Cal Martini Color Group

I have been going Cal for hair color ever since I moved to LA from NYC twelve years ago. My NYC colorist recommended Cal to me. I am very picky and let me say that Cal is the best. I have worn my hair both red and blond and he does a great job at both. This is the first time that I have Unilocaled and I would highly recommend Cal. He is nice and down to earth and will listen to what you want.
I will admit that I tried another colorist once before (the supposedly best one in Beverly Hills). I had a gift certificate. I ended up going back to Cal the next day to have him fix it. I learned my lesson the hard way, never leaving him! Thanks!

Cal Martini is wonderful. I’m so glad he did not give up on me and my hair!!!
was there last week and got to experience again how patient and experienced he is with hair and hair color. and how he treats stars and non-​stars with the same attention to detail and kindness.

Horrible and worst highlighting I have ever had. He damaged all my hair. I had to cut my hair short to get rid of the bad work, it has been over 8 months and my hair still not good. I learned my lessons .
I do not recommend this place.

Ok so I call and they accommodated a same day appointment by staying late. Let me just say that Vito and Fabrizio are a fabulous duo. Color is great, they work hard to make sure you leave feeling superb.

I was so excited to go here. The reviews were great and I was desperately in need of a great colorist.
I loved these guys. But, the reason for the 3 stars…
I asked for dark blonde with some highlights and a hint of copper and said that whatever happened color-​wise I didn’t want streaks and it needed to look natural. I walked out of there with red hair with extreme blonde highlights and thick deep red stripes around the front of my face. Now, I was in a major hurry (running an hour late for an appointment, as they were running late) and so, in the light of their salon, the hair looked pretty funky and cool and, whilst it wasn’t what I wanted I thought «well, maybe I’ll take this as a funky and good mistake).
Now, I’m not a mirror person. I rarely really look at myself. I didn’t wash my hair for two days and then washed it the morning of a photoshoot. I was mortified — I realized that (a) they hadn’t dyed my roots — I had just over a centimeter of dark roots and that washing my hair (sulfate-​free organic shampoo) had turned it a pink-​red color with bright blonde streaks and these deep red ones were jumping out too and clashing with the pink. I’ve never cried over my hair before, but I did that morning.
After washing my hair a few times the red all came out (except for the deep red streaks) and it is now the blonde I wanted. However, I have these awful roots. I had to get a lot of photoshopping done to the pictures to correct the hair color.
I honestly think these guys are super talented, sweet and great for funky hair and perhaps something a bit alternative, but if you want natural, then it might not be for you, unless you’re super specific. And the whole root issue is just weird. I would probably go back with the photo that I had photoshopped and tell them that that’s the color I want.
FYI — They were running 40 minutes late as the space is really small, so if you have a time limit, don’t go as you’ll definitely be late.

Just got ombré highlights done by Carol… and the results exceeded my expectations!
Everything from the beginning to the end of this experience was wonderful. The lady that helped book my appointment was great and very informative. I was booked with Carol and she did not disappoint. I showed her a few pictures of what I had in mind and she did an even more amazing job! She was fun to talk to, patient, and very professional. and prices were so reasonable! especially for a salon right on Rodeo Drive!
I LOVE my hair!!! THANK YOU GUYS! will be back here for all my hair care needs and will make sure to tell all my friends and all my fellow Unilocalers!

Victoria is the best stylist I’ve ever had! I recently moved here and was in search o a new hair salon. She is professional, talented, and down to earth. She takes time to assess your hair an what you want. As she works she teaches you tips to style and care for your hair.

The best hair colorist in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles bar none! love getting my hair done there!

Cal Martini Group is great. Everyone was extremely nice and generous. Plus they have crackers, cheese & wine for all guests.
Definitely ask for Victoria! She managed to get my hair to look EVEN BETTER than how I wanted it to look. I don’t think I’ve ever had a hairstylist who genuinely cared about my hair, and wanted it to look great. She told me what she thought would look good on me, and i’m so excited about my new hair. She’s silkly shiny, and it’s lookes fresh. I also got highights which look fabulous. Thanks Victoria! I’d give you 10 stars if Unilocal allowed it! Cal Martini Group is great. Everyone was extremely nice.

Ask for Victoria!!!
I rarely feel compelled to show my excitement by writing a review online. Normally, it is prompted or it’s because I want to rant (but even then, I usually get over it). However, for the first time, I was ecstatic to rave about how great the service and my haircut was at Cal Martini!
Having lived in L.A. for about 10 years, it has been a struggle to find the perfect stylist. I have had a couple that I have liked and willingly returned to, but due to moving around it didn’t always make sense to drive from Santa Monica to Pasadena or Brentwood to Manhattan Beach. It always seemed easier to find a new stylist. For once, I believe I was lucky enough to find a stylist I’d be willing to make the drive for!
What I liked about Victoria was that she seemed 100% genuine in caring about how you want your hair to look. Many of the stylists I have encountered seem to want to do their own thing, and give you a haircut they think would look good on you. They don’t take the time to listen. I felt like with Victoria, if I was even unsatisfied about one strand of hair, she would have fixed it for me. She even apologized for having a pile of hair sit on my face for awhile, while she was styling and cutting away! I’m pretty sure most stylist would have just assumed that it’s expected and part of the process.
In addition to her overall empathy for the outcome of your haircut, she also had a wealth of knowledge. Lots of styling and care tips to offer. It felt like she really «got my hair,» if you know what I mean. Finally, you can have good hair stylists, but personality doesn’t always come as part of the package. Victoria definitely makes the extra effort to make you feel at ease. Our chitchat made it feel like we had known each other for years.
This might seem extreme, but I’d even offer to pay for your haircut if you have a bad experience with Victoria. I am that confident that your experience with her will be just as good as mine.

Victoria Boggiano deserves 5+ stars. Why?
A. She is the very first person after 4 years who managed to color my naturally dark hair to natural (vs. chemical) looking blond. My normally dry hair looks healthy, shining and sleek.
B. I have got naturally curly and rich hair, not every hairdresser can deal with them. Hat off — Victoria created an excellent, sexy haircut for me.
C. Appreciated sincerely nice, professional, down the earth attitude so rare in this industry!
I am pain in the neck type of customer but this time — flawless service, totally recommended!

Ask for Emma!!! Why? I will let the Before and After pictures speak for themselves – but let me also say that she takes my hair to a whole new level, always offering the latest in technique and style, always perfect for my face shape and coloring. Had me ombré before ombré was in… Has moved me on from ombré to dimensional since ombré is SO last summer! ;-D Ever since she started doing my hair, I have constantly gotten compliments on the color, on the cut, on the style.
Not only does she give me perfect cuts for my hair type and face, she does amazing blow-​outs AND is an expert colorist hand-​picked by celebrity hairstylist Beth Minardi (look her up!!) to travel the country and showcase the new line she’s developed. Emma’s on the cutting edge, styling models for photo shoots, always getting informed about the newest of everything. Had me go fringe before fringe hit big this year! (I beat Jessica Biel to bangs, thank you Emma.)
She will develop the best look for you, totally personalized. She even thinks about her customers when we aren’t in her chair! She’s always saying things like «I saw this great look on Sandra Bullock in Elle and thought it would be good on you.» I have heard her say the same type of thoughtful comments to other customers as well. Who doesn’t want this kind of intelligent and interested stylist thinking about her personally??? Told me she already has my color plan for Fall. I cannot wait!
This woman is A+++++++ and Beverly Hills is lucky to get her. As a bonus she is also gracious and gorgeous. Emma is a win-​win-​win. Trust me. I’m a picky perfectionist. This is a flawless talented superstar on the rise.

The shop is tiny (think European scale of tiny) and a bit dated. It shares it’s space with the Mauro Salon so you’ll see two names on the window as you approach. The staff, IMO, are down to earth and friendly.
I booked with Emma, who has grown up in the salon business and has many years of experience for her young age. She first colored then razor cut my now short hair and did a good job with what she had to start with.
I was expecting a color change but she liked my medium brown (out of the box) so just touched up my roots. However, I’m not sure if she really understood my rod-​like, thick Asian hair as I could see my bangs pointing straight forward afterwards and the top left side of my head has hair a bit thicker than the right that isn’t laying right. It’s OK, I thought. My hair grows fast. Anyway, my hair is now more spiky and looks a bit better than when I walked in. It doesn’t drive me crazy which is kind of what I was after.
I purchased a few hair products that I really love now. They can be found on Cal Martini’s web-​site. Minardi’s «Pieces» works great to piece the hair. The Mauro mint conditioner is like Aveda’s rosemary mint but stronger and more tingly. I love it!
Kate, a Korean American hairdresser came in later and was friendly and talkative. I might book with her next as she might «get» my hair better and because they offered the same Bloomspot deal to me again upon checking out :)
Overall the space and quality of cut were not what I expected for a Beverly Hills salon but good enough for three stars.
I also picked up some foodie tips besides my favorites — a simple sandwich shop called Choppe Choppe
and a Swiss chocolate shop, teuscher, that is out of this world!
Beverly Hills offers free two-​hour parking in specified lots. I parked in the one next to Crate and Barrel and crossed a street over to get to Rodeo.

First off If I was reviewing the woman who did my hair Jane, I’d give her 5 stars. She’s really informative before she gets right to doing your hair. I went in a for a texture wave perm and we had a discussion for like a good 30 minutes just on what I was expecting and what was achievable. She really is an expert on curly hair. Plus she’s personable :]
I’d give the whole place 4 stars because the place even though it has two levels, it’s pretty small and claustrophobic almost haha Ok not that extreme. It is expensive. I mean c’mon it’s in beverly hills! They offer you cheese, crackers, and a nice glass of water/​wine.
All in all, this place is legit. Cal Martini the owner was doing a woman’s hair and I don’t know what he did but in the end, her hair came out looking like gold silk seriously. lol I was sitting next to her!

I had a GREAT experience here.
I had a voucher from Bloomspot for an Ombré highlight. I was a little skeptical because I had someone else a few months ago at the Paul Mitchell school try to do it on me and the result looked like 3 month old barely visible highlights.
Kate at Cal Martini did a FANTASTIC job on my ombré highlights. The photo of the end result is in the Unilocal photo section. I love it. I love it so much that before I left, I bought my next ombré highlight (they had a discount if I bought it within a week of getting it).
I’ll agree that the place is small and maybe not like super fancy… but they had cheese, crackers, chocolate, wine and best of all… ENTHUSIASM. These women LOVE what they do. I FELT how excited Kate was do the ombré highlights on my hair. That made ME excited too! What a pleasure to meet someone who is excited about what they do and very good at it.
Excited to keep this look through the summer. Amazing work. Amazing manners. Amazing energy!

I never post any ratings on Unilocal,but decided I should start since I rely on them so much for myself!
I recently purchased a gloss, conditioning treatment, and cut on lifebooker. I had my appointment with Kate and was verrrrrrry happy. I had gone back and forth for a couple years about getting bangs. I figure this was the time to take the leap!
Kate was very reassuring of how good they would look and that she was very confident in her ability to cut them well. She did not disappoint! I LOVE my bangs and she did such a great job on my overall cut. I also loved the gloss. She added a colored tint which came out amazing! Besides her talent with hair, Kate is also very warm and easy to talk with.
I will definitely be going back to this salon! Thanks Kate! :-)

I came in and saw Kate for a haircut, gloss, and conditioning treatment. My hair looks amazing, and I feel like a completely brand new person! Kate was attentive and really listened to what I wanted, which was bangs, and some natural layers. I love how the results turned out!!!
To top off the amazing hair experience, the salon was located in a cute little complex, and was really laid back and comfortable, offering a lot of personalized attention. Better yet, free wine, gourmet cheese, and crackers? Doesn’t get any better than that!
I would highly recommend Kate to anyone — she was really friendly, attentive, and skilled at her work.

Let me start off by saying this is the second worst experience I’ve had with my hair at a salon. Ever. If you count the haughty attitude of the management, it is the absolute worst, hands down.
I’m shocked they have as many positive reviews as they do. However, when they request that their customers (and family) post good reviews on here (and offer discounts in exchange for them), I suppose it makes sense.
I had a stylist contact me that was working at Cal Martini Color group that said the salon needed hair models so that the staff could learn a new color line. I told her what I was interested in having done to my hair. She checked with the salon and they said that would work. I was then given a date and time to come in and was told I would have to pay $ 30 to cover the cost of the product. (I should have noticed that as a red flag because the other times I’ve hair modeled at reputable salons, I was never charged for the product.)
I walked in to the tiny salon where the staff was all upstairs except for one stylist. I was completely ignored for a good 5 minutes before a woman came down and kind of shooed me over to the back and told me to sit down and wait at one of the two hair washing stations. As I was waiting there, The stylist came over with his client who wanted to sit at the station I was sitting at — and not the other identical one next to it. The stylist then demanded that I get up so he could use the one I was waiting at. I thought this was very rude.
Finally, I was taken upstairs. Two stylists, the owner and the color line representative were upstairs. I was asked what I wanted done to my hair. I told them very precisely that I wanted my hair darker (almost black) and with cold tones. I was at that time a slightly warmer medium brown.
My stylist and I picked out a color combination together that we thought would be perfect. The owner and the color rep insisted that since the color was a demi that it would deposit darker than we thought and shot down the color that we chose. We wanted to use a level 2, they chose a level 5. They assured me that the color would be as I wanted it.
I sat in the chair for quite some time as they were waiting and waiting for the color to go darker. Finally, they basically said «screw it» and washed my hair. They dried a piece to test it. I hated it. It was medium brown still and WARMER than before — much warmer.
The owner and the rep wanted to go home, so they told me that it would look different in the daylight as opposed to the salon lights — and left, not caring that my hair was nothing like I had asked for.
The stylist cut and thinned out my already thin hair (which made me need to get another 6 inches cut off it the next time I went to get my hair done). I paid full price for the hair cut. She felt horrible about the color fiasco but finished and told me that I could come back next week and she would fix it on her own time.
The salon owner (Cal) and coordinator (Deborah /​Denice — she goes by both) refused to allow her to fix my hair and said that I would have to pay full price for the service even though they were the ones that messed it up. They said that is the risk I take when I model and I would have to deal with it.
Then why tell me that I had my choice of how I wanted my hair to look at the beginning, and only after ruining it — say that they were doing my hair as they had pleased?
I refused and only after calling and emailing then telling the stylist that I was going to Unilocal the salon, did they agree to have me come in and get the color fixed.
But… I would have to pay another $ 30 to cover the product. To me, this was completely unreasonable as I’d already paid $ 30 to have them ruin it the first time. Finally, we settled on them just returning my original $ 30 and me going somewhere else to get the color fixed.
I get the check in the mail, finally — for $ 20. I ask where the other $ 10 is and Denice says that the model fee is only $ 20 and the extra $ 10 was given to my stylist. I contacted the stylist and asked her if she got paid $ 10 for bringing me in. She asked me why she would get paid for that. I told her. She couldn’t believe that the coordinator had lied to me over $ 10. That was the last straw, so I am writing this review.
The stylist I had actually QUIT HER JOB at the salon after my experience because she was so appalled at how they treated their customers. She went jobless for months rather than work at a salon this unprofessional.
As a side note, Deborah /​Denice helps to advertise the salon and her services by telling everyone that she was DiCaprio’s personal makeup artist on «Titanic» — though she is nowhere to be found in the film’s credits or imdb. Very untrustworthy.
DO NOT GO TO THIS SALON. I’ve been to many, many salons in my life and this is — by far — the WORST.

Best. Haircut. EVER.
Jane is AMAZING, one of the most intuitive, skilled, and on-​point stylists I’ve EVER experienced in Los Angeles or anywhere else, for that matter.
Disclaimer: I suffer from alopecia. I have extremely fine, thinning Asian hair as it is, but due to stress and a bunch of other reasons doctors can’t figure out, I’m losing my hair at a rapid rate. I’ve cried enough tears over it (going bald sucks as a woman) and am really trying to have a positive attitude about being healthy in every other way, but… It still affects my self-​esteem, not gonna lie.
Enter Jane. She gave me TONS of suggestions about what to do/​what not to do with my hair and I will be ceasing the usage of my NuvaRing immediately. Pre-​natal vitamins to promote healthy hair growth? On it! She was genuinely concerned with my hair health and well-​being, and for that I am so grateful and appreciative. Someone who really cares can make all the difference in the world.
Her caring showed in her cutting, and she snipped and styled with precision. I trusted her to shape my hair and in the end, it looked incredible! Fuller and with TONS of movement… I kept moving my head back and forth to watch it «bounce,» so thrilled and happy with the results! Jane is the QUEEN of layers and creating fullness and movement!
I’m so happy that I found Jane. She’s so good at what she does and she obviously takes pride and joy in making others look and feel good. I HIGHLY recommend her and will definitely be back. Thank you for everything Jane, I appreciate it more than you can imagine.
Free parking tip: Free 2-​hour parking before 6pm just a block away on Brighton, if you’re coming down Rodeo from Santa Monica, take a right onto Brighton and the 2-​hour free lot will be immediately on your left.

Last & final update.
I received a check in the mail for $ 45 as a refund, even though i paid $ 75. I also got an email from the salon coordinator asking me why i would put the business on blast and if I noticed that I was the only one that had a negative comment. Unilocal is for ALL reviews & comments whether good or bad! She then asked if it was necessary and said I could’ve picked up the phone to call her! AND why couldnt they, as a business, CALL ME? To top that off, she wished me good luck with my hair & «highly suggest you use other products than pantene to care for it.» At this point, anything I use is better than the service & level of customer service from this person.
I wonder if the Owner realizes or sees what this lady writes! Nothing personal, didnt even meet her, but really, very unprofessional if that’s how you respond to clients!