I've been trying to find a good local barber since moving from Queens and based on the reviews here, tried Sebastian's. I left with a bad haircut and a sour taste in my mouth.
When I got there, there were a few people ahead of me. The female working that day (I did not catch her name) was finishing up a customer. When she was done, a young boy was up next. As his mom took him to the chair, another barber, Corey, interjected saying he would cut the boy's hair as soon as he finished his current customer. Another person was ahead of me, so I looked at her to say you're up next, but she also said she would wait for Corey. So I headed over to the female barber.
I said I wanted a 3 on the sides and a little longer on top (pretty sure 80% of people with short hair wear this same style). She nodded but spoke broken English so asked a few confirming questions to make sure we were on the same page. Everything seemed on the right track. I can't see without my glasses so had no idea how it was going but she started to struggle once she shifted from using the clippers to using scissors. A lot of pausing and checking and changing tools. This was when I realized I made a mistake.
After about 20 minutes, she said she was finished and for me to look at my hair. Oof. It basically looked like a 90s bowl cut abruptly meeting patchy hair on the sides and barely a trim to the hair on the top of my head. The little flaps of hair in front of my ear were rounded on the right and looked like a ekg on the left. At this point I figured I'd just pay and get my old barber to fix it. I was expecting her to put a little product in my hair and then I'd go about my day. But she just took the drape off and sent me on my way.
I headed up to pay and took out my credit card. It was my mistake for not knowing it was cash only, but when the barber who did not say one full sentence to me the whole time replied in perfect English that the closest atm was at the 7-11 up the block, I got the feeling this has happened a lot before. Maybe they could make it more clear about cash only.
I headed to 7-11 for money and got a text from my wife that we needed pampers. When I got back to the shop to pay and knowing I now was not going straight home, I asked if I could get some product to put in my hair (still can't believe I had to request this...). The barber tried to sell me some product and it was clear we were talking past each other. She turned to Corey for help who explained what I wanted. I said I could do it myself but he offered to help.
Once Corey was done, I headed to my car to see how things looked in the visor mirror as I could see much better there. This is when I discovered Corey essentially glued my hair clippings to my forehead with pomade. This is the guy everyone was waiting around to cut their hair and he couldn't even get pomade in my hair nicely. Aside from that, neither he nor the other barber working (who I believe was the owner) made any effort to fix what was a pretty obviously bad haircut. I have seen my regular barber who is not the owner but more senior in his shop, stop customers from leaving if something needs to be fixed.
Overall, this was a really disappointing experience, and I would not go back. I think it was a fluke that there is a barber in the shop who is out of her depth, but given the fact that the most requested barber that day also mucked things up, I don't think a second chance is warranted. read more