The Pretty Pretty Collective

I’ve only been here one time now, but I’m transitioning away from my old salon/​stylists that I went to for a long time. That can be hard when you don’t know where to even start looking!
I met Desiree a couple of years ago and I am so happy I got back in touch! She was very helpful in creating a comfortable dialogue about what I wanted and what my options were. In the end I loved what she did and it’s very difficult for me to be content with my hair because it’s difficult to style and move with.
My hair is fine and thick (and there’s a lot of it!), short to medium in length, and have a slight undercut to reduce weight.

I grew up with a mother in the industry who dragged me to hair shows and weekend classes as a kid. I know too much, and because of that I am terrified to try out new salons and stylists whenever I move. I have to say that this is one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.
The woman I made the appointment with was named Anna Scott and she was AMAZING. I was having a rough week with a death in the family and just kind of wanted to sit and read and she picked up on that and let me do my own thing (which isn’t always easy to have in a salon.) She listened to what I said and asked a lot of questions to make sure we were both imagining the same end result.
AND LADIES LET ME TELL YOU
I went in a sad caterpillar and she transformed my hair with goo and talent until I was a freaking butterfly. I get complimented all the time! I have even been stopped on the street by gay men on their phones to compliment my hair! MULTIPLE TIMES! It was an instant pick me up during a tough time. As shallow as it sounds, It made a difference.
Needless to say, I am really satisfied and would highly, highly, recommend Anna.

Georgia R:
Business Owner
Hi Lisa! We have an 11:00 opening with katie and an 11:15 with Alex. If you
would like to book please let me know and I will get you on the books.
Best,
Megan
Lisa S: Yes! Perfect
I made this booking for my son’s wedding. My daughter and I were so excited, yet when we arrived there were no appointments for us. I was more shocked about how we were dismissed like the misbooking was our problem.
Really bad experience!
Need some insight into customer service!

Georgia — and everyone else here — is a damn genius. Some updates from the last time I reviewed PPC:
1. I grew my hair out for nearly two years, and thanks to Georgia’s brilliance it was the EASIEST growing-​out process I have ever been through. There was no terrible, horrible, no-​good, awkward phase at ALL. She may or may not have made a deal with the devil to arrange that. I don’t even get it.
2. For my wedding last year, my mom and I walked to PPC to get our hair done, and Alex and Caitlin made magic — my updo stayed put through hours and hours of dancing my face off, and I felt _​gorgeous_​.
3. In January, I was ready for a change, so I walked in and told Georgia to do whatever she wanted. The result was shocking and wonderful. I left feeling like Reba circa 1990, but in a totally amazing way. In the last few months, the compliments have been hilarious. This may have been my favorite interaction: at the National Portrait Gallery in DC, a guard stopped me politely with an, «excuse me.» I was super afraid I’d done something wrong, but he just said, «your hair is amazing!» I laughed, relieved, and said, «Oh thank you, I thought for a minute I was in trouble there!» He said, «You in trouble for droppin’ em’ dead!»
In conclusion: best hair, best compliments, possibly some defying of physics regarding growing-​out magic.

When my last hair stylist at another salon moved away, it took me awhile to find a new one. I tried a few different salons before settling down at PPC last year. It’s hard to find a good stylist, so I feel super lucky that I found Katie. She listens to what I want and executes the color and the cut perfectly every time. I change my mind on color and cut every few months so I appreciate her flexibility. She is also a super sweet and rad person which is the cherry on top.

I’ve been seeing Rachel for 6 months and I’ve never been happier. She listens to what I want and when I tell her I need a change, she has the best ideas. You know when strangers stop you on the street your hair is legit.

I was a hair model for diPietro Todd in Mill Valley and on Post Street in SF where the professional stylist/​traveling trainer named Yureesh completely ruined my hair… cut 10+ inches off… long story (in my opinion, he did it out of spite). I got in contact with my friend Kristina Banks who has a chair at The Pretty Pretty and she had me come in right away. She COMPLETELY fixed me up to where I was confident again and willing to not be in a bun until my hair grew out!!! She is incredible and I can’t believe I love my short hair when I never thought I would! THANK YOU KRISTINA!

This review is for Katie! She’s been doing my hair for a year or so and I always love it:) She knows exactly how I like my hair colored and cut. I love her honesty and opinions! I really trust her w my hair! She’s fantastic!!!

Yesterday I had my first time at PPC and it was awesome. I’m cut phobic, it takes me forever to force myself to get off my butt and do it. I’m really glad I did, and I’m glad I was brought to Gabriela. Gabriela took my Cousin It hair and breathed new life and movement in it. She was super focused on bringing my general cut idea to life from a magazine picture (which I’ve tried before at other salons and it hasn’t worked well).She’s also a really nice person to chat with really sincere and mellow. I will definitely be back to you Gabriela!

Got my hair cut by Caitlin for the first time today and the whole experience was really amazing!
Upon arriving I was offered tea or coffee. Caitlin talked to me for a while about what I wanted, and worked with me to figure out which style would look best. I had a weird grown out undercut mullet thing which was going wild. She really listened to me and understood the style I was going for. I didn’t feel judged for my my grown out roots (which I still need to do).
She gave a great massage during the hair wash, and gave me some tips for blow drying and styling my hair (i’m pretty low maintenance). She was super friendly and sweet the whole time!
With the haircut comes a free cleanup, which is really awesome for shorter/​more precise styles, and saves money before full cuts. Yay! Thanks Caitlin.

I wanted to love my experience so much but couldn’t. After seeing glowing reviews and the nod for best bang trim on Refinery 29’s site, I decided to give it a shot.
My bangs were getting long so I needed a quick trim. Brought in pictures of how I wanted them to look and it wasn’t what I got. Hate short, short bangs… just doesn’t work well w/​my face. Frustrated cuz I have to wait for them to grow out and my hair grows kinda slow. If only they were another half or full inch longer then I’d be a happy camper.
My stylist was very nice and I felt comfortable from the moment I sat down but I just can’t get over how darned short my bangs are now.
Le sigh.

(4.5) I’ve been a patron of PPC SF since last year and have been really pleased with the results. I was drawn in by the art gallery/​studio feel of the place on my first visit. I’m holding off on that fifth star since I admit that the prices here are *extremely high.* Makes me wonder if I should just take the plunge and go to Patrick Evan in FiDi. Also, not all of the stylists come off as professional, independent of their cut and color skills (I haven’t had a bad cut from PPC).
In any case, I’m sticking with PPC since Kristina has done an amazing job on my hair since I started going to her. She’s also great company during my appointments! The store also includes R+Co products for sale (no discount) and cool artisan jewelry made by local artists.

I have had so many great experiences with various stylists here!
Desiree gave me one of the best haircuts I’ve had in recent memory.
I scheduled an updo and a blow out, by different people, for various weddings, and they both came out flawlessly.
Big fan of the ladies who work here.

I have curly hair, perfect spiral healthy curls. After going to this salon my curls are all chopped up, frizzy, and poofy – they don’t curl the way they did before the cut.
I called the salon and asked for a curls expert, after seeing a lot of good reviews on Unilocal for the salon. I got a call back and said that curls expert, Erin McFarland was available. I booked the appointment. I spent some time describing exactly what I wanted, and took care to explain how long I had been growing out my hair and that I didn’t want to lose much length or volume.
The stylist completely ignored me. I told her that I did not want my hair «thinned out.» She did it anyway. I lost so much volume, and my hair texture was completely ruined.
I emailed the owner and manager to complain. They were very apologetic and asked if they could offer anything to fix the problem. I asked for a refund.
THE WORST PART IS: When the owner asked for the name of the stylist and I told her it was Erin McFarland – she told me that Erin was not a stylist at the salon but only rented a station at the salon. WHY WASN’T I TOLD THIS BEFORE I GOT MY HAIRCUT? Especially since I asked for a curls expert. I feel like I was misled. It has been over a month since my haircut, and my hair has not recovered.
I will need to cut it very short (losing over a years worth of growth) to undo the damage. I can only wear my hair up, pulled into a very tight bun, which is very hard to do because there are so many random, short, stray pieces. I miss my curly hair.

This was the worst haircut I’ve gotten in my life, and also the most expensive.
This supposedly «high end» place made several blunders. I chose this place and paid 5x more for a haircut than I usually do so I could have «someone really good» give me a really quality haircut.
Blunders:
1) we were discussing my desired hair length and the stylist chose the shortest possible one in the range without even asking. It ended up being way too short. The standard is always to start with less and take more off if needed. Not here.
2) the haircut was extremely rushed. The stylist’s shift was ending and she went through it way too fast. She didn’t check anything with me and missed so many details.
3) it was just an ugly haircut. I asked for a fade on the sides and she took it up my head way too far and the fade had a line in it rather than being faded. It was disgusting.

This review is for Desiree Barrera:
Desiree is amazing and has been cutting my hair for the past year! I originally started with long hair split down the middle about 20″ in length. I wanted an edgy cut because I work in the higher end fashion industry with very prestigious self-​made women and clients. Desiree has cut my hair 5 times, each hair style with a different twist. She has cut my hair in bobs, shaggy with bangs, and in a cool edgy single length. I notice she always uses different techniques to add natural volume to my hair since it is thin and pretty flat. When I stop by to get a bang trim I even ask her to cut it in different ways so that my hair has a bit of a new appearance in between cuts.
I have literally been stopped on the street and photos taken of my hair so that women can stop by to see Desiree or get a cut like mine. When my hair grows out my clients tend to think I got a new haircut but all it’s the result of an awesome haircut that has the ability to grow out nicely!
About three months ago I box dyed my hair blackest black. I had a change of heart about two weeks ago, and now plan to go blonde. Desiree bleached my hair, toned, and cut my bangs beautifully! I had zero damage to my hair surprisingly and my hair came out a pretty ash blonde. Our next appointment we plan to go even lighter! I highly recommend Desiree and refer her to my high fashion clients all of the time!

Last week I set up an appointment with Amy online. Today, I received a confirmation email, that included the following:
«Please note that Most stylists accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover and cash. Amy Martinez and Dionne Stevens are cash/​check only however.»
Annoying, to say the least. How would they let certain stylists not accept credit cards without warning you during the booking process? It’s a good thing I read the whole confirmation email they sent, because I wouldn’t have gotten the information any other way and there’s a limited chance I would’ve showed up on my own with enough cash to cover it.
Annoyed, I went online to try to reschedule my appointment to another stylist who would take cards. However, when I tried to log in, the website would not let me do anything unless I provided them with a credit card for billing information. Are you kidding me? I can’t cancel my appointment (well before the cancellation limit) without giving you a credit card number, but I also can’t pay for my appointment with a credit card? That’s ridiculous.
I was able to phone in and cancel my appointment (to her credit, the receptionist was nice and efficient). I really think they should add a warning to the booking process that certain stylists are cash only. At the very least, you should be able to cancel online without giving them your credit card info.

What a difference a cut & color makes!
I went in to see Amber with just gross fried long hair that hadn’t seen professional scissors in 3 years or so. I could never find anyone that I like enough to justify getting it cut but that has now changed.
I gave minimal instructions which can be dangerous, I know, but if someone knows what they are doing, they know what they are doing. Amber gave me an incredibly cool asymmetrical bob and updated my color to a rich purple.
I am in love with it and I feel like a new woman! I haven’t stopped smiling.

I love the Pretty Pretty collective… You pay for quality, so you leave looking chic! Seeing that it is located in the heart of hipster-​ville (mission) its safe to say that your paying for the «all around» experience. With a great shop that is basically a art museum which has so many beautiful things that you want to buy just to buy… You can see what your money go towards. You become apart of the culture here and the staff who are amazing works wonders!
YEASSSSSS!

There’s a new guy in my life… And his name is Rich.
I came into the salon as a first time customer for a cut and color! I had a grown out hair cut as well as grown out balayage. I have curly hair and my hair was doing the triangle thing, I asked Rich to take the weight off the bottom and keep my length. I also asked for all over cool dark brown color. He listened to everything I wanted and did exactly what we talked about!
I love love love my new hair. The cut it great, so much lighter and full of life! The color is amazing as well!
Thank you, Rich!!!