Mada Beauty

Full disclosure: I’m a hairdresser and I know the staff at Mada Beauty. Being a hairdresser, I am picky with my hair. With that being said, Nathan gave me a great cut. I’m a man and have long hair (below my shoulders) which is difficult for a lot of stylists to cut a great shagged out long layer men’s cut that frames my jawline nicely. The salon is clean and the staff at Mada are professionals. I’d definitely go back to see Nathan. The voicemail at Mada is frequently full so I have to call Nathan directly (6 145 603 873) or book online (which is the easiest and the method preferred by the staff).

New to the area, I needed to find a stylist to maintain my platinum blonde hair. Word of mouth, I found Nathan at Mada Beauty and YES– so glad I did!
The salon itself is lovely– huge windows, very clean, open space, and they offer Steven Smith teas. It was comfortable and unpretentious.
Nathan took the time to understand what I was looking for. The roots had grown out on my naturally medium brown hair quite a bit, but he bleached and toned it to perfection! He also gave my long hair an excellent, precise trim. We had great conversation and he worked quickly while paying attention to details. He’s a thorough stylist and it pays off– I’ve gotten TONS of compliments. I left with exactly what I wanted. Thanks, Nathan!

Go to Dylan Welch for precision hair cuts, natural hair color and a corny sense of humor:) I am anal about a good cut as I am a wash and go girl. I hate fussing with my hair so I rely on a truly perfect cut to make up for my lack of blow drying skills! Dylan is an ex Toni and Guy director who has mentored and trained other hair dressers. He always listens, takes his time and chooses the best style for my face. Look no further!

Katie is awesome! I went from bright blonde hair to a dark chocolate brown with some reddish highlights, and I’ve gotten nothing but compliments since. She’s fun to talk to, and did really great job on my hair. Would definitely recommend (:

On a whim while visiting Portland, I decided to deal with my raggedy hair. Mada’s excellent Unilocal reviews pushed me in the direction of this salon. When I arrived, the helpful receptionist consulted with a stylist (Dylan) to squeeze me in without an appointment. I was thrilled!
I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted, other than a bob of some kind. Dylan talked with me and cut my hair with great precision. The result is a hairstyle that I never knew I wanted. It is one of the best cuts I’ve ever had, so I felt moved to Unilocal about it. Wish I could fly to Portland whenever I need a haircut/​want to feel great!

Joy was wonderful! I was just in town for a few days and had a minor hair crisis. I am picky about hair salons but after reading the Unilocal reviews and decided to give Joy a call. She touched up my color and then I decided to let her give me a hair cut as well. As the other Unilocal reviewers predicted: I LOVE my hair! Joy was awesome– she really listened and the color was perfect. She couldn’t be nicer too. I will definitely go back next time I’m in Portland!!!

My fiancé and I are getting married this summer and he needed a «real haircut.» Not just the Supercuts buzz that he has been getting for the past 3 years. So, I went to the internet and began my search. I ended up choosing Nathan @ Mada Salon. He spent about 75 minutes on my soon to be Husband’s hair. He was very meticulous and even after he had styled it was still going back and snipping a few stray hairs here and there. I would highly recommend him for men’s haircuts. He said about 80% of his clients are men. He did a very good job. We were very impressed that he was so reasonably priced as well ($ 35). We will definitely be back to see Nathan.

I’ve been going to Joy at Mada for a year now and she’s the best! Friendly, informative and always does an awesome job on my hair :-)

I came to this salon after it first opened in 2007. I used to live in the apartments right above the salon (which sucked by the way because of all the construction noise coming from right below my bedroom floor that woke me up every morning… but I guess that has nothing to do with the salon itself) :) Anyway, back to the review: I received an all over color service here and I loved how it turned out. I dyed my already dark hair a plum-​like color, so not much of a change but I remember that the color looked very vibrant and rich. Fast forward 5 years later– I decided to come here just to get my bangs cut since I tend to have trouble getting good bang cuts. I came here hoping to get a great bang cut for once and I did. I definitely recommend coming here for a cut, bang trim or color.

I see Melanie Trayer for all my haircut and highlight needs. She is very professional and you can tell she is very dedicated to her work! Her technique is spot on, and she listens to every detail that I want to see in my hairstyles. I never feel like I am overcharged, and the salon is always organized and clean. Happy customer! Thanks Melanie!

Mada!!! (née Grace)
So full disclosure, I haven’t been here in the past 8 months. I started going when we moved in Portland in 2010, and I saw Marina until the end of 2012. I only stopped going because we moved out to the burbs and I needed to find someone a little closer to home. BUT, I can’t recommend Marina highly enough, which is why 8 months after my last visit I feel compelled enough to write a review.
The salon is light and bright and clean (love that mural on the wall, btw) and the stylists know what they’re doing. If you’re living downtown and looking for an experienced hairdresser, definitely give Mada a shot.

KATIE is awesome. I have never been blonde before in my life — always a light brown/​strawberry blonde color. And I came in today to see Katie and had a laundry list of things that I like, don’t like, hate, etc :)… and she did a fantastic job. And I am very picky. THANK YOU KATIE. I highly recommend her. I am a snob about my hair, I curl it every day, and I don’t let people touch it lightly. Katie knows how nervous I was when I came in. She let me tell her all the things I wanted/didn’t want and she ran with it. She is an artists. Go see Katie!
(I uploaded a picture so you can see her work. I’m the blonde (yay!) girl with wavy hair turned away from the camera sitting on the bathroom counter haha).

Went in to get both a cut and color. Katie did an exceptional cut. One of the best hair cuts I ever had. HOWEVER, MASSIVE COLOR CATASTROPHE. I showed her pictures of a dirty blonde with defining highlights and the color turned out so horrible. She tried three times to fix it but it kept getting worse. I didn’t have time for them to experiment with my hair any longer, I was here for 4 and a half hours. I paid a bit of cash to end up leaving very very unhappy. I am now going to get it color corrected in the morning because my hair looks way worse than an 11 year old with some box die. Another thing was how a few hairstylists were like ohhhh looks great… YEAH RIGHT. Maybe to the blind! WIth that said. I recommend Katie for mens hair. ONLY for cuts.
BEST CUT EVER. WORST COLOR EVER.

I used to come here when I first moved to Portland, when it was Grace, and had recently opened up. The only reason I stopped coming was I moved, and my friends recommended I try another salon closer.
Well now my hair stylist from my previous place (Mark Putnam) is at Mada, and I’m back again. Mark does a great job, and always makes me feel like the most important person in the world. It will cost you more to see Mark, it will be worth it.
My only reason for minus 1 star: this is Portland, in the Pearl, why are we serving coffee in paper cups, and wine in plastic cups? I just don’t get it. It’s stupid I know, but in the Pearl, why not have actual dishware? Just seems an upscale place, upscale prices, could afford to buy and wash/​reuse dishware — and avoid the whole trash/​waste issue.
I’ll be back — maybe I’ll bring my own glass. ;-)

I came here for a quick bang trim and ended up with some flair highlights on a whim. Even though I made an appointment, I had a fairly long wait time.
I’m picky about my hair, so I chose this place from the Unilocal reviews but the pricing ended up being a little outrageous for the services I received even with a discount for my long wait.

I needed some bangs really badly because I was over my hair. And being new to the area left me at a loss of where to go. I asked a friend and she suggested Mada Beauty (used to be named Grace’s hair salon).
When I called I let them I wanted bangs and they set me up with Katie. Katie is awesome, through and through, her style, her hair, and just her and her personality in general. I felt comfortable and at ease with her. Going to a new salon can definitely be an intimidating experience, but Mada Beauty definitely was not! Hooray!
Katie was super nice and gave me some cute bangs to play around with. I really needed to cut the rest of my hair though, so I decided to go back to Katie a couple weeks later to help me with that. She did an awesome job, fixing my grown out asymmetrical cut and giving me heavier face framing bangs and a cute ombré on my brown shoulder length hair. YAY!
I’m stoked. If you want to be stoked check this place out. I am totally going to go back to Katie from now on. I haven’t gone to any of the other stylists but everyone here seems really nice and wants you to feel good, satisfied (and cute/​sexy/​pretty) when you leave. The salon is clean, bright, and modern. PLUS they have Steven Smith’s tea and (I think) Stumptown coffee for you to sip on. Their products smell good too. (but I am an aveda whore) and if you like them on facebook you can get a free sample of their products to test out, the body lotion is brilliant. Cheers!

I am taking the first star off because I got charged a $ 10 «consultation» fee as a new client. This fee was not mentioned when I made the appointment, even though I clearly said I was a new customer. I have never been charged a fee for being a new client before; in fact, a lot of establishments give first-​time clients a discount.
Secondly, my haircut was not great. It’s not that it was bad — it just didn’t really complement my hair type. In fact, I even went back for a redo (which to Grace’s credit they were happy to accomodate), but the haircut still fell short. One issue is that the hairdresser straightened my hair before cutting it, which is not a good idea given that I have somewhat wavy hair which I don’t normally straighten.
The salon itself is nice and Marina (the hairdresser) was very sweet and accommodating that I feel bad giving a negative review. I am sure that she would do a great job on some haircuts, but I was so unhappy with the way my hair looked that I went to another salon to get it fixed.

I booked a cut and color with Joy after reading rave after rave review and I’m so glad I did. She is a color magic worker if I ever did see one and I’ve been dyeing my hair both professionally and at home since I was fourteen.
I walked in with grown out roots, a brassy washed-​out red from an old dye job, hay-​like highlights, and split ends up the wazoo – I had so much stuff going on on my head, it was embarrassing! I asked for a uniform cool ash brown color, which I knew to be a nearly impossible feat, and I could hardly believe my eyes when Joy delivered.
I paid $ 145 for it all and I don’t regret a penny. It’s a decent price for everything I had done. I’ve paid hundreds more than that on much less satisfactory hair work.
I hadn’t asked for anything spectacular in terms of the cut, just a trim, and that’s what I got. So, it was perfect. I’ll be coming through Grace again if I get the chance!

I’ve been searching so long trying to find «THE ONE»… you know. someone who listens, who gets me, who knows what I want and how I want. Someone who’s gentle, forgiving and honest.
yes… all that I found at Grace hair salon with Lilli Kendle.
I was late for my appt and Grace Hair Salon allowed me to at least pick a service — color/​hair cut and return for the other one. this review is just for coloring by Lilli. She was pretty quiet… not a chatty stylist but I don’t mind at all. She listened to what I wanted and made some recommendations. Everything that I asked for and she promised were met and delivered. Highlights for my waist long hair were only $ 85.
They used their own created hair product line — Mada. You can find more info here:
Spray shampoo is a pretty different concept. Once I finish up what I have I may give it a try. Overall costs of products seemed slightly higher ($ 24 for 8.4oz shampoo) but supposedly their products last longer than others.
I’ll be a regular from now on.

So, I don’t like to share.
No, I’m not an only child. But I will say that growing up, I had two older brothers and a daddy who loved to spoil me.
So when I find something good, it’s gotta be REALLY good for me to be willing to share it with others. Because at that point the guilt factor kicks in, as the business is so kick ass that I have to (just HAVE TO) tell others how great the place really is.
I should also say that it was you, fellow Unilocalers (or Unilocalians, whatever you want to call yourselves) that helped me, after a horrible haircut that left me traumatized, find salvation at Grace.
I had never previously gone back to the same hair stylist until I began going here. The ambiance is cool, hip, while at the same time welcoming. And the front desk staff is ALWAYS accommodating and super friendly. Whenever I call in they make sure to fit me in as soon as they can.
And the cut? Fuggeddaboudit!
It rocks.

After receiving a recommendation for Mada, I made an appointment to see Melanie. She was awesome. I’m growing my hair out, and only wanted a light trim and «evening out» of my layers. She completely updated my hair but barely took off any length. She is precise in her cut and lovely to chat with throughout. Look forward to seeing her again soon for a color update.