Viva Cute Candy! Kawaii & Colorful Hair Salon in Tokyo – Styling Video & Pictures Featuring Haruka Kurebayashi

Japanese street style is famous around the world, but it’s not just extraordinary fashion that turns heads. In Harajuku especially, a creative and colorful hairstyle can be the make-or-break element of a drop-dead-cute look. We often publish profiles of quirky indie fashion brands that make Tokyo’s fashion scene special. Now it’s time to take a look at a hair salon that’s helped to keep Harajuku kawaii for nearly a decade – Viva Cute Candy!

Viva Cute Candy Hair Salon Tokyo (12)

Viva Cute Candy opened its doors in Tokyo’s famously-funky Shimokitazawa neighborhood eight years ago. Four years later, kawaii-loving stylist Iku took over the salon. Since then, Viva Cute Candy has built a reputation as a dream salon for the most colorful Harajuku kids. We often spot Viva Cute Candy hairstyles while doing street snaps in Harajuku, and the salon’s name comes up repeatedly in popular Japanese street fashion magazines. One of the salon’s most famous customers is Harajuku style icon (and Kera Magazine model) Haruka Kurebayashi.

Iku, the head stylist and owner of Viva Cute Candy, is himself an active participant in the Harajuku fashion scene. We see him around the streets of Harajuku as well as at Harajuku-themed events in Tokyo. Iku started his career as a beautician in Hiroshima before making his way to Tokyo. His dream for Viva Cute Candy is to eventually move the shop to Harajuku, right in the heart of the world’s most kawaii neighborhood.

Iku told us that his vision for the Viva Cute Candy salon is to make it an “ultra-happy place” where kids with an interest in “natural, pop, and cute” hairstyles can visit and have fun while getting their hair styled with creativity and color. The interior of the shop – all designed by Iku himself and reflecting his personal taste – is super-kawaii, with plenty of pastel colors, 1980s toys, and an atmosphere of fun and positivity. On the salon’s website, Iku says he also enjoys talking to his clients about their lives while styling.

Viva Cute Candy Hair Salon Tokyo (57)

Viva Cute Candy offers the same basic services as normal salons – including cuts, colorings, perms, hair straightening, and extensions. That said, the big draw of Viva Cute Candy is its large selection of cute colors, extensions, and kawaii styling. Of course, Iku is happy to give you a stylish yet more conventional hairdo. But if a customer wants something special with bright colors, pastels, rainbows, designs shaved into the side of his or her hair, or other special kawaii styling, Viva Cute Candy will go all-out to bring those kawaii visions into a one-of-a-kind hairstyle!

When we asked Iku if he had any message for international fans of Harajuku styles, he said, “If you make your hair colorful, you can become ultra happy, right down to your core. I am waiting to meet you!”

Kawaii Japanese style icon Haruka Kurebayashi invited us to tag along on her most recent visit to Viva Cute Candy. We brought back pictures and video of Iku creating a super cute and colorful hairstyle for Kurebayashi. A big thank you to both Viva Cute Candy and Kurebayashi. Scroll down for the the salon’s address, hours, and more!

Kawaii Icon Haruka Kurebayashi Styled by Viva Cute Candy


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Viva Cute Candy Salon x Haruka Kurebayashi Kawaii Hair Style Pictures


Click on any of the Viva Cute Candy pics to enlarge them.

Thank you to both Iku at Viva Cute Candy and Haruka Kurebayashi for inviting us to film them and for being so fun! Hope all of you get a chance to visit Viva Cute Candy for yourselves next time you’re in Tokyo!

Here’s the full information on Viva Cute Candy:

  • What: Viva Cute Candy Hair Salon
  • Where: Shimokitazawa, Tokyo, Japan (2 minutes from Shimokitazawa Station)
  • Address: 3rd floor, 2-10-10, Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 155-0031
  • Map: Viva Cute Candy Map
  • Hours: Mon-Fri 11am-9pm / Sat-Sun 10am-8pm
  • Phone: 03-3466-3492
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Website: Official Website
  • Twitter: ikuviva

 

Photos by Kira.
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About the photographer:
Born in Japan, educated in Japan and the US, Kira shoots exclusively with Canon DSLRs. Photography assignments include fashion, bands, sporting events, and portraiture for various companies and bands throughout Japan & the world. His portfolio can be viewed at Artist-Photo.

Comments are closed.

  1. Oh, it’s so cool, wonderful and colorful. ♪(*^ ・^)ノ⌒☆

  2. oh! pero que bonito *_* asi me quiero hacer algo en mi cabello

  3. This was such a great post!! I got so many ideas for my hair *u*

  4. Kurebayashi and the styling of this room are just so vibrant and cute! Makes you instantly want to smile!

  5. deathbyglitter

    Oh wow!!! I need to add this to my list of places I dream of going one day. :D It’s always so inspiring to see someone who is so passionate and happy in their work – it shows in the beautiful results! The colors are so amazingly wonderful! The vibrant blue is my favorite but I also love the soft washed pastels, especially the lavender bangs! <3

  6. Yeah! A hair feature :D I absolutely love it! More please

  7. Awww she´s so kawaii and coloful! Now I know where they get that awesome haircolors yay! *-*Oh Juunyan is there too!! ^^

  8. Amo este salón de belleza, pero definitivamente el que Kurebayashi halla sido la modelo escogida para esta nota ha sido súper fantástico!!!!

  9. So beautifuuuul~~ Does anyone know what brand he uses to color the natural hair ?

  10. He is super nice!! I hope he can do my hair when I go to Japan!

  11. DragonxKeeper

    That looks like such an awesome shop. If I could, I’d love to get my hair done there one day :D

  12. Ah, cool! Thanks for this, TF. I saw a bunch of Vines that Junnyan posted of Haruka getting her hair done here, and I was super curious to know where they were. Now I do! :)

  13. My god i cant wait to got to tokyo i would like Haruka to dye my hair\\\\ >w

  14. gracia muten

    i want to know how much ~ maybe i want to try dye my hair in there XD

  15. Pingback: 下北沢の派手美容室 VIVA CUTE CANDY に行ってきた。髪が銀と緑になった! - 拡張現実ライフ

  16. I wish my hair to be like that, and have a cute colors in my hair. Also I wish to have a cute outfit. But I don’t care if my hair is thick nor thin, I love to have the colors in my hair. That will be cute, and awesome. And I wish to have extanion as well. That would be awesome. And I hope my hair will be really cute, and really awesome.
    :)
    I love anime hair color
    ;)

  17. Thanks for this wonderful feature! I was very happy to see a piece of life for a kawaii girl, and the salon is fantastic! I wish I could go there. I hope you will do more features like this.

  18. I abolsutely LOVED this post :D

    I first heard about Viva Cute Candy! in the Japanese Streets article and interview, and it’s great to have another insight ^^

    I’m a big fan of all the wild hair colours in Harajuku, so I obviously had to love this place! The decoration is crazy, Iku seems to be a super nice guy, and the job he does is amazing. Of course, the fact we get to see him doing it on Haruka Kuerbayashi is a big plus too :3

    The truth is this post made me want to dye my hair in some extremely bright colours. Unfortunately, I don’t think it would ever look that great on me T_T

    I think I’ll just keep admiring the amazing works of Viva Cute Candy! from a save distance… for now :P

    xx