Best Hair Salons in Chicago, IL

What Chicago salons cover

Barbering is the deepest category here. Twenty-two salons offer men's cuts and the same number handle fades, with about 20 more listing beard trims — so if you want a clean skin fade or a lineup, you have plenty of shops to work with.

Natural-hair work is well represented too. Nineteen salons offer braids, another 19 handle locs, and 19 do protective styles, with 15 listing weaves and 15 extensions. Women's cuts, general styling and blowouts each show up at around 20 salons.

Color is the thinner slice: eight salons list highlights, eight do all-over hair color, and eight offer balayage. It's there, but the pool is smaller, so book ahead if color is your reason for going.

Booking and ratings

Roughly 78% of these salons take online booking, so most of the time you can grab a slot without a phone call. The rest still work the old way — call ahead or walk in.

On ratings, 84% of the listings carry a star score, and across those the average is 4.75. That's a high floor, which is common once salons build up public reviews. Treat the star number as a starting filter, not a guarantee, and read what recent clients actually say.

How to use this list

Start with the service you actually need. A shop tagged for fades proves fades happen there; it doesn't mean every chair is a fade person, so when you call or book, name the exact cut, color or style you want and ask who does the most of it.

Filter for online booking if you want to lock in a time now. Check the rating and the number of reviews together — the same score reads differently on 30 visits than on 900. And bring a reference photo; it settles more confusion than any amount of description.