Frequently Asked Questions

Often named Austin’s original luxury salon, Ruiz Salon is an award-winning salon and known nationally for its innovative business practices and the high quality technical skill of its stylists.

Only top stylists are recruited from the best beauty schools, institutes and academies across North America and then trained in our advanced academy where they hone their skills in hair cutting, hair color, styling and finishing as well as the subtle art of guest care.

An experience at Ruiz Salon is beyond the normal salon visit….and we take great pride in caring for each one of our guests.

Ruiz Salon offers two downtown Austin locations:

Ruiz West End
Located at the corner of 5th Street & Lamar Blvd – on the west side of the city in the West End business district surrounded by numerous retailers, galleries, boutiques and interior design resources. You’ll find us as the longest-term tenant next to the flagship Whole Food Market.

Ruiz Seaholm
Located in the downtown business district and in the prestigious Seaholm Power Plant development. We’re located on the plaza level with other shops such as Trader Joe’s, True Food Kitchen, Optique, Toothbar and Healthy Pet.

Ruiz Salon is recognized as one of the few prestigious Aveda Lifestyle Salons in Austin. Since 1998 we have aligned with Aveda to use, promote and offer only the highest-quality beauty products on the market. We are confident in Aveda’s professional performance for our guests but also in the fact that they are healthy and safe to use on our bodies. In this day and age, it is very important to offer not only a high-end salon experience but also a safe environment for our employees to do what they love. Partnering with Aveda helps us achieve this mission on a daily basis. In addition we exclusively us Aveda Hair Color which is 100% Vegan.

As a first time guest you will be given an informative tour of the facility in order to familiarize you with our service areas and overall space. We want you to be at home and comfortable while you visit us. Upon meeting your Service Provider you’ll be asked a number of questions during your consultation in order for us to better understand what you’d like to achieve from your visit and what your immediate and long term goals are for your hair. You’ll then proceed to your service where you’ll experience our signature services, stress relieving shampoos, and a quality styling experience – all included in your service.

Because your satisfaction is important to us, we will provide an amazing service but also recommend professional products for you to use at home to enhance your style and care for your hair. And while we know you’ll love your hair service, we also know it cannot last forever so we’ll get you set up on a consistent service regimen to care for your cut or color in order to maximize your investment.

Ruiz West End
We have street level parking located west of Lamar on 5th Street – between Baylor Street & Lamar Blvd.

Our salon’s physical location is on the northwest corner of the 5th & Lamar intersection across Lamar Blvd from the flagship Whole Foods Market.

Ruiz Seaholm
We have covered parking available in the Seaholm Parking Garage on Level 1 located south of 3rd Street on Walter Seaholm Drive.

Parking is validated free for the first hour.

Ruiz Salon is a ‘specialized’ salon – which means that our hairdressers are highly trained in either Hair Cutting or Hair Color and Chemicals. Our philosophy is much the same as that of any field that specializes (think medical doctors) or artists. We are drawn to areas where we are naturally talented and with concentrated training, we reach levels of performance way above those that try to do ‘everything’ or that are ‘generalists.’

From their entry into our advanced training program our stylists hone their craft in one of our hairdressing specialties. Our team is committed to advanced training and understands the lifelong commitment to perfecting the art of cutting hair or adding dimension to hair through hair color or chemical work.

At Ruiz Salon prices will vary based upon your stylist’s expertise and skill level. We pride ourselves on offering a wide range of pricing levels for our guests to choose from to fit their budgets.

Not to be misunderstood as a level system associated with tenure, our pricing program is specifically tied back to advanced training, skill competency, and overall refinement of technical and artistic work.

Skill and ability always support pricing at Ruiz Salon.

As Stylists move from level to level their pricing for services will adjust accordingly.

1) Preparing – It’s always best to ask our team member at the time of booking what preparations you should plan on when arriving for an appointment. The general rule is to always come in with clean, dry hair. With product technology the way that it is these days we are able to reproduce a variety of hair styles and textures…so no need to arrive with ‘day old’ hair.

2) Personal Items – We ask that you minimize the number of personal items that you bring along with you into the salon. We have a very busy, high energy environment and would not want to have you put any items at risk of being damaged or lost.

3) Appointment Arrival – All of our appointments are scheduled as efficiently as possible so please arrive 10 minutes early for your appointment in order to have the maximum amount of time with your stylist. Should you arrive late for your appointment we will perform the service to the best of our ability within the time you have scheduled.

If you inadvertently miss an appointment please call us right away so we can get you rescheduled. We work primarily by appointment so it can take some planning to get you back on the schedule and keep you on track for your services, so the sooner the better. There may even be opportunities on the same day for us to accommodate you.

Please note – Cancellation policy applies

At Ruiz Salon you will experience ‘true’ team service. Our entire team of professionals is at your disposal.

If you would like to change hairdressers please do so within our salon….no need to go anywhere else. We’d rather you find someone on our team who will technically understand the services you’ve been receiving and how to adjust or pick up from where your last hairdresser left off.

Should you need an appointment and your preferred stylist is unavailable, you are encouraged to see an alternate stylist. Never fear for hair color services either as we have a detailed record of your color history complete with formulation.

We love that you are a guest of Ruiz Salon….and know that we’d love your friends and family as well. So we have a wonderful program to reward you for sharing your favorite stylist or Ruiz Salon with a friend, family member, co-worker or even a complete stranger!

The referral program is simple. You refer someone to us and when they visit the salon for a service, they will receive $20 off as a new guest and you will receive $25 to use towards any Aveda product purchase. The more you refer, the more you save!

If you are unable to make your scheduled appointment we ask that you contact us by closing of the day prior to your appointment to alert us that you will be unable to make the scheduled day and time.

Should you give us less notice than required or simply not show up for your appointment, the full service will be finalized with the credit card you keep on file with us for reservations.

We understand that emergencies and scheduling conflicts happen so if you miss your appointment or simply no show….if we fill the scheduled appointment time, you will not be charged for the missed appointment.

Please allow 24 hours for cancellation and rescheduling requests. If you cancel with less notice or simply do not show for your appointment, the service(s) will be charged to your credit card on file.

Credit card numbers are kept securely in your client file to reserve all appointments. Often appointments can be held for a client for weeks, sometimes even months in advance and should someone not show up for one of these appointments it creates great cost to the business and stylists. Therefore we ask for a small window of advance time to re-offer the appointment(s) to someone else.

When you arrive for your appointment you are able to pay with any payment method you’d prefer.

For any services where chemicals will be applied to your hair or scalp, we require a special consultation ahead of time specifically to discuss the desired outcome of this service.

This consultation is only required for new guests or guests new to this service.

This is a part of our customer care program. In order to ensure the services are safe for the guest, safe for the hair and safe for the skin we ensure the desired service can be performed within the range of normal risks. We will discuss service history, allergies, current side effects experienced from medications, etc…to make sure that there will be no surprises when the chemicals are applied to your hair and scalp.

Once this is determined and formulation worked through, we will then set up the specific service appointment for you. After which, you will not be required to have a separate visit for consultations from that point on.

Similar to our other guest care programs, we ask that during your service you change into a service robe in order to:

• Minimize hair from going down your shirt/blouse
• Keep hair color and products from staining or soiling your clothing
• Keep collars and high neck lines out of the way of scissors

If you choose to not change into a service robe we need to remind you that we cannot be responsible for any of the above should they occur.