mentioned that I thought it was $ 35, Lliza said that she usually charges $ 55, but was charging us the lower range, and «Sorry.» So disappointed in this unreasonable pricing and that we’ll have to find another salon. Bummer.

This review is for Lhiza, a stylist at Mio. I had my hair cut by Lhiza several times when she was in Montclair Village, and I really liked the styles she gave me (usually longish layers) and her friendly, comfortable vibe. Plus the salon was super cute. I followed her when she went to Mio and was a little bit underwhelmed. The location is a bit of a pain… parking can be tough and the meter maids are vicious! I caught a ticket once when the cut before mine ran long, which was a huge bummer. Not Lhiza’s fault for sure, but frustrating… I’d had to park so far away I couldn’t run out to feed the meter mid-​cut.
Location aside, there were two things that kept me from becoming a devoted regular. First, Lhiza did a lot of razoring on my hair. It tends toward the frizzy and the continued razoring seemed to make it worse. When I started seeing a new stylist, the first thing she told me was we had to be patient to let the razored damage grow out. Sigh.
Second, Lhiza changed her focus to the Deva curl approach and hair care line. That’s fantastic if you want to wear your hair wavy or curly, but I prefer my wavy-​ish hair to be straight. I did give it a try (and bought the products!), but all the scrunching and air drying was a huge pain — plus it didn’t look polished or professional for work. Maybe my hair just isn’t right for the Deva approach, but I was disappointed that I’d invested time and money in a look that Lhiza should have realized wouldn’t work for me.
Lhiza’s a sweetheart and a lovely person and would be a great fit for someone who embraces the curl… but not for me. :-)

Four hours. For an uneven cut that isn’t what I asked for, and a full coloring that was supposed to be a root touch up. The left side of my hair is literally 1.5″ longer than the right side, (not the desired look), and my hair is chopped somewhere between a bob and an A line. I wanted an A line, and I can’t stand the look of bobs. It’s embarrassing to go to work today and be seen like this let alone have people think it’s the cut I wanted. Practically looks like a toddler got to my hair in my sleep. After *four hours* at the salon, 4 hours I didn’t have to spare before the holidays, I cringe at the thought of spending any more time there having it fixed with their «7 day guarantee.» Nor do I have any more free time to spend on it. I’m very bummed about this as it’s my neighborhood salon and I went there on account of recommendations and previous reviews. Won’t be going back again.

I went to Chuck for a deva cut and I couldn’t be more pleased. He is so knowledgeable about natural hair and gave me the shape I wanted without senseless hacking. I left feeling beautiful and happy. He has my trust and I would recommend him without hesitation.

I came home from New York for a visit and Jennifer gave me the most amazing cut and color. She took her time with me and gave me the best haircut and natural looking highlights. I will definitely be back asap. Thank you for making me feel beautiful for my trip. You and the salon are awesome. Highly recommended!

I just got my haircut by Jennifer Freesia. She was fantastic! She took her time blow drying my hair, cutting layers and styling it; that takes patience as I have very thick hair! Also, she told me I had a week to come back if I didn’t like my haircut and she would fix it for me, stylists hardly give you that level of customer service anymore. Plus, it was only $ 60, which I thought was reasonably priced. I highly recommend her!

they carry Davines hair products!!! so many great products in house to choose from and the staff is so knowledgeable on all the products so you know which is exactly best for your hair. Except, I want them all, of course

I’ve been getting my haircut here since they opened, Mio always does a great job. No matter what hairstylist I pick, they fix my hair up so well. They even made accommodations to cut my hair when I showed up the wrong day for my appointment. I recommend Chuck for a great Diva cut, he’s wonderful. Thanks MIO, I’ll be back sooner than last time!

The stylists here are awesome. They will go out of their way to make sure that you are a satisfied customer/​client. I had the pleasure of working with Jenn as my hair stylist and I also was lucky to have Pat work me as well. Not only are they both great stylist, they took the time to get to know me and make sure that my hair turned out just the way I wanted. Also, I found out that Jenn has the same birthday as me (which undoubtedly means it was meant to be) and Pat is the shit. Hands down… awesome experience!

My bridesmaids and I came here for wedding day glam, and everything turned out fabulously. Jen did my hair and Claudia did my makeup. I can’t remember the names of the other two ladies who worked on the bridesmaids, but they did a great job.
I also did a trial for both services. I’m not sure that’s entirely necessary, though it did help to appease some of my nerves. If you’re looking to save money and are confident in your vision, that may be a way to save on cost. Overall though I found their pricing to be reasonable.
I wish I would have known sooner that the team will travel on-​location for services, but by the time I found out it was too late to schedule that way. Just a heads up to other potential brides, that is an option and if I recall correctly it was rather reasonably priced as well.
Jen’s laid-​back vibes and Claudia’s calm and warmth kept me at ease the whole morning. Both ladies were super attentive and did a great job in executing my vision for a bohemian-​glam look. I highly recommend the MIO team to anyone considering them bridal/​special event makeup and hair.

I love this salon! Especially my stylist Elyse Rabb! I feel as though I can now give an accurate review being that I’ve been seeing her regularly for over a year and a half. By regularly I mean every 6 weeks or so. I began seeing her February of 2014 after a work accident left me in a cast on my right arm and unable to wash & style my naturally curly hair! Yes it was a matted, mess!!! My friends staged an intervention and said I must go see Elyse! They were right! I am a black woman with natural hair, no relaxer and I had been doing my best to care for and moisturizer my hair – but it just never looked healthy and moisturized with round spiral curls. That is what I always wanted. Instead some parts were straight, some areas more thick and matted, ALL OF IT DRY! When I came to Elyse I told her I wanted to wear it curly almost all the time and I wanted it to be healthy, but I didn’t want products that left my hair greasy or oily.
First off she was on time! And always is – honestly, she’s waited for me more times than I care to admit, but has always greeted me with a smile and kind words. When I met her she assessed my hair, and explained the deva curl product & process to me and taught me how to care for my hair! I got an education! I finally learned why my hair got frizzy and dry, and that wetting it every day wasn’t helping! I listened carefully, asked questions and she taught me how to do exactly what she was doing to my hair. Helping it find its curl families and only using water to activate the product – not to drench my hair in order to style it!
I run, I swim I have an active life but I also wanted to have cute healthy hair! She cut all the dead hair from my ends! Yep! She cut off all the bad stuff – my mistakes – and we started fresh! When I left my hair was shorter than I was used to but it looked moisturized! And healthy! Not greasy & weighed down. I personally don’t like the oily, heavy feeling most products would give me, and I told her that. My hair was healthy and that day I left the salon with 3 deva curl products, only three! She didn’t sell me a bunch of crap I didn’t need. I left with 3 products a towel and instructions on how to finally care for my hair. As I learned how to care for my hair and understood what my needed I inquired about other products Elyse would say, «no your hair doesn’t need that», or «you could use that if this was happening»
Here’s the most important thing, I think – this time I listened. I did exactly what she told me, washing/​conditioning, not wetting my hair every day and I saw her about every 6 weeks, more often of course, while I was in the cast and couldn’t do my hair.
Over time my hair has transformed and I can’t remember what it was like to have dry, frizzed out birds nest I had before.
I have gotten more compliments about my hair in the last year and a half than in the entire 32 years I’ve been on this earth.
I don’t swear by the deva curl product, I swear by Elyse, she really is only doing what’s best for my naturally curly hair. She has no idea how much it means to me that it takes me 5 min max to do my hair every day and it has changed my life. Even if I think I’m having a bad hair day, there’s someone waiting to tell me how pretty my curls are. Mio Salon and Elyse are the best! I highly recommend them!

I was referred to Mio Salon by a coworker. I have very curly hair (4A/​3C for those that hair type) that badly needed a color (like BADLY) and also BADLY needed a cut or trim. I made an appointment and was given stylist Chuck (my coworker has gone to him). On the day of my appointment, there was a little miscommunication, because Chuck was sick and they had tried to reach me (unsuccessfully I guess, because I’m pretty sure that I never got the communication). Anyway, they were able to reschedule me with another stylist, Remy.
Remy was super nice, and did a great job on being patient enough to walk me through my trepidation of getting a hair cut. Both the cut and color were fabulous. I usually use Aveda color, but the downside is that I can’t rely on getting a good style on my hair at the Aveda salon because they’re just not experienced with curly styles. That certainly wasn’t the case with Remy. I’d long heard of Deva products, but never used them nor any of the CurlyGirl methodology. My CurlyGirl style was great – for the first time in a long time, I felt like I could actually leave the salon directly for a night on the town without having to go home and (re)style my hair.
So in short, I’m a big fan of Mio Salon and of stylist Remy. I feel that I’ve found my home in the East Bay for my curly hair.

I’m still on the fence about givingThis location a 2 ½ stars, or 3. I had my hair and makeup done here for a wedding! I loved my makeup! She put on some fake lashes that were a little too glam for me, and then changed it to a more subtle set, which I appreciated. Although I initially liked how the stylist did my hair, it only held its curl for about 2 hours and was flat by the end of the ceremony: p I’m not sure if it could have been a lack of hair products or it could have been from the fact that she didn’t use a curling iron? I will admit, I didn’t think my hair was going to hold its curls from the way she was doing it, but by the time she put the final touches on my hair, I was already late for the event I was attending, so I didn’t say anything. I was trying to get out of there asap!
I’ve gotten my hair and makeup done at their montclair location and it lasted throughout the whole night, and the texture of my hair was super soft and amazing! Thanks Wendy!
Overall it was an okay experience. If my hair would have stayed curled, I would come back… but the fact that they charged extra for me to come in early, took about an hour and a half longer than they originally told me (I had to keep running to the meter to put in change, and I was parked 2 blocks away! Oh, and we were late to the wedding), and that my hair didn’t hold, I most likely won’t be coming back. Too bad too! I really wanted to like this place!
I would like to add though, that Jennifer was overall a super nice person and easy to talk to. I wished my hair would have worked out so I could go back. I’m wondering if she had an off day?

I LOVE mio. When I moved to Oakland from SF, I debated for a while on where I should go to get my beloved deva cut. I’m so glad that I found Mio, because they are wonderful. I have wavy, thick curls and Chuck does a fantastic job with them every time. He always takes his time to give me the perfect cut that lasts for months.
If you have curly hair, go see Chuck!!!

We arrived at 2:45 for our 3:00 appointment to have my 12 year old daughter’s hair straightened for the last week of school and were promptly told there was a scheduling issue and we would have to wait while the stylist finished her client (who was a drop in). We waited nearly 40min and was about to walk out when we were called to the chair.
My daughter is mixed race and has had her hair straightened many times with the hot iron, this stylist was completely overwhelmed with her hair. When I came to pick her up 2 hours later, she was still not finished. And when she finally did finish, with the flat iron, the results were totally underwhelming — I could have done a better job myself. Clearly the stylist recognized the bad job she did and spent her time trying to sell us on the Devacut. My daughter’s hair was not smooth and silky as with previous hot iron styles, but instead dry and frizzy and felt as though the wrong product was used– especially on the ends — This stylist said she could trim the ends (she made 2 cuts to trim ¹⁄₈^th of an inch of the ends, then said she wouldn’t charge me as if she was doing me a favor).
My daughter was extremely disappointed, and today when she got up for school — her hair was huge again — she wasn’t able to wear it down and straight as she hoped.
I paid $ 75.00 plus a $ 15.00 tip for 4 hours experience did not deliver satisfying results.
To top it off the salon was not clean, I saw clumps of hair on the leather sofas and on the floor — GROSS!
Needless to say, we will not return to MIO

I have been going to Claudia for my eyebrows for over a year now and I can not recommend her more.
This woman is the queen of precision. She begins by using hard wax, then proceeds to pluck away using a magnified lamp… thing… which allows her to see all the small hairs that wax could not pick up. I can’t stress enough how great she is at picking up EVERY single small hair so you have a perfect shape.
My eyebrows are very thick and I simply don’t have the patience to pluck away. I’ve always had trouble finding someone who could properly tame my brows because they’re so hairy. Some places always leave small hairs behind because they half-​ass their plucking and only pick up extremely noticeable hairs.
However, Claudia is very patient, loves what she does, and does a CONSISTENT seamless job at perfecting my brows like no other. Not to mention she charges $ 15 which is less than some of the top salons who spend less time with you.
Any time I try anyone else, I am full of regrets and I end up at Mio again! I have tried many top rated wax places on Unilocal and Claudia tops them all every time. Highly recommend!
You can also book online which is super convenient.

Just had a wonderful Mio Signature massage with Shannon. My sister and I had a Shellac Deluxe mani&pedi with Claudia. And my sister also had a spray tan with Robin. They were all great!
I was really nervous about the massage cuz I’ve heard horror stories of other massage places and I’ve never had one didn’t know what to expect. Anyway Shannon made me feel comfortable and the hour went by so quick! Should’ve had 2 hrs: P
Loved the shellac deluxe mani&pedi and the paraffin wax! Never had it before. Claudia brought my finger& toe nails back to life they look and feel amazing.
My sister’s spray tan came out great! The spray tan developed throughout the day. She now has a nice, healthy, radiant glow!
Thanks Mio!

I have somewhat wavy coarse hair (kind of beach wave when I go to Hawaii) but much straighter here in CA depending on the day and if I use a brush. I have been wanting to go to a salon that specializes in curly hair and this salon uses the Deva products and has Deva certified stylists.
I looked online at all the Bios of the salon stylists and decided to go with Phan since she looked like she would understand my Asian/​European hair since she is Asian herself. It was so easy to get an appointment with her for the next day which is super rare for a stylist that has as much experience as Phan. So I was a bit worried since my hairdresser is 2 – 3 weeks booked out for an appt.
So I called her the day I booked the appointment to introduce myself and tell her a bit about my hair. She was super sweet on the phone and just as sweet in person. She listened to my request to even out my layers while keeping as much length as possible and gave me a cut that actually activated my natural wave. For my blowdry portion she asked if I wanted a blow out or to diffuse my hair. I definitely wanted to have her diffuse blow dry my hair to see what it would look like naturally and when she was finished we were both surprised by my the curls (I actually had curls). She even joked she couldn’t really tell I had much wave when she was cutting it.
I drove in from Fremont so it took about 45 minutes on a Saturday. There is a farmer’s market on Sat. so give yourself enough time to find parking. There is paid parking out from and supposedly free parking on the side streets.
I will definitely recommend Phan to anyone wanting to a great style for a good price. Online Phan’s price for haircuts were $ 55 but my haircut was $ 65. I am guessing because I have long hair which she must charge extra for or possibly for the blowdry. Next time I am going to ask.
Since most of the stylist are independant, I would call and ask for their prices ahead of time.
Cheers,
MJ–

My daughter and her bridal party got ready here! The staff was friendly and very accommodating! It’s a great space! Jennifer is the best! She’s got years of experience… can do it all:)