Elite Hair Design

I love Tommy! My mom, sisters and I have been coming here for years. Tommy does exactly what you want. If you want an inch off, he’ll take only an inch off. Not 1.5 inches, not 2, not 3. He always takes his time and never rushes no matter how packed the salon is.

I’ve had my hair cut here for many years. Tom’s sense of style is impeccable to me; I have never left here unhappy with my haircut. I love what he does with my hair every single time. The shop can be crowded at times but he’s very accommodating with walk-​ins and such.
It’s his wife that usually does the hair rinse (of wash if you want). I usually don’t have a picture in hand to show what I want but a quick description would be enough for him. From multiple layers to short hair cuts, he’s done everything that I’ve always asked for. He works fairly quickly but with care and detail. When I had my Junior and Senior prom back in high school, I came here to have my hair done (curls one time and a half-​up do another). I was worried that the half– up do would make me look a bit too old for my dress, but he made it work wonderfully. A few glittery pins from him really pulled the whole look with my dress together.
I typically come to get my hair cut every 6 month to a year and he’s always remembers what I like. For a girl, haircuts are typically fairly expensive but I can always count on spending under $ 20 here.
Final Thoughts: I’ve never left here not loving my hair. Probably in a few years, I’d want him to do my hair for my wedding!

This is a one-​cut-​fits-​all kind of place.
It started off bad right away with the girl shampooing used her nails scrubbing my scalp raw the whole time.
I showed the hair stylist a photo of what I wanted. He barely glanced at it and said, «Is that it?» and started going to town like Edward Scissors Hands. Way too fast for me to even mouth «nooooooooo!»
The result is similar to what I wanted, just generic and missing all the details of my carefully, painfully chosen image which he didn’t study at all. And the styling was horrible. I had to wash it out later.
Then, when I went to pay he informed me that he doesn’t take credit cards. I told him he should change that on Unilocal and he just shrugged it off. I told him that was important for customers to know and he said that what they say on Unilocal isn’t up to him. Which may be true, but his attitude was dismissive. So I had to walk to a bank and return.
The guy definitely seems to have a lot of experience and operates intuitively, almost on auto-​pilot. That can be a really good thing if you’re in a hurry, are in for a maintenance cut, or are happy with something conventional. But if you think design is in the details like me, then I’d avoid the place.
Anyway, if you go be prepared with cash — DOES NOT TAKE CREDIT CARDS.

I usually like to do my research before I select a hair salon but I decided to be spontaneous today and just walked right in! It’s definitely a hole in the wall and my initial impression was — my hair might get fucked up. But, when the hair stylist said he had 27 years of hair cutting experience, I was reassured and thus, felt less anxious.
In fact, I LOVE my haircut! The stylist took his time and knew exactly what he was doing. :) It ONLY cost 17 bucks too! I didn’t think that expense exist anymore! Anyway, I’m definitely coming back!
By the way, fancy hair salons are overrated.

Had one of the worst haircuts of my life here. Made a same-​day appointment for myself after work. Got there and the place looked like it was closing down. After waiting 10 minutes after my appt time a nice lady set up me in a chair and then went in the back. Then this guy (50-​something with bags under his eyes and going bald) walks in from smoking and asks me how I want it done. After I tell him, he starts going Benihana on my head, whacking it with a comb and the clippers like a chef with two spatulas. And he stinks of cigarettes because he didn’t wash his hands after smoking. Disgusting. So he rushes through it all because it’s near closing and I think it looks decent enough so I pay. But when I got home I realized he did a messy job on the back of my head/​neck, shaving some and leaving the rest (see the pic). For a mens haircut, this is just not my place. Maybe the other stylists are better but this guy was terrible. I don’t care if it’s closing soon, you don’r rush through a haircut.

A couple years ago, I decided it was time to venture back into the hair salon scene and the first place recommended to me was Elite Hair Design. It is about $ 20 for a women’s hair cut/​wash, and I was thrilled by the meticulous work Tom performed every single time. My usual is getting my side bangs trimmed along with the layering of my hair. Once Tom knows your request, he does his magic and I leave as a happy customer. Super simple, and no frills.
The only negative is the wait time which can be about 15 to 20 minutes. I advise you to call ahead of time to see if he has a heavy load of customers that day before going in.

Wow, I made an 11:30 appointment to get my hair cut. When I walked in, a woman tells me that she was a walk-​in customer but she had been waiting for awhile, so if I wanted to get my haircut with Tom, I was after her. First of all, why is this lady even talking to me? Well, I responded that I had made an appointment, so after he finished his current customer, I assume I was next. I then asked, who I assume was Tom because he greeted me by saying «sit»), if I would be getting my haircut next. He asked what time my appointment was at (weird question since I scheduled my appointment with him), I told him 11:30 (and it was 11:30 at the time we were having this conversation), he told me I would have to wait 45 minutes to 1 hour to get my haircut and the walk-​in customer was going to get her hair colored first. I told him «no thanks» and left.
This is just bad business. He could have called me to cancel or reschedule, or he could have made the walk-​in customer wait. This would have been my first hair cut at Elite Hair Design, and I was hoping to make it my regular salon due to the nice reviews and the location close to my job. You just lost a customer.

The cheaper salon across the street had a long wait so my boyfriend and I came here instead for the $ 15 haircut (men). The cut was fairly quick (less than 15 minutes) and looked good. Still a fairly inexpensive good backup if the usual $ 8 places are packed.
(We had Tom)

i love tom! i’m always happy after getting my hai cut from him. the place is sometimes busy so call ahead before coming in :)

This is a great place to get a great and inexpensive hair cut! It’s not a fancy upscale place, but Tom always does a great job! He is a very experience hair stylist. I usually bring in a picture or tell him what I want and he is able to do it. Come early in the morning when they first open to avoid the lines… he is high in demand!

Tom is a good stylist. He will listen to how you want your hair.
Only downside is that the wait can be long, and the owner along with the other workers tend to be a little rude.
Bottom line is that its cheap, & go to Tom.

It’s in Chinatown so this place has to compete with the really cheap barber shops which means amazing prices for you.
This place is own by Tom and his sister and they are professional stylists and always do a good job. Also they’re open minded and willing to experiment and do what you want.
The only thing is that they sometimes get extremely busy and it might get frustrating because their guestimations aren’t so accurate. Just tell them to reserve you a spot and go get boba or something.

It’s been a while since I last Unilocaled and it is nice to be back. After much deliberation, I decided I needed to get rid of my long hair in the spirit of summer, saving shower time, and a change.
Originally intended to donate 8 inches to the Pantene program, I actually got 10.5 inches cut off. So they can’t measure right it seems… And she kept cutting/​thinning… can’t really tell but I just knew hair was falling fast. Before I knew it, I walked out with 13.5 inches less hair, from the original goal of 8 inches less.
SO WHY FOUR STARS?
Because she did an excellent job. I had such a drastic change and was expecting a disaster (sort of), but came out with short hair (shortest since 3^rd grade!) that I was actually HAPPY with, even though I didn’t expect it to be that short.
So all in all, they know how to make your hair nice. If they can take my very long, VERY VERY thick, hair work, they have some skills. I’m glad to have found my asian hair cut place here.
Oh, and it’s cheap! $ 17 for my long hair; $ 15 for initially shorter hair. At the end of the day, I didn’t even spend $ 20 after tip!
BTW, CASH ONLY.

I really like this place. 3 main reasons:
1. Cheap
2. Very experienced stylist, Tom
3. Willing to fix your haircut for free if you don’t like the cut
My aunt from Oklahoma owns a salon and she is an experienced hairstylist for over 20 years. She is a great hairstylist and well-​known in Tulsa. She is constantly looking for someone who is able to give her a good haircut. Her sister-​in-​law was also a very experienced hairstylist for over 20 years; however, do to a current accident she no longer can work. During my aunt’s visit to California, my aunt’s sister-​in-​law took her to this place «Elite Hair Design.»
Afterward, my aunt gave numerous of compliments to Tom, one of Elite’s hairstylists. She said «Tom really knows how to cut hair.» Therefore, I visited the place and I love my haircut. I use to have hair almost down to my waist line; you can see Tom’s work in one of my profile picture wearing a white dress. I also got highlights; the only thing I wasn’t that excited about was that the highlights didn’t touch my root as close as I wanted it to. My cut and highlights cost me around $ 70. NOT BAD AT ALL!!!
I also brought my co-​worker to get her haircut here. She is white with very full long hair. Tom charged her $ 30, because of her hair texture and length. She was very happy with her cut and wants to go back. She use to live in Italy and she said Tom is not bad at all compare to her favorite Italian hairstylist in Italy. She said «Tom knows what he is doing.»
So in my review, you actually got 3 individuals’ feedback about Elite Hair Design. Hope this is helpful. :)

I’ve come here a total of 3 times for a hair cut. How I found this place? I walked into a random salon in Oakland Chinatown — where hair cuts are supposed to be cheap.
Experience 1) hair cut was good and cheap. Simple layers and I came out looking fine, not too fobby.
Experience 2) because of the good from experience 1, I thought I had found a place I could go for a quick relayering. I referred my best friend and we decided to do a quick spur of the moment hair re-​design. (big mistake 1). I chose to have my hair highlighted and not cut (they did a reasonably good job but it was a little pricier than I had thought for an asian salon– $ 90). My best friend decided to wave-​perm her hair (big mistake 2) and cut (big mistake 3). I advised her that I thought it might be a good and cute change (big mistake 4). After all is said and done, she came out looking like a big mistake (#5). She got it fixed, I personally didn’t think it looked as bad as she thought, but it hadn’t been cut right and I had to be her moral support because I was somewhat guilty of making the mistake of not talking her out of getting a wave perm that turned a little too HK FOB for us both.
Experience 3) despite my friends horrible experience, I still went back because I needed a quick layer. This time the guy charged me $ 30 and he didn’t even fully cut my bangs, he left them looking like a shaggy dog. I understand a long hair hair cut is more than the normal, but usually it’s like 5 dollars more not $ 15!
I don’t live by oakland anymore so I won’t be going here most likely anymore, but if all you’re looking for is a quick trim, this place could get the job done, but then so could super cuts and if you went there, you’d have money left to grab a bbq pork bun after too.