Is Your Hair Stylist as Awesome as Mine?

A few weeks (months?  I’ m not sure) ago, a new hair place opened in town.

I have a confession.  It’s quite consistent with what I said in my Author profile, about not being a girly girl. I rarely get my hair cut, lately it has been about twice per year. When I do get my hair cut, it is a pretty straight forward adventure, there’s nothing fancy about it.

The place I go most of the time couldn’t fit me in for a week and a half or so, so I decided to check out the new place. They couldn’t take me as a walk in, but they had an opening in the evening that week. Evening appointments? Big checkmark of awesomeness, for me.

Of note, I had no earthly idea what this would cost, but as long as it wasn’t going to be obscene, I didn’t really care. We don’t have any Great Clips type places in town, all of the available options are more or less the same price.

I went, had a very lovely chat with the hairdresser, and came home gushing about amazing it was.

My spouse interjected, after a few minutes of this, with “not one thing you’ve said has had anything to do with the actual cutting of your hair.”

“I know. I’m paying for a service! My haircut is easy.”

One reason that lots of people like to get their hair done is for the social experience. My coworker’s spouse owns a hair salon (the one that I had trouble booking into in a timely manner), boy oh boy do they always know the latest gossip in town! I am fairly indifferent to the social aspect, though chatting can be fun.  I like the rest of the things that were on offer, really bringing the whole thing together, as an experience.

What Makes My Salon Awesome:

• Keurig and large selection of teas, with nice huge mugs to use.  There’s also real milk/cream in the fridge.
• Mini fridge full of cold water, pop, iced tea, OJ and gatorade (oh if only the liquor laws here were more lenient!)
• Big comfy couches in the waiting area
• Massage chairs in the waiting area.  I’m not kidding. So amazing.
• In-mirror television screens.  Whoa cool. Plus, you keep your head up this way, unlike if you were reading a magazine.
• They still have a great selection of magazines, not all hair and girly-girl ones. I love me some Macleans, Atlantic, Economist, etc.
• Awesome hair products being used and described to me. I might not buy the product, but telling me that you’re using paraben free organic mint shampoo is nice to know, ya know?
• Mini-cupcakes.  Yes. So delicious. Tucked away safely in the mini-fridge, free for the taking.
• The chairs are spaced out well, so you don’t have to hear the conversation the next person over is having, there’s a front desk, or a wash station in the way.
• There’s reasonable music playing in the background. I don’t know why and how so many salons mess this part up, by not having any, or by having the obnoxious local radio station playing (obnoxious regardless of where you are, local radio doesn’t invoke a relaxing spa-like atmosphere!).
• They’ll do before and after photos of your hair, if you’d like, and email them to you.
• They do all sorts of events and whatnot. For example they do princess parties for little girls, wedding prep (helloooo massage chair!), and girls nights out.
• I already mentioned this, but they’re open in the evenings!

All in all, that was $50 well spent, I must say. What do you love about your hair salon? Is Your Hair Stylist as Awesome as Mine?