Cau Giay is where a large share of Hanoi’s foreign students, teachers and young professionals live, and it is also where the search for a hair salon in Cau Giay tends to stall. There are hundreds of shops. Almost none of them can walk you through a colour decision in English, and very few will tell you the price before they start. Nhat Tam Hair Salon is ten to fifteen minutes away in Dong Da, publishes every price openly, consults in English, and puts a written warranty on chemical work.
This is the Cau Giay-specific guide. The broader picture is in English speaking hair salon in Hanoi, and prices in dollars are in hair salon prices in Hanoi.
Below: how to get here from the university streets, the full price table with rough USD figures, the cheap services that are genuinely worth it on a student budget, what the warranty covers, and the questions we hear most from Cau Giay residents.

Who Lives in Cau Giay, and What They Usually Need
Cau Giay is a university district in the practical sense. The campuses along Xuan Thuy and Tran Thai Tong bring a steady population of exchange students and language students, and the office towers around Tran Duy Hung, Duy Tan and Pham Hung bring young professionals, many of them foreign. Add the apartment blocks that have gone up in the last decade and you get a neighbourhood that skews young, international and budget-aware.
That produces a fairly specific set of requests. Students want a decent cut for a price that does not hurt, and a colour they can afford once a semester. Office workers want something reliable every four to six weeks that will not go wrong the day before a presentation. Teachers, who often stay several years, want the full maintenance cycle: cut, roots, and a treatment when the summer humidity starts winning.
The common thread is risk. When you cannot discuss what you want, a haircut becomes a gamble and a colour becomes an expensive gamble. The cheapest cut in Cau Giay is genuinely cheap, but if the shape is wrong you have paid twice, because you then pay someone else to fix it and wait for the length to return.

Getting Here From Cau Giay
Nhat Tam is at 89 Nguyen Hy Quang, O Cho Dua, Dong Da, next to Hoang Cau lake. From the Cau Giay side, expect roughly ten to fifteen minutes outside peak hours; from the far end near Pham Hung or My Dinh, closer to twenty. The usual route runs east along Lang or through Kim Ma and down past Giang Vo.
The elevated metro helps if you are coming from the western end. The Nhon to Hanoi Station line runs along the Ho Tung Mau, Xuan Thuy and Cau Giay corridor, and the Cat Linh station of the other line sits in Dong Da a few minutes from us. Metro plus a short ride is frequently faster than one long ride at 18:00, when Lang and Nguyen Chi Thanh are at their worst.
One note on addresses. Vietnam reorganised its local administrative units in 2025, so newer paperwork and some map layers now label these areas as wards rather than districts. Residents, taxi drivers and ride-hailing apps all still use the familiar names, and so does our address. If a form asks for something that does not match what you see on a map, the street number and street name are the parts that matter.
Give the driver Hoang Cau lake and then the number. Open 9:00 to 20:00, seven days a week.
What Everything Costs
Published prices, no separate foreigner column. Booking ahead removes 30%, checking in at the salon removes another 10%, and almost everyone ends up paying the right-hand column.
| Service | List price | After booking + check-in | Rough USD | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women’s designer cut | 250K | 150K | about $6 | 45 min |
| Men’s cut | 200K | 100K | about $4 | 45 min |
| Basic wash, 25 to 35 min | 70K | 70K | about $2.7 | 30 min |
| Neck and shoulder massage, 45 to 50 min | 120K | 120K | about $4.6 | 50 min |
| Basic combo, cut + colour, perm or straightening (S/M/L) | 800K to 1,300K | 480K to 780K | about $18 to $30 | 2 to 4 h |
| Men’s colour or perm, standard | 650K | 450K | about $17 | 2 h |
| Root touch-up | 400K standard, 500K VIP | 400K / 500K | about $15 / $19 | 1.5 h |
| Fringe or volume perm | 400K standard, 500K VIP | 400K / 500K | about $15 / $19 | 1 h |
| Standard keratin (S/M/L) | 1,500K to 2,250K | 900K to 1,350K | about $35 to $52 | 2.5 to 3 h |
Some single-item services such as root touch-ups and fringe perms sit outside the combo discount. USD figures use roughly 26,000 VND to the dollar and are estimates.
The line most students miss is the fringe perm at 400K, which changes the shape of a face far more than its price suggests, and the root touch-up at 400K, which buys another two months out of a colour you already paid for.

Getting the Most From a Student Budget
If money is tight, the order of operations matters. A good cut is the single highest-return thing you can buy at 150K, because it changes how your hair sits every day for the next six weeks. Colour is the expensive habit, and the cost is not the first appointment but the upkeep.
Three specific ways Cau Giay students keep the bill down. First, always book ahead and check in, which is the difference between 250K and 150K on a cut and between 800K and 480K on a combo. Second, if you are booking a perm or a straightening service, the designer cut that comes with it is free when you check in, so do both in the same visit rather than separately. Third, ask about root touch-ups instead of a full re-colour when only the regrowth has shifted.
What we will not do is talk you into a service that does not suit your hair. If you come in asking for a bleach that would need three sessions and leave your hair in poor condition, we will say so and offer the version that works. That conversation is easier to have in English than most people expect, and it is the reason many students end up bringing flatmates.
The Warranty, in Plain Terms
Published and identical at all four branches. Perm: 90 days. Straightening: 90 days. Bleach and colour: 30 days. Haircut: free adjustment for 7 days if the shape is not sitting right.
Inside those windows a correction costs nothing. This matters more on a student budget than on any other, because it means a colour that goes patchy is not a total loss of 480K, it is a return visit. The salons charging 250K for the same colour almost never write anything down, and when the result is wrong you are simply out the money.
What it does not cover: changing your mind about the shade, or damage from home-bleaching afterwards. If you have used box dye in the last six months, say so before any chemical service. Box dye leaves metallic residue that reacts badly with salon lightener, and we would rather adjust the plan than discover it halfway through.
Where the Four Nhat Tam Branches Are
Nhat Tam runs four salons in northern Vietnam, and the price list is identical in all of them.
- Hanoi: 89 Nguyen Hy Quang, O Cho Dua, Dong Da. Phone 0348 288 966. Open 9:00 to 20:00.
- Thai Nguyen: 579 Luong Ngoc Quyen. Phone 0982 252 691. Open 8:00 to 19:00.
- Hai Phong: 113 Luong Khanh Thien. Phone 0984 397 804. Open 8:00 to 19:00.
- Ha Long: 25/4 Street, Hong Gai, roughly 50 metres from the clock tower. Phone 0984 397 804. Open 8:00 to 19:00.
Only two line items differ between the capital and the provinces: a basic wash is 70K in Hanoi against 60K elsewhere, and a scalp exfoliation is 50K against 100K. If you are travelling on, we have English guides for Hai Phong, Ha Long Bay and Thai Nguyen.
Nhat Tam price list, after the standard discount
How the discount works: book ahead and 30% comes off, check in at the salon and another 10% comes off, so the usual saving is up to 40%. Haircuts, men’s services and feather extensions run on their own rules.
- Women’s designer cut:
250K VND→ 150K VND, about $6 - Men’s cut:
200K VND→ 100K VND, about $4 - Basic combo, cut plus colour, perm or straightening (S/M/L):
800K to 1,300K→ 480K to 780K VND, about $18 to $30 - VIP combo (S/M/L):
1,500K to 2,200K→ 900K to 1,320K VND, about $35 to $51 - Balayage or ombre (S/M/L):
3,800K to 5,200K→ 2,280K to 3,120K VND, about $88 to $120 - Standard keratin (S/M/L):
1,500K to 2,250K→ 900K to 1,350K VND, about $35 to $52 - Steam ION and vegan combo:
1,500K→ 900K VND, about $35, one price for every hair length
Reference exchange rate used on this page: 1 USD is roughly 26,000 VND. Every USD figure here is an estimate and moves with the market. VND is what you actually pay at the counter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a hair salon near Cau Giay that speaks English?
Nhat Tam is ten to fifteen minutes from Cau Giay in Dong Da, at 89 Nguyen Hy Quang. Stylists consult in working English and you can ask for one when you book on Messenger, where you can also attach reference photos.
How much is a haircut for a student in Hanoi?
A women’s designer cut is 150K after booking ahead and checking in, roughly 6 US dollars, and a men’s cut is 100K, roughly 4 dollars. Both include a wash and a styling blow-dry. There is no separate foreigner price.
How do I get from the universities to the salon?
Ten to fifteen minutes outside peak hours from the Xuan Thuy and Tran Thai Tong campuses, nearer twenty from My Dinh or Pham Hung. The elevated metro along the Ho Tung Mau and Cau Giay corridor plus a short ride is often faster in the evening.
What is the cheapest useful service you offer?
A basic wash is 70K in Hanoi and a neck and shoulder massage is 120K. On the styling side, a fringe or volume perm at 400K and a root touch-up at 400K both change a lot for the money, and a 150K designer cut is the single highest-return item on the list.
Can I get a free haircut with another service?
Yes. If you book a perm or a straightening service and check in at the salon, the designer cut is included at no charge. Booking both in the same visit rather than separately is the most common saving our guests miss.
What if the colour comes out wrong?
Bleach and colour carry a 30 day correction window, perm and straightening 90 days, and haircuts a 7 day free adjustment. Inside those windows the fix costs nothing. The policy is published on our price page.
Pham Nhat Tam, Founder, Nhat Tam Hair Salon
Nine years in the trade, starting in Thai Nguyen on 31 July 2017. Has trained more than 150 stylists, and the group has served over 520,000 guests across four branches: Hanoi, Thai Nguyen, Hai Phong and Ha Long.
Booking From Cau Giay
If you want a salon where the price is published, the conversation happens in English and the correction policy is written down, send your photos to Nhat Tam on Messenger or call 0348 288 966. Book ahead and check in, and you pay the discounted column.
The English guide hub collects everything we have written for foreign guests, including haircut prices in USD.
Ready to book?
Three ways to reach Nhat Tam Hair Salon, all of them fine in English
