Corine's Salon in Stevens Point, WI

No longer interested in her (the owner's) services.....Upon reading another review from a fellow person of color regarding the racism that they had encountered with the owner, I am no longer interested in pursuing her business for a cut. It is even more apparent that the review was truthful as she jumped in with a comment in panicked defense "she has many racially diverse friendships". No thank you.

If I could give her zero stars I would. She was rude and didn't listen to anything I said. She did what she wanted, butchered my hair and cut it all off! She's a platform stylist, nothing more. I had to go to another salon to get what little there was left fixed. She shouldn't be in business dealing with other humans! This is not the place to go if you want good service or a good haircut!

Proving to me that racial discrimination is alive and well in small-town America, the most humiliating experience I've ever had took place at Corine's Salon. I've included a review of the very last time I visited this place, and to serve as a warning to potential customers. When I arrived for my haircut with my girlfriend, the only hairdresser there was the owner of the salon, Corine, and the only other customer there was an elderly lady. I waited for ten minutes for my haircut, which is understandable as she was running a little late attending to the elderly lady. As I sat down for my haircut, Corine and I began to make small-talk regarding Christmas, and the weather. She asked how I would like my hair done, and I told her somewhere in between long and short. Meanwhile, the elderly lady moved to the waiting area. As soon as I began coughing, (here I should mention that I am an asthmatic) Corine instantly leaped back in a dramatic fashion, and began demanding to know if I was sick, to which I replied that it was the cold. She had an irritated look on her face, and began making wild jabs with her scissors resulting in an uneven haircut. In retrospect, I assume that she had made a connection between my being sick and the bird-flu virus, since I am Chinese. We did not talk for a while after that, though when my girlfriend simply asked "Do you do hair for special occasions?", Corine snapped back in a harsh manner "Hon, I don't work on Saturdays." At first, I thought that she seemed harsh, but reasoned with myself that I had misread the situation. Later though, when I discussed this with my girlfriend, we both agreed that we felt racist undertones to the whole situation. I could not contain coughing, but tried to control myself as I felt the tension in the air. After coughing a few times, Corine stepped back, dropped her scissors, and insisted that she could not continue as she did not want to get infected. When I responded that I was asthmatic, she kept on repeating angrily for me to speak up, although I was speaking clearly. Finally she relented, and continued cutting my hair, although she made a cruel joke about not wanting to get infected from me and pass it on to her customers. After she hastily and quickly ended the haircut in silence, she asked me what I thought. I suggested that I would like the front of my hair to be thinned out a little, and the hair not to touch my ears, and this is when she got really upset. She raised her voice, and began insisting that this was what I had asked for, and that she would not continue cutting my hair. I quietly sat and listened as she complained about me. She continued on to say that I should not be getting a haircut when I was sick, and that she "did not have time for this". I was not sure if she was serious, so I replied half-jokingly that my hair was "a work in progress", to which she instantly pulled out a razor, and began making wild lashes at my head without really looking. She then pulled off my apron, and demanded that I leave immediately, followed by "I do not want your money, just get out". I did not want the situation to turn ugly, but was mostly just confused. At this point, my hair was in a complete mess. I took out my wallet, and calmly asked how much the total was. She began yelling at me to get out, and to "never come back again", to which I calmly and quietly replied: "I won't." On the way out, I was berated by both the elderly lady customer and Corine herself. The latter repeating not to come back, and the former insisting that I "thank" Corine for the "free" haircut. I was just so stunned by the entire experience, that I did not even have time to react in any manner, except leave. If the reason she was upset was about making the other lady wait, I would have been more than happy to have waited till she attended to the elderly lady again (if need be), instead of just being kicked out like that. It was such a badly cut haircut, that we drove to another nearby salon to get another one done. There, the hairdresser, even commented on how uneven my hair looked without any prompting. Of the entire experience, I can say that my girlfriend and I were both shocked and stunned at our treatment. The entire experience left us with a bad taste, and I myself felt like I had been subjected to a public humiliation, with clear undertones of racial discrimination, and a refusal to either finish the haircut, or for future appointments (which I would not even begin to consider, regardless).