Hair Salons
Ground-floor studio on Minoru Boulevard between Lansdowne and Richmond Centre, handy if you work downtown Richmond. Cuts, color and styling by appointment, with transit and mall parking both a couple of minutes away.
Anyone working in downtown Richmond can reach this salon on foot at lunch or straight after five, which is most of the argument for it. Backstage Hair Studio sits in the band of ground-floor commercial along Minoru Boulevard, one block west of No. 3 Road, past the civic buildings and Minoru Park. The services are the standard set of cuts, color and styling, booked in advance.
Minoru is the street people forget about. It carries a slice of commercial life that serves the offices and the towers rather than the shopping crowd, which gives the businesses along it a quieter rhythm than anything on the No. 3 Road strip. Lansdowne and Richmond Centre are both a couple of minutes away, and the Canada Line runs the length of the corridor, so access is the easy part.
Access is also the only part of the decision that can be judged from outside. The work itself is a relationship with a specific stylist, and no page on the internet can tell you whether the two of you will get on. What is worth knowing is that walk-in capacity across the whole city is thin, and salons here book out further than people expect around the lunar new year and through wedding season. Ring and book properly rather than turning up on spec. If you are after a color correction or anything technical, describe it on the phone rather than at the chair, once the appointment length has already been set.
In the City Centre neighbourhood of Richmond.
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Other hair salons and nearby businesses in the Richmond directory.
Small street-level studio on Elmbridge Way near the Canada Line, open four days a week. Cuts and color plus hair weaves and permanent straightening, which is the reason most people phone ahead rather than drop in.
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Saba Road salon a short walk from Richmond-Brighouse station, popular for creative color and lived-in blonde work. Appointment-based and on the smaller side, so it feels more like a private studio than a mall chair.
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Japanese-trained stylists working out of a quiet Saba Road unit just off No. 3 Road. Cuts, perms, balayage and color correction are the core of the book, plus scalp and hair treatments. Open Tuesday to Sunday, with visitor parking in the building.
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A small No. 3 Road salon built around color work, from single-process tints to correction jobs people bring in from elsewhere. Appointments also include scalp massage and deep conditioning, so a color visit runs long rather than rushed.
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Japanese-style salon in the newer Capstan Way towers, best known locally for its head spa treatments alongside standard cut, color and straightening packages. Expect long combined appointments rather than a quick in-and-out trim.
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Third-floor Aberdeen Square salon run in the Japanese style, where the same shop does your haircut and your lashes. Women's cuts start around $68 and men's around $63, with keratin lash lifts and flat lash extension sets also on the menu.
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