Upper Hand

I had an extremely unpleasant experience at this salon. I arrived early to my appointment, which I've had scheduled for almost a month. I ended up waiting for 20 minutes with no one coming out to tell me anything about how much longer I was going to have to wait. I went to the desk to ask what was happening and the receptionist was extremely, extremely rude to me.

She said I needed to wait "5 more minutes" (so 25-30 minutes past my appointment time). I asked if I needed to reschedule since my stylist was still with someone else and the receptionist informed me that if I did that I would be charged a cancellation fee and responsible for my stylist "not getting paid for the rest of her day". I was blown away by how rude she was being.

I asked why I would be charged a cancelation fee when I was on time (i was actually 15 minutes early!) to my appointment and had been waiting for 25 minutes? Finally, the receptionist said she actually can't charge my card for this but I would be ruining the stylists day. She said "yeah my thing is you would still be done at 3pm so you're not going to be behind so." So this to me means the stylist is going to rush through my hair to get me out of there "on time." I told her I didn't feel comfortable and was leaving.

She offered not one single apology during the entire interaction for my wait time. I'm not sure why she chose to be so incredibly rude to me when I'm the one that was sitting waiting for 20+ minutes. I think every woman knows that letting someone work on your hair is something that involves major trust. So I no longer felt comfortable at all to let anyone there work on my hair when they couldn't even bother to show me baseline kindness and respect. A single "I'm sorry you've been waiting" would have gone a long way here.

Long is the absolute sweetest and caring hair stylist, and I recommend her to everyone! She puts a lot of thought and care into what the client wants and does everything she can to achieve your hair goals. Long was able to transform my extremely dark black Asian hair into a beautiful brunette-blonde balayage in one session, all while maintaining my hair health!

She will also recommend you the best hair products fit for your needs and budget and checks up on your hair status between appointments. She also answers all of your questions and concerns and gives you thorough explanations on how to maintain your hair, style it, and how to use your products. If you want a personable and genuine hair stylist for life, book with Long!

My stylist, Long N, worked with me twice, and she never fails to deliver. She is attentive to what I want and does her best to prevent damage to my hair (stylists add bond builder to the bleach and toner). She did a complete color correction and silver balayage for me! Services: Haircut, Hair coloring, Hairstyling, Balayage

A great first experience in the salon, where I requested a consultation with stylist to explain my needs, discuss the possible procedures and in accordance to it the cost of it. The front desk staff is nice. The stylist Katerina Ace assisted me. In a very warmth way she understood my hair needs, about color and haircut. I wanted to get rid of an orange tone in the blond and also wanted a manageable hair style; she explained the option of adding highlights with neutralizing component using also a toner post-coloring. she was available to work on it when we talked, and I was eager to make the change: The procedure was done in a very caring, smooth and professional way, explaining at all times each step. after rapping the strains of hair for the highlights, she simultaneous worked on my roots. later, the shampoo and toner application was super relaxing with a massage. The haircut and style great! I love the hair color My next appointment will be with Katerina. I highly recommend her. She is beautiful inside and outside. Thank you Katerina

Long is such a sweetheart and absolutely passionate about what she does. She specializes in transforming dark Asian hair and knows Asian hair well along with all the struggles of coloring it. I went to her for a full balayage from virgin hair and she was able to give me a beautiful ashy blonde and silver tone. At first, my hair was too bright and yellow for me, so we went back for another round of toning to achieve exactly what I wanted.

She is so patient and so willing to work with her clients to fix anything until they're happy. She also gave great recommendations for hair products, curling tips, and color maintenance. Will definitely be going back to her and recommending her to all my friends!

Cecilia is amazing! If you have any sort of unconventional hair situation (even coarse hair that's hard to work with), I highly recommend her. She went above and beyond to make sure I was completely happy with my hair extensions and haircut, and she even squeezed me into her schedule when I wanted an earlier appointment. Super, super happy with my results :-)

Quality of service is pretty good. The experience and overall work done was sufficient. I left satisfied with my hair. However, and this is a BIG however, they will slap you with a MAJOR price that is unlike your quote/estimate. Walked in wanting to lighten my hair a bit (which I realize can be. huge task, so I thought I'd spend $250 at the most) and left with over a $500 bill.

Still in shock and feeling really taken advantage of. Just because your work quality is adequate and you're in a higher income area does not justify false quotes and obscene pricing. My hair looks good- but not $500 good. Yeesh.

I booked an appointment here with Amanda for cut, color and highlights. This was my first time at The Upper Hand and I had heard great things online about the salon so I was pretty excited. Well, my experience was the total opposite. I brought a photo of what I wanted my cut & color to look like to show her and the first thing she did was criticize the color.

During the appointment she told me all the problems she was having in her life and she was extremely distracted. Well, all of that was apparent when she finished because my hair looked NOTHING like the photo I brought along. Soooo disappointing. You would think spending $450.00 on a cut & color would guarantee professionalism and a beautiful end result but sadly that is not the case here.

Payton did exactly what I asked for. I showed her a picture and she made it happen beautifully. I had had two poor experiences with previous salons before I gave in and just picked the best spot in town. Worth it! Beautiful highlights with Shadow roots and layered bob!

Lorenzo is by far the best hair stylist I have ever had! I am so blessed to be a client of his. He is an absolute color genius, especially blondes! I drive from The Woodlands to see him and will follow him wherever he goes! He is such an anointed and gifted artist, go see him! Lorenzo, you are absolutely amazing! Service: Hair colouring

I was quoted $120 on the phone but charged $350 after services. Here is what happen. Receptionist quoted me $120-$350 for a Brazilian blowout depending on which stylist. I said I'll go with whoever charges $120 to save $$ while being fully prepared to get total rookie and having to chop all my hair off after. After the appointment, same receptionist I talked to on the phone wanted to charge me $350 and denied telling me $120 over the phone.

The many excuses were: 1. The stylist can change their price at anytime. 2. Yes, the website says the Brazilian blowout is $120-350, but no one ever charges $120. 3. They offer two types of Brazilian Blowouts one that lasts only 30 days, which could have been the misunderstanding (well, that would make sense if the stylist gave me the 30 day one). 4.

The Brazilian blowout takes 120 min. Maybe I heard wrong and thought she said it cost $120. Really? Receptionist needs to just admit she made a mistake when quoting over the phone and management needs to take the hit and just absorb the $250. I paid $350 and left because I felt the stylist should still get compensated.

PATRICE is amazing! The Frenchman from NYC, was randomly matched with my daughter for her appt. He was the perfect stylist for my uber picky teen! He knew exactly how to correct a home version of curtain bangs, and then added gentle layers throughout without thinning it out. There's movement and it's so pretty. Please see pictures. PATRICE uses master scissor technique, knows how to blow dry thicker/denser hair very well with the typical round boar bristle brush and spent a good 10minutes doing a consult with my kid, looking at pics and videos that she had found online as samples of what she wanted.

Will definitely return with my 2 other daughters and for myself! We are New Yorkers that spent the last 6 years in Asia and then the SF bay area. We have had many cuts, perms, up-dos, color, processes, etc. We arrived in Houston in June and have yet to figure out which salon we would like to call home. my teenager checked YELP and google reviews, ratings, pics and made her own appointment.

The only thing is that there weren't any prices listed on the website. Still, I figured, it was Houston, and it should be okay. $112 for shampoo/wash, cut, blowout/style is fairly normal if you break it down to about $60/cut + $25 shampoo $25 blowout. But when you first hear that your haircut is over $100, you def do a double take! :) but it's inclusive of all the services listed above and personalized attention.

Our appt was at 3:30 for a cut and we had till 5:00 of undivided attention with PATRICE. Lastly, the receptionist (with a broken foot) was super friendly, and offered us a variety of drinks and brought us a Diet Coke. The place is beautiful and aesthetically pleasing with plenty of parking.

I was told about a more expensive permanent smoothing treatment that would be better than the one I normally get. After getting this treatment, my hair is in worse quality and I have over 4 inches of fried heat damaged hair. I have never minded spending a lot on my hair because it has always turned out good here. But this time, I spent over 700 bucks including my tip only to get damaged, fried hair. I think that alone should have at least warranted being reimbursed the up charge for treatment I was told was going to be so much better.

Ali is amazing! Wanted to go from black/dark brown to platinum silver before my wedding and she gave me realistic expectations and made sure I understood the whole process. She ended up lightening my hair a couple shades and I decided to wait on the silver. I came back a couple months later to do a cut and finally go with the silver and it came out AMAZING. It cost an arm and a leg but I think it's worth it considering how good Ali is at what she does.

Indiana does great with extensions.these are 18 in tape ins.she blends them in so well you cant see where my hair is

I absolutely love working specifically with Patrice for my hair - I go in mostly for color - a really difficult red with hues of orange and brilliant shine. First met Patrice when I had a terrible color experience with a bad quality salon - he fixed the color, helped even out the unbalanced cut and followed my color requests. he perfects it more every time I go.

Red is hard to work with but he doesn't stop until you're happy with the outcome! He will dedicate as much time as necessary to get it done right - highly recommend this color master for your hair color or style needs!

After trying out a few Houston salons, The Upper Hand in River Oaks is by far the best. Michael Shayne has given me a Brazilian blowout and put highlights in my hair. Both times he did an amazing job and he is very nice! I highly recommend using him. It is a bit pricey but you get what you pay for. Services: Highlights, Hair colouring

I've been with my wonderful hair stylist, Kacia Cowan, for over 4 years, and I'll never leave her. She's so wonderful with hair and she's so passionate about her job and her clients. She always delivers the best results and does not let you leave the chair until you are satisfied and feeling beautiful. She is a great hair therapist too lol. I sit down in her chair and all my problems and concerns come gushing out and she always has a positive word and moral support to give.

I not only feel beautiful when I leave her chair, I feel emotionally better too. She always claims she's OCD about hair, and the perfection that she applies to her work SHOWS! I got my mom, sister-in-law, and several of my friends as her regular clients. She does hair cuts, hairstyles for events, hair coloring, balayage treatments, hair extensions, and more!

Call the Upper Hand Salon in River Oaks and ask for Kacia! You'll find a hair stylist and friend for life! Her professional instagram account is @kaciacowanartistry Take a look at her work, give her a follow, and make an appointment with her!