Hair and Style — known to regulars simply as HAS — is a neighbourhood hair salon on Level 2 of Blk 177 Toa Payoh Central, a short walk from Toa Payoh MRT station. The team describes itself as skilled stylists with an artistic touch and friendly demeanour, and ambassadors of a unique neighbourhood style, and the stylists' credentials back that up.
Salon Director Joe Wu brings more than 20 years in the trade, training from the Sassoon Academy and a 2019 Golden Scissors Creative Hairdresser Award, with perms and colouring as his specialisations. Senior Hairstylist Gene has over 14 years of experience, a diploma from Penang's Hair Impression academy and stints at well-known salons including Kimage Hair Studio and Kenaris Hair Salon; he is the name to ask for Korean hot perms, highlights, ladies' layer cuts and men's cuts of every type. Creative Manager Dom He adds nearly 16 years in the industry, including time as technical director of Toystudio, a well-known chain in China, and repeated training in the Peek-A-Boo course of Japanese hairdressing masters Yamamoto Yuji and Kawashima Fumio.
The service menu covers haircuts for men, ladies and children aged 0–12 (with senior and leading stylist tiers), colour work from root retouches to full colouring, highlights and two-tone colour, hot and cold wave perms, soft rebonding, and treatments ranging from quick post-service care to scalp treatments, the Repair 3.1 System and a keratin treatment. Wash, blow and styling are included with all listed services, and pricing is tailored to hair length.
Hours are generous — 10am to 9pm on weekdays and 10am to 8pm on weekends and public holidays — and appointments can be made over WhatsApp. The salon also publishes its information in both English and Chinese.
Hair and Style — HAS for short — occupies Level 2 of Blk 177 Toa Payoh Central, above the shops and a few minutes on foot from Toa Payoh MRT. It is, by its own telling, a salon rooted in its estate: a team of skilled stylists known for an artistic touch and friendly demeanour, and for being ambassadors of a unique neighbourhood style. The claim is less marketing than fact — the stylists here carry decades of combined experience, training from respected academies, and competition recognition to show for it.
At the top of the bill is Joe Wu, the salon's director, who has spent more than 20 years behind the chair. A Sassoon Academy graduate and the recipient of a 2019 Golden Scissors Creative Hairdresser Award, Joe is a perpetual student of the craft, regularly taking overseas short courses and entering competitions. His specialisations are perms and colouring, and his stated strength is designing individualistic looks built around each customer's requests and characteristics.
Gene, a senior hairstylist with more than 14 years in the industry, trained at Hair Impression, a well-known academy in Penang, Malaysia, and has worked at established salons such as Kimage Hair Studio and Kenaris Hair Salon. His repertoire covers Korean hot perms, highlights, ladies' layer cuts and men's cuts of all types.
Rounding out the core team is creative manager Dom He, who has spent nearly 16 years in hairdressing. Dom previously served as technical director of Toystudio, a well-known chain in China, studied at the Shanghai branch of the British Shaxuan academy, and has taken the Peek-A-Boo course of Japanese hairdressing masters Yamamoto Yuji and Kawashima Fumio multiple times. Years spent at a Korean hair salon in Singapore dovetail neatly with the salon's perm-led menu.
Perms and colour are the pillars of the HAS menu. On the perm side there are hot wave perms for defined, longer-lasting curls, cold wave perms for a softer result, and soft rebonding for smooth, straight hair. The colour menu runs from straightforward retouches and full colouring to highlights — including a Caucasian highlight option — two-tone colour and per-session bleaching, with a non-ammonia colour upgrade for gentler processing.
Cuts are offered for men and ladies across two stylist tiers, senior and leading, and there are dedicated children's haircuts for ages 0 to 12, which makes the salon a practical one-stop for family hair days. A full treatment menu — post-treatment care, scalp treatment, hair treatment, the Repair 3.1 System and a keratin treatment — covers the longer, more restorative services.
Two practical notes shape the experience. First, pricing is tailored to hair length, so short, medium and long hair are quoted differently, with children's cuts at their own rate. Second, wash, blow and styling are inclusive with all listed services — the finish comes as part of the service.
Everything about HAS is arranged around neighbourhood convenience. Appointments are made over WhatsApp with a quick message, and the salon's website publishes its information in both English and Chinese. Hours run from 10am to 9pm Monday to Friday, and 10am to 8pm on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays — late enough on a weekday to fit in a perm after work, early enough on weekends to plan around.
Finding the salon is straightforward once you know the trick: from Toa Payoh MRT (NS19), take Exit C, walk along the shops and turn right. Cross the road towards Soi Thai Kitchen, turn right again, and take the stairs at the first exit beside the restaurant up to Level 2. Spot the Thai kitchen and you are practically there.
For Toa Payoh residents, it is the kind of salon that slots easily into an errand run — a haircut for the kids, a root retouch, or that hot perm before the festive season, all handled in one place by stylists with unusually deep résumés for a heartland salon.