Chicago salon recommendations?

August 17, 2006 2:05 PM

ChicagoFilter: Good place for a mid-priced (female) haircut? And/or a beauty-school type place that can do cornrows or braids on a white girl?

My hair is due for its three-month checkup (yes, yes, I know I should do it more often. Shh.). I'm looking for a recommendation for a salon/stylist that does haircuts in the $40 range...preferably someplace with a nice peaceful sort of atmosphere rather than a bright-neon-thumping-bass-uber-hip kind of place.

My hair is shoulder-length and pretty agreeable (slightly wavy and moderately thick). I just want it washed, trimmed, and dried, nothing particularly fancy/edgy/radical. Location is mostly irrelevant although closer to Jefferson Park would be nice.

I'm also interested in a place that can do (cheap) cornrows or twisties on a white girl. Are there any beauty schools in the area that people have had good experiences with? (I don't want to get my hair cut at a beauty school, but braided is fine.)

posted by fuzzbean to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (8 answers total)

Sometimes I drive up from Champaign-Urbana just to get my hair cut at Honey Child. I lurrrrrve them.
posted by MsMolly at 2:41 PM on August 17, 2006

Be careful about going cheap on braids. If they're too tight, they can break your hair. (Sorry that wasn't more helpful about where to go.)
posted by Airhen at 3:52 PM on August 17, 2006

I hear Big Hair in Roscoe Village is pretty good, but no personal experience with them. Just west of Damen on Roscoe, about 4 blocks from Paulina on the brown line
posted by rabbitsnake at 4:20 PM on August 17, 2006

I mean, for the first question, not the braids.
posted by rabbitsnake at 4:24 PM on August 17, 2006

Without personal experience, I'll second Big Hair. An online friend in Chicago (female) recently went to them to have a bad haircut corrected and was really happy with the results (she ended up with the cut that she'd initially wanted from the salon that didn't deliver).
posted by mewithoutyou at 5:28 PM on August 17, 2006

I heart my stylist, Becca, at Maxine. Their $65 haircut is more than what you want to pay, but is well worth the $$. Staci gives the best shampoo, too, with a long scalp massage - ask for her.
posted by MeetMegan at 7:31 PM on August 17, 2006

I'll first-hand recommend Big Hair. It's a walk-in place with an '80s college alt vibe. It's not really peaceful -- chaotic but friendly. Cuts are about $20.

The weird part is when you walk in, you let your eyes adjust, squeeze past everyone sitting, and write your name in the spiral bound notebook on the counter. Someone who works there may or may not have time to say "hi" to you. No matter, just grab a seat, fish a magazine or Reader off the stack on the coffee table and wait for your name to be called.

You could wait for over an hour. It's good to make a mental note of who's ahead of you when you sign in, 'cause if they call your name and you don't answer, they move on.

I've always gotten a good cut there.
posted by limeswirltart at 7:44 PM on August 17, 2006

Right by the Diversey train (up some stairs), I've had good luck with Goran Coban. $38 & you get a discount the first time. It's a quiet atomsphere with some water/forest pictures and screen with a fashion show or such. (Make an appt, it's just him right now I believe).

ps. Aveda on Diversey/Clark likely does braids. (They have a website listing services.)
posted by ejaned8 at 7:47 AM on August 18, 2006