TL;DR: This place is great! Book with Mark--he's an *artist*!…read more Longer version: My hair stylist quit the biz a few years ago to pursue a career as a therapist (so fitting, right?!) I was stoked for her! But since then, I've been adrift and searching for my hair match, trying out a new stylist for each cut. (My hair is fine but wavy with a weird cowlick, so it needs just the right layers. I had some great cuts and some so-so cuts, but never the right combo of close enough, a decent amount of availability that I'm not waiting months or driving across the bay, AND a great cut.) I tried Mark at Maru on a random rec from a friend whose daughter works at the salon--and after one cut, I feel like my search is over! The salon is very well-run and had an opening within a couple weeks. I arrived on time, was offered herbal tea, and waited under five minutes. It's in a nice spot in Berkeley with plenty of street parking with pretty cheap meters--$4. Mark asked me what I was looking for, got it right away, and was of course fun to chat with. I walked out with a cut I love for a reasonable price. I will definitely be back!

I was nervous about getting my hair done since it was such a spur of the moment thing to get a…read moretrim. My stylist, Shawn, led me through to the second area of their salon which was cool and was so detailed about doing my hair. I've never had a stylist so precise and who really took great care in making sure everything was even and cut in exactly the way I wanted. I showed him one photo, and my hair looked exactly like it after. It was definitely the longest haircut I've had and pricey as I'm not used to Bay Area prices just yet, but honestly, so worth it.

Itzel, in bullet points:…read more * Dedicated, hardworking and incredibly detailed-oriented * Takes pride in the sophisticated hair-coloring craft and never rushed the process * Asked me to send photos of the ash blonde highlights I had in the past that I liked to make sure the color formulation is done right. Ended up creating a slightly cooler tone that works even better for me personally * Spent HOURS on my hair waiting for the highlights to come out properly * Recommended salon toner treatment and silver shampoo to maintain the ash tones I like * Warm, friendly and easy to talk to but also extremely competent and informative. I learned a lot from her during the appointment * Focused on long-term hair health and maintenance not just the service that day. Also knowledgeable about curly hair which for me personally can be a real struggle * Made what could have been a routine salon maintenance appointment into a genuinely enjoyable experience. And if anyone from the salon is reading this: Promote her, give her a raise or clone her! I've been frequenting dozens of high end hair salons in the Bay Area (primarily San Francisco) and I can say with certainty - stylists like her are hard to find.

This was one of the worst haircuts of my life! I got the opposite of what I wanted and my hair…read moresurprisingly became 6 inches shorter than what was agreed to. Prior to coming here, I had my hair cut in Paris. This was the best haircut of my life. Long layers that eventually grew down to waist length. I described what I wanted (my hairstyle for years): cut to mid-boob length, with long layers starting from just above my chin (using my hands to gesture at height), plus thinning throughout because most hairdressers have described my hair as one of the thickest they've ever seen. What I got was a sideway somewhat uneven lob with no layers that ended at the bottom of my neck. This looks especially bad with my thick hair and on days when my hair is particularly voluminous and poofy I feel like a yeti. It will probably take another 6 months for my hair to grow back! I deserve to have my $160 compensated back to me for harm done. I'm so traumatized from this experience that I might go back to cutting my own hair as I did during COVID. When I asked why the length was so short, the hairstylist said this was better than what I wanted. Having already sat through a 1.5h haircut and knowing that long layers were not possible anymore, I didn't complain any further and just wanted to get out of there. I'll add to this that my hairstylist had some unsavory political opinions that should probably be kept private, in Berkeley of all places. I'm not coming back here.

I'm always thrilled with my creative cuts and color from Sam, BJ, and Larisa. Prices are fair too.read more

Came here for the first time. I recently moved here to Berkeley, and have been looking for a new…read morespot to get a haircut. I was recommended this place. It was a great experience! Staff was friendly, service was thorough and my barber kept making sure I felt good about the progress. Great place I will be making my regular spot!

Had a wonderful experience at Lhasa! I got a dry cut by Biyan(?) (did not know spelling) for $35…read more She was very careful and attentive to the details during the cut and made sure I liked the length and layering. It was a very relaxing experience and I would go again if I need a cut. Very reasonable pricing too Made an appointment online but they take walkins (there could be be a 20 min wait though). They have two chairs.

Ogi and her sister continue to give me great dry cut precision haircuts for years. Both my husband…read moreand I recommend this peaceful reasonably priced salon to our friends operated by Ogi and her sister. Walks in welcome but appointments appreciated. Their clients walk out with a feel good smile on their faces. That says it all....happy repeat customers.

Best hair experience! Reena is outstanding! Knowledgable, experienced and really formed my hair…read moreinto its most beautiful state! If you want your best hair experience- go here! Thank you again, Reena! You're truly the BEST!

Jo has been doing my hair for almost 10 years, and I could not recommend her more! She's helped me…read morefigure out how to best enhance my natural hair while also giving me freedom to try new things and experiment. I always walk out of the salon happy. I Jo!

Absolute perfection!! Emily took all of my curly hair concerns into consideration. She made my…read morefrizzball head into a luscious mane! I highly recommend her if you need a curly hair cut, she knows wassup. Very considerate of how I was feeling about the cut and she took her time. This was my first time at Salon La Luz, and I will definitely be coming back!

Rebecca is a hair whisperer. I've only to say, it's gotten too big, do something! and she'll start…read morein with her snips and spins me around -- I'm new again. Her salon is a warm hug, luscious natural light, great conversations, wonderful soundtrack, friendly staff and clientele. And then there's Thor, kind eyes and a tail wag!

I'd been in Berkeley for three weeks straight, about two weeks past my last haircut, and the…read moresituation was becoming untenable. I was not scheduled to return to LA for several more weeks. We were having an 87-degree day in West Berkeley, which -- for those unfamiliar -- is hot for West Berkeley, a neighborhood where the default setting is breezy and cloudy and lovely and sixty-three degrees, the kind of microclimate that lets you own one jacket and never think about it. Eighty-seven degrees in West Berkeley is an event. Eighty-seven degrees with hair that's two weeks past due is a crisis. I have Asian hair. I've written about this before. It is coarse and thick and grows outward like a porcupine asserting its personal space, and my coping mechanism in Los Angeles was to throw $85 at a hipster barbershop every three weeks to make it stop. This worked in the way that all expensive coping mechanisms work -- reliably, but at a cost that quietly compounds until one day you do the annual math and feel ill. 2026 being what it is, and a dollar these days being asked to do about a dollar forty's worth of work, I needed a new tack. I asked an AI assistant for a good cheap haircut in Berkeley and got several suggestions, which I then searched on Yelp -- yes, the very Yelp you are looking at, imagine that -- for reviews. One thing I noticed about La Petite was that people mentioned Asian women cutting hair there, and the photos confirmed it. I had a thought, the kind of thought that sounds reductive when you say it out loud but is grounded in lived experience: Asian women probably know how to deal with hair like mine. This is not a stereotype. This is pattern recognition developed over decades of watching non-Asian barbers stare at my head with the quiet bewilderment of someone asked to solve a math problem in a language they don't speak. No shade intended, just facts. So I gave La Petite a go. You watch closely when someone new is cutting your hair. You can't help it. You're tracking every snip in the mirror, reading their hands the way you'd read a stranger's driving in the first five minutes of a road trip -- are we safe here, does this person know what they're doing, should I have said something three turns ago. About halfway through, I watched her take volume out of my hair in a way that hadn't been done in years -- not just trimming the length but actually understanding the architecture of thick Asian hair, where the bulk lives, how it falls, how it will eventually grow out, where it needs to be thinned so it lies flat instead of projecting horizontally from your skull like it's staging a protest. She knew. I knew she knew. I had my new stylist. Twenty-eight dollars. Twenty-eight dollars, and I walked out with the best haircut I've had in longer than I'd like to admit. That's $57 left over from what I was paying in LA -- enough to buy groceries, or three martinis at happy hour, or a pizza at June's, or whatever you buy when you realize you've been dramatically overpaying for a basic human service because you confused a cool neighborhood and exposed brick with competence. La Petite has neither exposed brick nor a cocktail menu. What it has is someone who looked at my difficult hair and knew exactly what to do with it, which is the only thing that has ever mattered and the only thing I'm paying for from now on.

I went to get a haircut Friday afternoon for a special occasion and showed them exactly what I…read morewanted: a classic Ben Affleck Bruce Wayne-style haircut with regular-sized sideburns, just like the character. They asked me if I was graduating, and I said no, I was meeting my fiancée's mom the next day. Five minutes before the haircut was finished, the stylist took a big chunk off my right sideburn. She cut it too high, which ruined the whole haircut, especially since my face shape doesn't suit short sideburns. I told her I didn't like it. I didn't overreact or yell, I was just uncomfortable. The hairdresser said, "Too bad!" and tried to dismiss the issue. I told her again that she should have asked me about the length. She then took it personally and told her boss that I was making things up so I wouldn't pay, saying, "They do this so they don't pay." What do you mean by "they"? Not only did I feel dismissed and treated unprofessionally, but also disrespected. I was upset after the whole situation, but even then I was willing to pay and didn't want to leave without paying because I didn't want to prove her point. Plus, it's not that expensive. At the end, the stylist said she had 40 years of experience. Well, after this, it feels like you wasted 40 years and somehow skipped the basics of customer service. Not coming back, even after being offered a free haircut. I would rather pay three times what I paid today for a standard service where you're treated with basic courtesy.

Been going here for a year and am so sad I have to leave when I graduate because Helen is the BEST!…read moreHer experience and skill is amazing and she's just the sweetest. I love coming here and am going to miss it so much. It's also really affordable. I ask for layers and curtain bangs and it was around $40-45. It always grows out so pretty too. Highly recommend!!

I called as soon as they opened and had an appointment for an hour later. I saw Kim and she gave me…read moreexactly what I wanted. I told her I'm willing to go as short as I need to to get my dead ends off, I wanted face framing layers, a U shaped cut and another long layer in the back. She recommended to not do a layer in the back because my hair is very thin. My hair came out great. I paid $65 because I added a shampoo and blow dry to my service. Please remember when you book here, a shampoo and blow dry is not included with a haircut. To give you an idea, I told Kim over the phone my hair is to the middle of my back and she said it would be $40-45 without shampoo and blow dry.