I followed Jay from his previous salon when he opened Nonstop up with his partners. He also goes by "Dyno" (on their website as Dyno.X). I've visited Nonstop once the Covid-19 pandemic reopening phase allowed them to open. Earlier this year they had renovated for this brand-spanking new washbin area (for washing, rinsing, etc your hair). They also renovated the bathroom -- it's nice, and big, and clean. I have a place to rest my phone while using the bathroom, too. (Otherwise, you need to do that take-a-square-of-toilet-paper-and-rest-your-phone-on-it, thing.) Upon walking into the salon, you need to get your temperature scanned (and will be refused service if you have a fever). You need to have your mask on during service. My last visit was before the pandemic hit: back then, they would offer you a beverage and take your belongings and put them in the closet, etc. Due to the pandemic, procedures have changed a bit, so, we cannot store our belongings or get drinks, anymore. Even before the pandemic they kept the areas clean.
The stylists will help each other out, as well. They don't overcrowd the salon with an excess of assistants. They will also make sure to space out their schedules properly. Jay always lets me know ahead of time if the prior client is taking a bit more time due to the procedure he or she wanted.
As to why I followed Jay here:
I picked Jay out over 3 years ago from all the stylists in a decently-sized salon in SoHo because of his artistic sense with color. After seeing enough examples of the salon's photos, I realized all the clients whose flow of colors I liked were done by Jay. If you stare at enough photos, you could tell which ones were done by him. (Yes, I spent a lot of time staring at photos. Hey, if you're going to lay down $$$, you want to get it right.)
When I first came in, I didn't want my hair bleached -- I had never had it bleached before. But, I wanted my hair to come out an intense red. This was back when doing a balayage ombre of some type of blonde was common among Asians (I'm Asian). He warned me that red is difficult to remove later and double-checked with me several times to make sure I wanted it and if I wanted more of a red-brown. I said, no, red, and no bleach. I have really thick hair, apparently, and long hair, so the workers had to get extra red dye just for me. I walked out with red hair and no bleach having touched my strands, and, they were generous with not charging me double for the double amount of dye they had to use. (I tipped extra, at that point.)
I had to wait over a year for that to grow out because the red would absolutely not leave my hair (as he had warned me). I even experimented with another salon near Koreatown to try and tone out the red from my hair. I could still see it, however. And, that Koreatown salon's main stylist could not do proper balayage, at all. I had to immediately box dye over that job a week later.
So, when I went back to Jay after growing my hair out a bit, he had to battle all the box dye I had applied to my hair, along with the red from before. The box dye I had used was "high lift" and so it was also difficult to remove. This time I let him bleach my hair. He got the orange out from my hair from the box dye and toned out my red ends (maybe the bottom 2/3 of my hair by this point). He was always very careful with the bleach and constantly checking I did not experience pain from the bleach. He favored using lower volume bleach on my hair because he remembered from the red-hair days that my hair is porous and lifts very easily. He painted a beautiful ash brown color (I did not ask for balayage, just a single color). He also likes to take time with the styling afterward.
After that I would go back every 3 or so months to touch up the roots (if you let the roots grow to 2" or more, it makes it more difficult for the stylists due to the hot/warm root thing? I think? I'm not a hair stylist, I don't know if I'm doing the terminology justice, here). Usually one of the other Nonstop stylists helps with the back part of the head for bleach or painting. The pandemic made my roots grow into the difficult length territory, so, I'm back to giving Jay grief with my hair. Sorry, Jay. read more