Blondie A Salon

I got a voucher for a «free haircut» from our local TPI Social Services place. Well, I called again and again, and repeatedly got their ANSWERING MACHINE. When I finally did get a live person, she said to call Thursdays or Fridays after NOON (when she does haircuts).
She sounded like a has-​been haggard person — and a walk past their outdated, basement-​style so-​called «salon» only PROVED WHAT A DUMP THIS PLACE REALLY IS.
Don’t waste your time.
Save up some money and go elsewhere.
Others have told me they «do a very mediocre job» in haircutting.
Go elsewhere.

Ednita does my hair here, and she is super friendly, nice, and efficient! I’ve no complaints to date! It’s a quiet space, street parking only, but the hair cuts are super reasonable and quality!

I was visiting Portland last month, and needed to get my hair trimmed by half inch or so because it had moderately broken ends after having the last haircut about 5 months ago. This was what I exactly requested from Ron, and I added, «I have been growing my hair for long, so please do not cut over half an inch because curly hair is hard to grow.» Having said that, I lost more hair, and also ended up having my hair in a horrible style, what he described as «I am just adding layers to your hair; it doesn’t affect the length.»
Because of the weird layers he added, I have to tie my hair all the time since then. My hair was used to be almost waist-​length, and now it is on my shoulders, again, because of the bad cutting style-​adding layers. After loosing my mind for a while, I talked to another hairdresser, who seemed to be more knowledgable about styling/​cutting curly hair, who advised me to avoid layering nut rather looking for «point-​cutting» which seems to take longer time and effort.
Although he was a nice guy, and kept saying, «We are communicating very well, right?» (a phrase I read at Unilocal that convinced me to get a haircut from him), I am totally disappointed. I can’t style my hair open at all because it looks like a bird’s nest now.

My friend lives in the apartment building Blondie is located in, and every time I complained about my hairdresser, she told me to go see Ron (point of order: she DOES have really good hair. REALLY good hair). Today, after a lengthy discussion about how poorly my bangs had been cut, she took me down.
Wow.
Ron is super nice. 30 years of experience, 20 years with the same also-​amazing hair wizard business partner, and probably a whole lifetime of that big, hearty grin set him apart from everyone else. He was very understanding, warm, and professional, and asked before he made any changes to my hair. Also, his mom was there, and she was adorable. And he did my bangs for free, even when I offered to pay or tip him. And he was even really nice about me having bleached my hair myself, which hair stylists are usually jerks about. I’m never going anywhere else.

A couple months ago I had the opportunity to show my paintings in the salon for a month, and this was a very nice experience! The owner, Ron, provides free pizza and beer and pays a live musician (of your or his choice) to perform for a small art show every First Thursday. Cool!
I only give four stars because I haven’t had my hair styled there yet, and so I can’t rate the salon for its hair services!