Michael Wallace Hair Design in Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA

Michael was highly recommended by a curly colleague five or ten years ago and I have been seeing him religiously every four months since. Initially, my hair was one of the things I hated most about my appearance. It would look unkempt, tired and frizzy no matter how much time I spent on it. These days, I love how alive and healthy it is with no effort required - wash, towel dry, put in some cream and leave it alone for the rest of the week! I'm a shy introvert, but my hair's personality has been unleashed and I call it my proud lioness mane. And it receives many compliments. Through the various salons that Michael has worked at and house calls during the pandemic, he always seemed to have an intuition about my mood and he'll be soothing and offer a shoulder and scalp massage when I'm exhausted or we'll laugh until we tear up a little when I'm refreshed. Do your hair a favor and treat it to Michael's talents!

Michael is an artist and extremely skillful. I used to go to him in the salon and always left happy with my hair. My first time, I arrived 30 minutes late and he couldn't cut my hair because he would not be able to do give me the full service. I respected that and rescheduled. I went back and I've never gone to someone else. He takes his time, listens, and uses his artistic eye to create a style that fits you and looks great. Today, he visited my home and cut my hair as well as my husband's, daughter's, and son's. Everyone was pleased with his work. Michael is always the utmost professional, but also makes you comfortable and feel pampered.

Great experience, start to finish! Michael is an artist! And a delightful conversationalist, too! I'm a "curly girl," I was looking for a Deva cut (dry curl cut) and some kind of conditioning. Michael first explained his vision, needless to say a bit different from mine, but I listened and was persuaded, thank goodness! He is a sculptor! Michael carefully cut each curl family, then conditioned and treated my hair, and finally added styling gel--a must for thin tight curls--and dried! I left the salon with shiny curls and a big smile. I already booked my next appointment. Need I say more? Oh, and very reasonable pricing.

I was excited to try and find someone local to do my deva cuts. However, I won't be back to get my hair done by Michael who works at Heidi's salon in Carmel. I have never met a stylist so rude. I made an appointment for highlight touch ups and a deva cut . I wanted to have a conversation with him about his thoughts on getting my touch up highlights because I wasn't sure if it wasn't something I should do . He automatically was defensive and got angry that he blocked time for the highlights and I was uncertain. I told him I can get them done but just wanted to know his thoughts about getting more at the top of my head and if he can do a similar color. He decided he didn't want to do the highlights on my hair. I should have told him I was uncertain prior to the appointment. However he didn't need to be so rude because of my uncertainty. I felt like he was annoyed with me and didn't want to do my hair /wanted me gone. He even handed me my own styling product to put in myself . I normally feel good after getting my hair done but he did a great job making me feel terrible about being there. I just wanted to get up and leave as soon as possible.

Michael can be quite charming when he is on, and does a good job when in that mode. The problem is that its hard to know what to expect which Michael you will encounter. Generally the issues I had occurred when there was a scheduling snafu in his salon. For example, on one occasion, I was called the day of my appointment and asked to come in early. Usually I don't mind such a request, but this day, I was having lunch with relatives in Palo Alto. I offered to get there as soon as possible, rushed through heavy traffic, all the while updating Michael with my progress. I arrived 10 minutes late for my scheduled time, and instead of waiting, he called someone else in to take my place. My service was rushed and he was noticeably less talkative and behavior suggested he was annoyed that I was unable to arrive early. In a more recent incident, I arrived precisely on time, according to my appointment card, but told me I was 30 minutes late. He had apparently mis-calendared my time in his records. Instead of texting me as he often has done, he contacted his next client and had her come early. In the meantime, I arrived on time for the time he wrote on my appointment card, and was rushed through two services in 25 minutes, then expected to wait while he cut and colored the client moved into my spot. Instead of getting a full color weave, he only had time for a touch up on my highlights. I was very disappointed because the error was not on my part and I was expected to make the adjustment, rather than he or his new client who he was clearly trying to impress. Once again he was non-talkative and indifferent to the fact that I was getting less service than I had expected. And yes, I contacted him after the visit and told him I was disappointed that I got only a touch up instead of a full weave, even though the timing error was not my doing. While I received an acknowledgement that it was a salon scheduling error that was compounded by calling in the next client early, the issue of my hair not being completely colored was never addressed. Instead, I was told that since he was in fact "sweet" to me, that I should not be disappointed with being rushed through the services i scheduled some three months earlier. It is true that you find out what businesses are really like when there are problems. In another visit, we had to leave his station into another room because his salon mate near his chair was heating up some hair straightening products that were creating toxic fumes. We were both getting headaches, and needed to get away from the fumes. This type of hair processing should be done under well-ventilated environments --Michael does not do this type of service because it is too toxic. The salon itself is less than ideal--as Michael frequently noticed the background music is often annoying. Its disappointing that Michael, who has so much potential has allowed scheduling issues and salon politics to negatively impact his services. And service is what he is supposedly selling.