Dupont Hair

I walked-​in for a last minute, quick eyebrow wax. The tech burned the skin along both brows. I could tell the second she pulled the linen off. It’s now scabbed over.
The cost was typical. $ 15 but it’s not worth it.

I’ve been getting my hair cut from Tho for the past year. Unfortunately I’m moving out of the city and I’ll be sad to lose her.
I will say that Tho is a magician with the clippers, and my girlfriend agrees that these have been my best haircuts ever and that’s even with going to some more ‘high-​end’ places. My haircuts have been professional, clean, and at a great price ($ 25 for a men’s haircut and shampoo).
[Last I saw, they were still under construction, but Tho has been working out of another salon… details on her website.]

I got the worst gel manicure (if you can even call it that) at Dupont Hair! First of all, I went there for threading for my eyebrows, which was fine. But then as I was stretching my eyebrows, she commented I needed a manicure (which I already knew). Then suggested I get one there, told her it was a gel manicure, and she insisted they could it for me because they do gel manicures. LIARS! Yes they had like 4 of the gel polishes, but if don’t know what you are doing, YOU CANNOT DO A GEL MANICURE! From suggesting random non gel polishes to putting one color in the microwave, it was a mess! She basically gave me a manicure and put a clear gel polish over it & had me dry my nails under a fan, then the UV Ray. 2 days later, of course my polish is coming off! WILL NEVER GO THERE AGAIN!

Tho, the woman proprietor, knows how to cut men’s hair. She has never done a bad job with me. The studio is not the nicest looking place in the world, but for 30 bucks (tip included), it is well worth it.
It is also entertaining to watch Tho’s english suddenly get very bad when someone comes in who she doesn’t wish to talk to (i.e. a saleserson).

I’ve only had my hair cut here, so I can’t say anything about their highlighting, waxing, manicure, etc services. That said, Tho is the only one I trust to cut my hair — not just in DC, I’ve put off haircuts while out of DC just because I’d rather wait to see her.
For the record I have «Asian» hair. I don’t really know what that means, actually, because there’s the fine, silky hair of cute J-​pop stars, and then you have the super thick, poofy, plain out crappy hair that the unfortunate part of the Asian population is stuck with. I found this place after years of crap haircuts. I’m from Hawaii, which is just bursting with Asians, and not once did I ever find a person who could deal with my Asian fro, even at the fancy salons. Granted, coming out of the salon I would look decent, but getting there took quite a bit of work, and frankly I don’t want to spend 45 minutes on my hair every morning. By the way, ever since my first haircut from Tho, I can just air dry my hair after showering or just roll out of bed in the morning and my hair is damn awesome. Yup, be jealous. But not too jealous because if you go see Tho, she can give you envy-​worthy hair too. :-D
Anyway, if you have fine hair, there is some salon elsewhere in Dupont with Japanese stylists. But if you were, uh, blessed* with thick, poofy hair like me, and haven’t been able to find someone to tame it, go and visit Tho! She’s really nice, easy to talk to, and helpful and honest about what styles will and won’t work for you.
* My mom, who has the soft, silky type of Asian hair used to tell me that my hair was like pubes. THANKS, MOM. «Blessed,» I tell you. ;’-(
To attest to Tho’s prowess, though, mum squealed with delight the first time she saw the results of a haircut from Tho. And every now and then she remarks that my hair looks good. Nice to finally get some love from the mother. ;) On top of that, and most importantly, I’ve learned to looove my hair. I always get compliments now too, even from strangers — a haircut from Tho makes me feel gorgeous! The salon is a tiiiny bit run down, not hip and not fancy, no free drinks or scalp and hand massages, but gosh, whenever I leave, I feel much more pretty and confident than when I used to go to fancy, expensive salons.
blahblahblah. Stop reading and just go. ;) Tell her you found her place through Unilocal!
P. S. Another reviewer mentions that Tho is better with guys and Andy is better with girls and guys, so you can try Andy if you’d like. I can’t say anything about him because I’ve only had Tho.

This is only about haircuts, and from friends and me:
I think Tho does better for guys than girls. Andy seems better with guys and girls.

By far the worst manicure I have ever had, and here’s why!
Walked in with my sister, I asked for a manicure and she asked for a pedicure. When the girl wheeled over the manicure table, I started to get nervous. All was fine until she gets up, out of nowhere, and walks into another room to wax someone. No explanation or anything. She comes back, paints my nails, literally hands me a dryer, and walks away again. This time, she does a haircut. She comes back, puts on a top coat, and walks away. Here’s what she forgot to do: push back my cuticles, trim my cuticles, and file my nails.
Now with my sister and the pedicure… I’d say the first strike came when the bottle of polish she chose cracked and leaked all over her hands and dress. The woman gave her a cotton ball with polish remover and told her that it was a good thing her dress was already so many colors. Um, thank you? She also got up and walked away a few times during the pedicure. Things she forgot: trim her nails, file her nails, push back her cuticles, and scrub/​shave/​exfoliate her skin. At the end, she put top coat on her two big toes and walked away without explanation. We sat and waited for her to come back for about ten minutes before we realized she wasn’t coming back.
We dropped some cash on the counter, barely left a tip, and hauled ass out of that place. Poor Chipotle for having to be above that stinkhole.

Dupont Hair is tucked away underneath the Chipotle. I can’t vouch for the ladies’ experiences or for any special treatment, but in terms of a haircut, for the past year-​and-​a-​half, I’ve been getting my hair cut by Andy (the only guy there, he seems to be the manager or proprietor too). He’s very good. There are two other women, of whom, Tho (who I believe is Andy’s cousin) has cut my hair once. She has often cut my boyfriend’s hair. Both Andy and Tho are good. If you go there, you can say I referred you. :)

Well, it was better than a friend trying to cut my hair for me, or better than me trying to cut it myself. I came here on recommendation of a friend and the reviews on this site seemed reasonable. I was interested because I more or less have Asian hair (though on the thick and wavy side) I was tempted to just walk out, but I stuck around for 2 reasons. One, I’m not one to get bent out of shape about my hair– it’s really long, grows out fast, and I wasn’t going for anything dramatic. Two, I was in desperate need of a hair cut and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money to «experiment» at an upscale salon (just because you pay more doesn’t mean you get more). This place is definitely low-​key, no frills. From the moment I walked in, a non-​English speaking woman looked at me, but she had no idea what I was saying and, clearly, had no idea that I had an appointment (I had called a week ago). So, fine, this was basically a walk-​in. No one took my coat so I had my hair washed with my handbag and coat in my lap. A guy named Andy ended up cutting my hair. The guy had quite the attitude problem. I only learned his name when I asked. He didn’t check out my hair before it was washed, had no idea how it lay, didn’t ask me how I wanted my hair cut. I definitely gave him a few minutes to ask me himself. I finally spoke up and he really scared me. I was really thinking of jumping out of the chair at this point. But… I really needed a hair cut and I really can’t cut my own hair because I can’t see in the back. I ended up giving very specific instructions and even decided to get bangs, also with very specific directions. I was silent and nervous the entire time. The haircut didn’t end up being that bad. I had it dried and styled to make sure he didn’t fu$k up too badly. The only positives about this experience– better than what I could have done and it wasn’t expensive. But seriously, you might have a tad better experience at the Hair Cuttery.

This review is for the nail salon part only — I have not gone to the hair salon. My friend and I got what I think is the worst pedi I have ever gotten in DC AND they then proceeded to charge us $ 30 each. We are polite and didn’t want to make a scene, but we were both fuming as we left. I will never never go back to this place for a mani or pedi.
First, they said they could serve us at the same time (we specifically asked since we only had about 45 min) and then proceeded to serve us one at a time. The girl doing my pedi simply walked away in the middle without a word and started cutting some guy’s hair. The girl doing my friend’s pedi completed her and then moved on to me. We barely made it out of there in an hour and 15 min and were late to our next thing. Also, the salon was dirty, she barely spent any time on us, didn’t pay attention to detail, and only put one coat of polish on. It’s only been a week and the polish is wearing off already. The worst of all was expecting to get an $ 18 each bill when instead they charged us $ 30 each. A TOTAL RIP OFF! There are so many other nail salons in Dupont that do a better job for less $, I don’t know how they stay in business (probably the hair salon — it was mobbed with cute, single looking guys… this was the only good part of our visit).

This place should not be allowed to call itself a nail parlor, but DC must not have any good ones because the prices are outrageous. $ 15 for a crappy manicure performed by three different women none of whom had clean hands nor seemed to know a thing about doing nails?! You gotta be kidding me. I felt so filthy when I walked out, I needed to wash my hands immediately. Would not recommend going here.

This review is for threading only. I fell in love with getting my eyebrows threaded at Threads in Farragut until they became popular and strangely enough, mean and I refused to go back. Fortunately, I saw a sign on my way home for threading at Dupont Nails. It is not the most decadent salon, but they do an amazing job at threading eyebrows. Mine last almost 3 weeks, which is much longer than I have ever had them before. I have never had to make an appointment and have had to wait the most 15 minutes during a busy period. Everyone is super nice and if I think she missed a spot or can touch something up, she always agrees with a smile– unlike at Threads. Threading for eyebrows is 15 dollars and lip is 10. You can pay for the service with a credit card, but need cash for tip. They always always always please me and I’ll never go anywhere but Dupont Hair to get my brows threaded!

I came here after a horrible experience at the Haircuttery couple stores down. Tho was the lady who cut my hair and I would really recommend her because she knows how to cut hair, she knows how to fix bad layers, and she listens to how you want your hair cut. She does provide recommendations if she thinks another cut would look better, but she’s not forceful like some other hairstylists. In the end, she cuts your hair according to how you would prefer it. It was $ 35 with a blow-​dry. She asked if i wanted my hair straightened, but I didn’t want to pay the extra money for it. However, she offered to charge me a flat fee of $ 35 because she really wanted me to see how my layers looked after cutting it. i thought that was nice of her and thus paid her extra tip for that.

I strongly recommend Dupont Hair, but ONLY if you can get an appointment with Tho or the other lady that occasionally works there. The ladies do incredible (and incredibly cheap!) highlights and cuts, while the guys are definitely best left to washing hair (had a couple of bad experiences with the guy that has blonde highlights). You will need an appointment for highlights, but don’t let this deter you: I’ve been able to make same-​day or next day appointments, and I’ve always been able to make appointments within a week.
I went to Dupont Hair every three months or so for highlights and a cut, and my ex went there a lot more often to get his Asian-​esque funky hair cut by Tho. I swear Tho has a photographic memory: I once went six months without coming in, and she recognized me and remembered my ex’s name as well! She has tons of regular male customers, and appointment or not she recognizes them and greets them by name when they walk through the door. She is sweet and honest — talked me out of bangs once, which turned out to be very wise — and if I still lived in DC I would definitely go back to her.

One of the worst experiences I have had. Three different people worked on my nails — I’m pretty sure the last person had never done nails before. There was so much topcoat on one nail that I complained that it would never dry. The man assured me that it would — 45 minutes later, it wasn’t drying. Of course, it smudged. The tools were dirty and the price was the same as you’d pay at a much nicer place. I won’t be going there again.

I have Asian hair (thick, straight, grows like a ill-​mannered bush) and I came here for a hair cut ($ 30, incl wash but no blow-​dry) and I might come back if I’m desperate.
Pros:
— She followed my instructions generally, then followed my instructions again when it came to the Her: «Are you happy?» (Me: «No, can you fix???»)
— I liked the haircut in the end, but it was a lot of work on my part to get her there.
Cons:
— I’ve never been covered in so many hair bits because she finished me without the drapey thing. I was covered in my own hair until I got home and showered.
— She razored the back with scissors when I asked for long layers (some people are ok with this, but it’s kind of painful and not too neat).
— She parked me under the hood to dry while she took care of someone else (I didn’t pay for the blow out, but this was strange).
— Not a fan of the hair-​washer who was kind of rough on the massage part.
— No compliments the next day. :(

Dupont Hair is not the glitziest salon but it gets the job done. I have been going to Thu for almost four years now. I don’t get my hair colored, so I can’t speak to those services. However, I can get a good haircut (that grows out nicely) and a blowout for $ 35.
If you are a slave to the newest and hippest haircut, this is probably not the place for you. I sent my boyfriend here after he found the techno beat in VSL too distracting. He enjoyed the straightforward experience and the friendly staff.
They have a pretty good product selection too which they almost never push on the clients, Every time I am in there, there is an endless parade of guys coming in for haircuts so I assume the men’s cuts are pretty popular.
I did get a pedicure here once. It was okay, but not mindblowing.
The shampooer does that head scratchy thing and rubbed my temples so I am his slave for life.

I have been to Dupont Hair twice to get a pedicure and both times I had a good experience. Luckily, both times I have been there, no one was getting a pedicure and I was able to just walk in and immediately get waited on. The two women who worked on my friend and I were really nice and they did a good job. They only have two chairs, but they are massage chairs that are actually really relaxing. It does look a little cluttered in the back but if you and a friend are just looking for a quick place to get a pedicure, I would recommend this place. My roommate also got an eyebrow wax for $ 10 and she said it was okay. It looked good for $ 10, but not amazing. The pedicures were $ 30 a piece which is only about $ 5 more then Shangri-​La on U-​Street and I actually prefer Dupont Hair to Shangri-​La!

I came here because I was Unilocaling «asian hair» in DC. I’m comfortable with my stylists back home in California but my hair was in need of highlights (due to the fact that I had tried to cover it up by dyeing my hair black and the highlights were showing back in spots!!). I must have called 10 places and this was the only one that answered.
Tho, that’s the lady’s name is very nice. We chit-​chatted alot and found things in common. She’s so friendly that she offered to go grocery shopping for me and then I could come pick it up when I got the chance.
Minuses– I’m super annoyed by salons that tell me that my hair cannot achieve blondness. HELLO, my hair has been highlighted blonde MANY times. It’s called toner. Tho used toner on my hair. but didn’t leave it in long enough so my hair’s a dark blond. if you can call it that. The next thing was everything took longer that it should because she was the only one working there and would cut other people’s hair while doing my highlights. She couldn’t really pay full attention either because her children were running around the place.
I would go back because it seems like she knows how to cut hair but I probably wouldn’t go back for highlights because she charged me $ 30 more because I wanted to use toner to make my hair blonde (uhm, that’s the reason why I want highlights in the first place!) and didn’t tell me until I paid. I didn’t end up with the blonde I wanted either.

Now, I’m not going to go so far as to say that only Asian people can cut Asian hair. I’m sure there is a veritable plethora of capable and competent non-​Asian hairstylists out there, ready and willing to cut Asian hair, if only kind and open-​minded Asian folk would give them a chance.
In my admittedly limited experience getting haircuts from the non-​Asian variety of hairstylists, I have yet to meet one such hairstylist. But I have hope one day I’ll find him or her. I may still not get a haircut from him, but I’ll shake his hand.
In the meantime, I suggest to all my friends, Asian persuasion or otherwise, Dupont Hair. I hate to play favorites, but Tran in particular does a terrific job. The other hairstylists there are also worthy of praise. Everyone is nice, from the fellow (or the last time I went it was a lady) who gives you a shampoo (and embarrassingly soothing scalp massage) before the cut, to well, to whoever ends up cutting your hair.
Depending on when you go, there may be up to a 20 to 30 minute wait (if anything a reflection of how fantastic a job they do) so it’s in your best interests to call ahead and see when they can fit you in the schedule. Seriously, potentially contentious issue of «who cuts Asian hair best,» aside, everyone who frequents Dupont Hair knows that this is a place that matches the quality of the fancier salons down Connecticut without matching the fancy prices. It’s admittedly more expensive than the… Hair Cuttery up the street, but I’m happy to pay more for the tremendous leap in quality.