About Us

A. Secret Garden is my brand and I'm joined by independent hairstylists to form an appointment based team in a co-working salon called Raguel. There are 6 stylists currently to run this salon space. I usually take Secret Garden appointments by myself as far as I am available. When there are overlapping appointments, the associated stylists are brought in, adjusted with their appointments, to make the most availability for our customers. Most of colour works, challenging cuts and quality cuts will be reserved with me and shorter-time appointments can be taken by the teams. Clients are able to request any stylists (including myself) for repeated appointments. The team (except myself) are all experienced Japanese stylists from top salons in Tokyo. When a team stylist takes care of your appointment, I'll attend the consultation and help communication between you and the stylist. Regardless the team stylists or I take care of your service, I am responsible for the result of every appointment at Secret Garden.

In terms of salon products, Secret Garden clients will have Secret Garden products that I select. Each stylist has their own product selection and their Japanese clients have their products. 

A. I'm so sorry, but we cannot take walk-in customers. Please make an appointment first. In 2024, we regrettably turned down more than 100 walk-in customers totally and we took zero walk-in customer because we do not have the system that can deal with walk-in appointments even when there is a space between clients. Some of those walk-in people made an appointment in the salon and came back later days. If you think just to come here to take the first available appointment, this doesn't work with us because earlier contacted clients have their priority for available rooms. Calling us or popping an email are the fastest ways for you to have your hair done at us. 

Here is a further explanation. All stylists here are appointment-based, independent stylists. There are salon's opening hours, but it's not like we stay and wait in the opening hours. We do clients during the opening hours, and when there's no client, we do other things or leave the work. Most of Tokyo hair salons work this way, and so do salons in many countries nowadays. Busy stylists are almost always appointment-based and on an independent contract today.

During the times that we do not have customers in a working day, we prepare for the next colour and the next next colour and even tomorrow's colour, cut foils, reply emails, do stocks/orders, do administrations, work on social media marketing, create contents, plan hair classes, do researches, and eat. We plan to do things during those between hours and do not expect to do walk-in clients even just for a wash and blow-dry. The team stylists welcome booking customers, and they are available, but always reject walk-ins. Squeezing a client can jeopardise the existing appointment and affect other work plans. I also think it's fair to reply and manage the appointments of waiting customers during the between hours than doing someone's hair who just come in and tries to skip the queue. 

A. As rough guidelines, 5:30 pm for a haircut, 5:00 pm for a root colour and 1/4 head highlights, 4:30 pm for 1/2 head highlights and 4:00 pm for full-head highlights and bleaches. These are guidelines and we try to work with your schedules as much as possible. Closing/opening times can be adjusted on prior arrangements and notifications.

In the emergency cases such as colour correction, the opening hours can be made more flexible as long as there's no other client with me. I'll find your/my availabilities and your hair situation as we communicate on the phone/emails and can tell you time estimates and make suggestions.

A. Visa, Master Card, American Express, Diners Club, JCB credit cards are accepted. BUT we are not able to process tap to pays, please use an actual card for your payment.

A. All my clients have been foreign or mixed-Japanese since I started Secret Garden. The team stylists' clients are mostly Japanese. The team stylists' clients are ranged in good balance, males and females, from old to young, sometimes kids and school ages. The style of our stylists' work are from conservative to creative to trendy. The atmosphere of the salon is usually calm but not stiff.

My clients are excellent in variety in their hair and styles. Unlike in many cities where salons' style matches clients' style, I get all styles of people in Tokyo. My clients often work in office, or their partner has a job in Japan. I've done hair of many managers and the tops of companies; I'm not scared of them, in fact, they're often practical and the easiest people to work with, and they're kind to me ;D Some clients are student, some work for schools or educational institutes, and some are travelling. Female/male ratio is about 75/25 these days. The age ratio is 40s, 30s, 50s, 20s, 10s, below 10, and over 60s from more to fewer. The styles of my clients are eclectic. Many of my clients tend to choose work appropriate and practical styles.  At the same time, many of my clients change their mind and try something different in length, style and colour in a longer time frame. 

In terms of hair types, many of my clients have some kind of waves and curls naturally. Some Europeans, often northern or Scandinavian, have really straight hair, and some clients have very tight coils or Afro-Caribbean mixed textures. I have many clients who have fine hair, including extra fine ones, and I'm constantly requested to make cuts that really work with their hair. Some have incredibly dense hair, so for them too, I really have to work with their feedbacks and their ways. About clients' nationalities, many are from US, UK, Australia, other English speaking nations as well as western European countries. Second most are from South American nations, South Asian countries, Middle Eastern and African nations. When Secret Garden started, my clientele was predominantly European descents but I'm getting more and more coloured/mixed/Asian people in recent years, making one in five clients non-white background today. I guess a hair salon's clientele mirrors to Japan's international population make-up. I enjoy very much learning my clients' country, culture, politics and customs in their country as well as usual topics like family, jobs, hobbies, holidays and their perspective of Japan.

A.

• The best work quality - Nothing is more important. 

• 100% international customers - I've been making my living out of doing non-Japanese people's hair over two decades, and I haven't yet had one full Japanese person since Secret Garden started. I think I've been typecast and I can't brag about this but it's just a fact that reflects my expertise and that I've been doing international people's hair with international techniques day in day out.

• Experience - Most of times, doing a client's hair is not just a one-off service but it has continuity and responsibility. To do one person's hair, you need to know everything. From cut problems, volume, damage, colour change, long-term planning to some conditions that people suffer, a stylist needs to be able to resolve all unique challenges he or she faces in their situation. Clients change their styles and their hair changes as time goes. I believe that I know what to do, what to advise and how to help people's hair issues in most cases.

• Real clients - I have been working for clients of all different profiles. Some of them are executives, managers and ones with publicity responsibility. I'm not doing hair of just young ones (I do lots of young adults too), but I've been doing hair of many adults where each person brings requirements to be fulfilled. I have accumulated experience in areas that cannot be glossed over by social media apps.

• International products - I use international-hair-suitable products for colour work, hair care and styling. This is easier for me because all of Secret Garden clients are non-Japanese. Our products are separated from Japanese stylists' and they have never been provided by the work spaces I used in the past and today. I select Secret Garden products myself and the entire equipment (tools + products) is non-Japanese hair purpose. 

• British certified - I have NVQ2 and NVQ3 in UK hairdressing. The education modules cover essential and advanced areas of international hairdressing. Certificates are usually mandated to be presented to official suppliers for product procurement too. I went to colleges in the UK, spending 2 years for level 1+2, and 1 year for level 3. Vidal Sassoon and Toni&Guy run 6-month courses for NVQ2 but I think you can only so much to take in 6 months. Totally separated from certificate reasons, however, I later took Sassoon courses and many other trainings for advanced and creative skills for experienced stylists.

• Fully English speaking for hair and everything - Everyone speaks English today and there's nothing special about it. But you have to think fast in English to be a first-class stylist. You learn and absorb things in English. Ultimately, you've got to be immersed in the culture to understand people's hair and lives. A salon manager in an English speaking city won't send someone on the floor if the person can't communicate well and treat customers professionally. A hairdresser can't learn hair enough or get high responsibility jobs if the one is below the threshold.

• UK's top salon trained and qualified - I was trained by a British Hairdresser of the Year for cut, and by a top Hollywood colourist for colour. Many Japanese stylists travel abroad for international hair experience but end up working at small salons or missing training  programmes because of their short staying visas. Many salons can't easily afford to make their stylists stay for junior trainings due to high stylist costs. I was beyond fortunate to receive a full training by the top people in the industry and have continued to work in the top market for further skill development. 

• 100% Western hair salon background - My hairdressing is British. Many Japanese stylists who claim international hairdressing in Japan often worked at Japanese hair salons in Western cities. Those salons' clients are mostly Japanese/Asian and the stylists perform Japanese techniques there even outside Japan.

• Top stylist experience for non-Japanese hair in the UK (and the US) - Many Japanese hairdressers who stay overseas often work as an assistant, or attend hairdressing courses rather than real salon working. Japanese are reputed as excellent assistants but it's the stylist experience that counts. A hair school can't give a hairdresser the stylist experience either.

• Bigger work experience - I used to teach hair in English in the western countries. I worked as an Art Director for Japan branch of an international company, held seminar teaching/demonstrations, designing and planning PR hair events. I have worked for hair of top Hollywood actors, fashion show backstages, editorial pictures. These varieties of experience and knowledge are near prerequisite for business growth and brand making. It also leads to better salon performances.

• Competitive pricing - Inflation has made some advanced economies very expensive. Making the matter worse, Japan's annoying monetary policy keeping yen weak is making my international products exorbitantly costly. But whining is a mug's game. We play within the market and I do pricing accordingly. This makes happy customers and a thriving business, eventually we're more profitable than London folks, in theory. We have a strong cost-cutting strategy without compromising our service/product quality. Besides, I'm innately not money driven but skill driven. If someone tells me what made them happy and what didn't, that's more rewarding for me than payment.. does that make sense? 

• Our focus - We are lean and keep things simple in order to be close to our customers and convenient for them. We try to eliminate ersatz of unnecessary things. We're all fast-pace learning and keep the salon's capability agile for local and international demands and trends.

• The salon's character - The salon location is convenient and pleasant and the salon is usually not so packed. It has a bit of space between chairs. I believe that the team and I are working very well. Since the location is a bit away from big streets and expat-busy areas, so you can feel private and relaxed here.

A. Yes, of course. I've been doing kids' hair almost from the beginning of my career. I don't know if I'm liked by kids but I like them and I like doing their hair. I think children teach me a lot and doing kids' hair helps me improve as a hairstylist.

If you bring two or more of them together, I usually finish them one by one. In the case if they can't wait, I can enlist a stylist from the team. I've had some kids starting colour for their hair in their mid teen ages and I'm okay as long as they and their parents are okay about it. I strictly follow to what extent they want and I can offer advice and various ways for achieving the colour idea for the person's age.

A. I'm so sorry, we don't do refunds. But we do offer free re-appointments to try our best to adjust the result.

Firstly, not to let such a situation happen, we have the consultation and I'll collect information about your past hair experience. We plan the cut/colours and think forward what you need to know before starting the work. To make it easier for you to understand the style and the processes, you are invited to ask questions you have and I'll try to find if there are things you're confused or misunderstand, and make them clear for you. If there is something either of us feels unsure at the end of discussionb, there's always a choice that not to proceed but instead, wait and put thoughts together, and come back.

Even though after all these efforts, misunderstanding and misinterpretation can happen. Sometimes the word you choose to use can have a different meaning in the usual global hairdressing, or the image you try to explain your idea can have a specific idea in the popular colour discussion rather than what you meant to tell us. I'm generally experienced to spot those, but misunderstanding can still happen. For all these cases, our team and I offer a re-working appointment if you let us know within 10 days. Upon your contact/message, we can arrange a re-appointment with your available time and there's no charge for it. We don't set a time limit for your re-visit but I assume that sooner is better for you. Likewise the first appointment, we will listen to you and examine the hair to ascertain what you'd like to achieve and how the first result can be changed.

We're always happy to work again till you reach your goal. If there is a completely additional service that is not pertinent to the result fixing during the re-appointment, we may ask you to cover only for that part. Your happiness is the most important thing and we are here for it.

A. I know, 'international clients' is a nebulous term and I apologise for this. Since I started Secret Garden, I haven't had an appointment with a traditional Japanese person yet and this is why 100% international hair. This is not what I aimed but what happened. Besides, I won't get a stylist job in a Japanese salon because I haven't had a Japanese training. This makes it natural that I don't have Japanese customers. 

 'International clients' here are defined as people whose hair is not like typical Japanese hair who include Europeans, Africans, Arabs, non-Japanese Asians and all others. They also include Japanese-mixed internationals and international-mixed Japaneses who speak English and do not demand Japanese hairdressing techniques. My clientele also include people whose family backgrounds are not Japanese but grew up in Japan, so they must have Japanese nationality but nevertheless, they don't look like typical Japanese people and their hair quality is not similar to that of Japaneses' and thus they had a hard time to find a hairdresser before me. On the other hand, when I mention a 'typical/traditional Japanese client', it is meant that a person whose hair has Japanese-Asian quality, who is Japanese community/culture-based, and who prefers Japanese hair techniques with a consultation in Japanese.

Our clients find Secret Garden through word of mouth or the internet and they have always been international customers whether I or the team stylists take the appointment. The team stylists have their Japanese clients and those clients have been with them before I invited them to Secret Garden booking. 

The important truth is that hair techniques are different in Japan and other countries. This is the reason I publicise my client ratio which implies Secret Garden's expertise. If you keep doing both Japanese clients and international ones, you're not going to improve international techniques exceptionally. Another fact is, as I've mentioned above, that I can't work as a stylist if I applied to a Japanese hair salon because I have never learned hair in a Japanese salon. All Japanese hairdressers I met agreed with this and this is why I never try a Japanese salon. 

We can end this unusual conversation with a warm note. By all the Japanese hairdressers I worked with in the past, and most importantly by their Japanese clients, I was encouraged in what I was doing. They were like 'You're doing so well! We need someone like you to take care of people who come to Japan!' I appreciate the way they saw me and being supportive of my work. Helping foreign people seems a very positive thing in Japan and I think it's a very good aspect of the Japanese minds. This country is, though they need more help, trying to catch up with a diverse, inclusive society and I feel like I'm doing my bit for it.