Terra By Afloat

Great place if you are looking to do a Japanese straight perm. Mai is awesome! Not cheap but worth it.

I absolutely love this salon! I get my hair done by the wonderful Yama. He is a great listener while also advising me on what will and will not work. I have thick, full hair so it’s hard to find someone who knows how to work with it appropriately. From the service when I come in, the hair wash & massage to the actual cut and style, I’m completely relaxed. The parking is a little bit scarce and the location is hidden, or at least it was for me the first time I went, but nonetheless, it’s worth it.

Visited Tomo in July for a digital perm and it turned out seriously amazing, better than any other perm I’ve ever had. Tomo again was great, friendly, and attentive. Now I am back home and my curls still look amazing!

Highly recommend! Tomo is amazing! I wasnt so sure what kind of hair I wanna get. Tomo helps me to figure out which one match better. He’s so patient and did a great job with my hair! For all ladies, hair is our life, Im so glad he did my hair! I will see you next time for digi perm

Confessions of a stubborn girl:
Allright. I hate to say it…
But…
Sometimes… (just sometimes)…(maybe hardly ever)…is my boyfriend right. Well if he is… I’ll never admit it. Except this time.
This time… he was absolutely right!
He’s been telling me forever that I should go to see Mei at Terra by Afloat to get my hair cut. When I say forever… I mean like. years! He’s been saying she is the best at hair cuts and styling.
Instead of saying he was right all along, let’s just say… I should’ve listened to him earlier. I’ve been telling him that I can get my hair cut from someone else… and its fine. Many years later, I finally asked him to make an appointment for me to get my hair cut.
Mei is amazing! She is the absolute sweetest hair person in the world! She was definitely knowledgeable about my type of hair and gave me the absolute best haircut ever. I’ve never gotten so many compliments about my hair cut, until Mei cut my hair! I’ll definitely be making my own appointments to see her more often in the future!
Let’s just say my boyfriend knew the best place for me to get my hair cut.
If you ever tell him I said he was right… well, I’ll just deny it.

My go-​to salon! I go to Mei for my straight perms. She’s friendly and has always done a good job on my hair, leaving it soft and straight. My natural hair is CRAZY frizzy and curly, and every other salon I’ve went to left my hair a little wavy and frizzy. At this salon, my hair is soft and super straight after a treatment, and not even a little frizzy. I’ve been going here since I was in middle school, and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon :)

I made my first appointment with Yama on a Sunday morning. Weekends are the best for me so im glad this place is open sat sun. He was very polite and understanding of what I wanted for my hair. I told him to cut shoulder length and he made sure I was okay with the length. We talked a bit but he went on doing his thing while I played some games on my phone. He also took care of my bangs that I cut myself and ruined. Service was excellent! Love the atmosphere. Everything took around 4 hours but i thought time went by pretty fast. Color, cut and perm came out to around $ 320. Overall, recommend Terra by afloat for sure!

Lately I’m the type to wake up and think what I should do on my day off. I sporadically plan my days. So I called my usual salon to see if they have openings for a cut and color. No such luck. So I researched a number of Asian salons to do a cut and color. Mainly color since my sylist suggest I do a color correction. I was lucky enough to make an appointment for a color and cut. Score!
Finding the place was not too hard and I scored parking despite the limited parking space. The salon is inviting and comfortable. Front desk girl is super nice, sweet and awesome hair. So that got me excited. The stylist that I was assigned to is named Yama. He was great at going over with me my options on what the first steps in correcting my hair color which I love. There was a bit of objection from him regarding what I want but I didn’t mind at all because he gave valid reasons which included cost effectiveness in the long run. After deciding how to go about in fixing my hair I asked if we had enough time to do color and cut. Yama said yes.
The process in coloring my hair went smoothly and my hair color turned out great! The down fall is when it came to cutting hair. My hair cuts are mainly asian style. Many layers starting high and towards the ends it forms a V. Due to the process of coloring my hair, my time went over and the job he did in cutting my hair turned into a blunt cut because my hair is on the thin side. I asked to fix it with how I wanted it; granted I know my hair is thin but I’m willing to go that route. He seemed firm on not cutting my hair how I wanted it because the time over lapped with his other client. He did not say it was because he had another client but when making an appointment I wanted later time but the front desk lady said the next appointment time had already been booked. Totally unsatisfied with the cut and wished he would have told me he didn’t have any time to cut my hair. It would have saved me the feeling of ripping my hair out everytime I style my hair until my next hair appointment. Love the color but seriously hate the cut and it makes the color that much less appealing to me.
Overall awesome place but time awareness would be appreciated to let clients know what you can do for them with what little time is left instead of doing a rush job. It defeats the purpose of having a great start.

Been debating whether to say something for months but decided maybe someone would benefit from my experience.
Normally LOVE here, but the last time I came did not go well. I got a straight perm that didn’t quite take. I waited four days before washing (because I’m paranoid) and there were waves in the back of my head. I wanted to die :(I also had to cut my own hair after the hair cut because there were 2 chunks that got missed somehow.
Again LOVE here but it’ll take me some time before I get over this. Hoping it was a fluke… Expensive fluke though :(

I came in as a first-​timer and got my hair cut by Yama. It’s a very clean salon with a lovely minimal aesthetic, lots of magazines to keep you occupied until your stylist is ready. I’m very happy with my hair, which is a lot considering I’m terrified of cutting my hair ever since it got botched up a few years back. However, Yama was very attentive and I will definitely come back in the future. A little pricey but so worth it.

I searched on pinterest and found lots of japanese hairstyle that i like are done by Afloat salons in japan and i’m so happy that they also have in Hawaii. I am 6 months overdue for my retouch (sorry) and i know its not easy to try to go lighter without bleach for the mid part, and my bottom is highlighted (level 6 – 7). So i told my stylist i can go with whatever lightest brown he can get me for my newgrowth and match the bottom. He took his time and did every application process carefully and my hair came out one color with no demarcation lines. Usually i get irritated easily when people color my hair b/​c they pull and hurt my scalp (super sensitive scalp), but he was very gentle, i didn’t have any problem, my hair was still soft, not dry like usual. And i told him i don’t do anything with my hair, or use any products beside leave-​in conditioner (i know, super lazy about it) so he taught me an easiest technique to keep my bang in place without doing much. I am so pleased with my hair result and definitely come back for more services.
Oh and i was lucky enough that there was parking space available right in front of the salon yay! the salon is clean, modern and very quiet which is nice.

I love this salon! I met Yama, who was nice enough to take me even without an appointment, although I don’t recommend walking in without one (I’m sorry I was rude!).
It’s a clean and open shop, with parking directly off Pensacola right at the store front. There are 6 stations, a wash area at the back, and a nail salon upstairs.
I only met with one stylist but he was incredibly helpful! I had an idea of what I wanted and some pictures, but heard from Unilocal to trust the stylists. Very true! They really check your face and hair type, then make a suggestion from there. Great salon and great service!

Got my hair cut today and I love it! I was a little skeptical about having short hair since my hair been about waist length for last 3 – 4 years. Time for something new! And it’s great!
I believe my hair stylists’ name is Yama (forgive me if that’s incorrect), and he was very friendly and easy to talk to. He works very quickly but makes sure everything is correct and definitely checks with you on how you’re feeling about the haircut. Thank you so much!
I thought that I would have a hard time finding the place but it’s quite easy (it’s near The Wedding Ring Shop). Pricing is very reasonable and they know how to work with Asian hair. I’m very happy!

Best Salon Ever!!! I moved from San Francisco 5 years ago and I could never find a good hair salon, until now. Much Mahalo to Mei, she did a great job.

Don’t show up at 7. Even though it says it closes at 8. They’ll try to come up with an excuse saying they close up with the last customer at 630.

Über Clean salon conveniently located in Kaimuki… Yosuke was amazing, although I miss Hide very much… Will mos def be back for my next trim.

I’ve always admired that perfect shade of brown Japanese women donned on their heads. With the help of Unilocal,I discovered Japan-​based salon terra by afloat. I called the salon & was set up with Mei who’s now my go-​to hair stylist! She’s easy to talk to, knowledgeable about hair care & a sweet lady who has a great sense of style.
On the day of my appointment, Mei greeted me & I signed a form regarding basic personal info, past hair treatments & the general style I wanted. Mei discussed my current hair condition & the coloring process. Before prepping for color, she offered me a complimentary glass of green tea, a small bowlful of Japanese candy & a lapful of Japanese fashion magazines to help pass the time with my hair transformation.
I’ve been back for three more sessions, each time going a shade lighter & eventually added in blonde highlights. I loved each color, but for the last session I waited too long for a retouch so my low maintenance-​ness kicked in & I went jet black with drugstore hair color, ending my affair with salon color.
Aside from color, I also had the Japanese straight perm done which has a set price of $ 310 (as of January 2014) no matter how long your hair is. It also comes with a scalp & hair treatment (add-​on service) to lock in moisture. Eight months later, my hair is still straight & silky with the help of the shampoo & conditioner Mei recommended.
My newly permed hair gave me the confidence to cut my own hair, but my failed attempt left me with a bad bang accident. Mei fixed it up by giving me wispy blunt bangs & got rid of my split, dead ends with a U-​shaped cut. I loved it! Now I’mma let this mane grow thick & luscious.

Over a year and one more digital perm treatment later, I am still happy to give Mei at Terra by Afloat 5 stars! I went back in December 2013 (10 months after my first treatment) to get a second digital perm. The first one lasted a very long time thanks to shampooing only once every two to three days with a sulfate-​free shampoo (Giovanni), a great conditioner (Kiehl’s), and a very low-​maintenance hair routine with almost no heat styling. My hair was damaged at the ends, but not noticeably more than it usually is after 10 months without a cut, which is great because my biggest concern about getting a digital perm was damage. Even towards the end of the 10 months, it still held a nice curl/​wave after styling or putting it in a bun for a few hours.
Mei and the other stylists were just as wonderful during my second visit, and I highly recommend this salon for digital perms. Once again, I paid about $ 220 base price for shampoo/​cut/​perm/​blowdry/​style, but I see on the website that «Digital Perm Only» with no shampoo/​blowdry starts at $ 160 (I’m assuming this also includes the cut, as the cut itself is essential to making the digital perm successful). Perhaps next time I will opt for that cheaper, less involved service, although that shampoo is pretty heavenly!
If you’re still balking at the price, keep in mind that my second visit was the first time in 10 months I had had any haircut/​styling, so really it’s not very expensive over the course of a year if you’re low maintenance about your cut. I plan on getting a few more maintenance trims this time around, and I imagine they will be just as good as my prior experiences here.

Chic Japanese salon that I was always curious about. I had first noticed it when I dined at Nanzan Giro Giro next door. When I found out from other Unilocalers that this place also offered Digital Perms, I wanted to try it out. I had a digital perm originally done by another salon last November 2012 and come May 2013, I wanted it re-​done. The salon is very modern and clean with great minimalistic design elements. Parking is on the street, but there are some slots right in front of the salon.
As I mentioned before, this is a Japanese salon, but the receptionists spoke perfect English and I felt right at home (I speak zero Japanese). My stylist, Hide was professional and did a fantastic job. The perm came out great and even though he spoke minimal English, we actually ended up having a pleasant, ongoing conversation.
Now (July 2013) my perm is still fantastic. I went it for a trim and a cure structure treatment which helps keep my hair healthy and help the perm last longer. I’ve even managed to recruit my husband into using their services and he is also very pleased with his haircuts.

Everyone deserved to be pampered once in awhile! Having long hair definitely is high maintenance but coming to Terra By Afloat makes it all worthwhile.
If you’re looking for a full service salon, this place does it all. I only get my haircut but what really makes this place five star worthy is how they take such good care of their clients. This shop originated in Japan and continues the same high quality service as expected.
Once you step into the six seated salon, the receptionist will take your purse and store it in the closet. Don’t be alarmed — they are only holding it for you. Your stylist will sit with you and consult the type of service you are interested in. After that, the magic begins!
My appointments are booked with Tomo because he seems to know my style and his focus to detail. Usually, he would wash, cut, blow dry, cut again (for the layered look) and then the final — style. Using my broken Japanese helped explain exactly what I was expecting. As for his English, its improved ever since I’ve been his client. If you have a picture, bring it in or browse through the Japanese magazines for a look you desire.
I noticed two other stylists who were continuously busy. They are closed every Monday and open until 8PM otherwise. If you know where «The Wedding Ring Shop» and «Chun Wah Kam» is located on Pensicola, then you’ll find Terra By Afloat in between them and on the right hand side. Parking could be tricky but I usually park in the metered stalls.
Another reason why I love this place is they never try to sell you any products. They offer make-​up and eyelash extensions too.
The price is $ 60 a cut but you’ll be walking out looking like a million bucks!