Avenue B Salon
Whether your hair requires monthly maintenance or a quick trim here and there, shopping for a quality cut can be daunting. These top ten salons are the valley’s favorite places to go for hot hair on any occasion.

Though it faces one of Santa Clara Valley’s major arteries, Avenue B is a little hard to find in its corner outpost on Bascom Avenue – drive too fast and you’ll miss it.

Tucked into the corner of a strip mall in Campbell, this small boutique salon boasts a small, talented staff, and the close quarters make for good gossip. Brooke and Donna handle haircuts, while Clay Morganparks also excels in color. Not only does Avenue B offer first-class cuts to the masses, they also have a small selection of boutique jewelry and gifts from local artists and companies.

diModa
Pretty much any salon worth its salt will have a contingent of clients that swear allegiance to one stylist in its employ, but diModa seems to have acquired a concentration of stylists that attract particularly rabid devotees. Owned by the illustrious Amber Lopez, whose cuts have become the stuff of legend, diModa is one of the best salons to be found in San Jose.

Orange Crush Studios
194 Jackson Street has a long history with hair. Once a barber shop, now a high-end house of style, 194 Jackson is now home to Orange Crush Studios, one of the hottest salons in San Jose. Orange Crush does nothing but hair, and does it well.

Limon
Limon is a favorite of men and women throughout the valley, and with good reason: they’re good with a cut, and good with color, and good at applying up-to-the-minute trends in hairstyling (feather extensions, anyone?). If you dare, you can chop almost 75% off the normal cost of a haircut by signing up to be a possible hair model for their stylist education programs.

Sailors and Saints
Salon proprietors must know by now that part of the formula for a successful shop is a cute, if slightly mystifying, name. This little shop off the main drag through the Rose Garden district gives edgy cuts in an edgy environment.

Umbrella
Located in the heart of downtown, Umbrella is the salon that gives San Jose its cool. Umbrella not only provides hair cutting and styling services to clients but is also where stylists go on their way up, hosting events and how-tos for up-and-coming professionals on Tuesday nights.

Mira Bella Salon
Though a little far-afield in its East Side location, Mira Bella is a well-loved salon with a flawless reputation for beautiful haircuts. Specializing in always-in-style, always-in-season classic cuts, Mira Bella has a reputation for working wonders with common hair troubles like thickness, frizziness, or unruly curls that keeps their clients coming back.

Faux – Faux has been a fixture on Campbell Avenue for as long as a lot of people can remember. Faux specializes in outrageous and out-of-the-ordinary (seriously, just look through the front window—or, for that matter, at their Web site), and consistently dares to go where other stylists won’t. If you make an appointment, heed this heads-up: the shop is cash only, so come prepared.

Barbarella Beauty
Barbarella is a full-service salon with a staff that knows their stuff in all aspects of beauty. Come for a haircut, stay for a manicure, a massage, and a facial.

Salon Mesh
Hidden from street view in a small shopping arcade that runs directly through what used to be an old movie theatre on Lincoln Avenue, Salon Mesh does hair in a very flashy, purple environment. But they’re not just looks: armed with products from favorite salon brands like Redken and Enjoy, they do great cuts and styles at reasonable prices.

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