I never go to a hair salon, I just do it myself, but lately found myself in a hair rut. So a friend…read moretells me to go to this place...I figure, what do I have to lose...$6 and my hair'll grow back...
FIRST IMPRESSION: It's calm, quiet, an honest mom & pop--they got it on Disney Channel, a father is waiting his turn while his son is getting his hair cut...it's a big, open, clean space. A young lady comes up to me and in the chair I go. Didn't even have time to browse the hair books (didn't come in with an exact idea in mind). That doesn't matter though, because she listened to me as I talked about what was going on with my hair. So she says "Ok we will add layers" and I'm down with that because I have split ends and just want healthy hair... She combs through it, sprays me with water (it was sweet smelling water, like they added jasmine to it or something) and before she cuts she shows me how much she's gonna cut. I said yes and she goes to work.
The best part is that I could see she was very focused and careful. She was calm, unpretentious and confident. In fact, she seemed so serenely into her work that I didn't want to talk. I normally don't like to anyway, I'm glad we didn't have to suffer the small talk that could usually happen in other salons. A few people came in after me, two older women and an older man. I think it was the women who were getting a cut. They greeted them, seemed to know them from before. Since it was only the man and woman working, they had to wait. I saw how this didn't affect their countenance at all, or their attention to detail.
The woman who cut my hair never rushed, but took much pride in her work, cutting calmly, never glancing away. And here's the OTHER best part: she even blow dried it (hair still damp from the water spray) and styled it, adding a few spritzes of hairspray to my bangs and meticulously sculpting them in a way that I can do everyday....all this while there were others waiting. She never rushed through it.
QUITE HONESTLY THE HIGHEST QUALITY $6 I'VE EVER HAD IN MY 30 OF LIVING. I've been to other $4-6 salons and they just let you walk out with your hair still wet and neck itchy with hair. Not this place!
Furthermore, after the cut I had my eyebrows waxed. I'm an OCD freak about my eyebrows, I pluck them daily but can never trim my own, and anyone who knows eyebrows knows its very hard to get all of the hairs. Well, even though there were people waiting she led me to the other end of the salon where I laid back in the chair and she went to work again. I told her what I needed, not too much, just cleaned up and a small trim, and she went to work again. She never rushed, took just as much care as she did with my hair before. The wax experience was relaxing, I totally trusted her even though I've never been here before. She went back with a tweezer, trimmed, and then tweezed again. Usually people only do one trip with the tweezer, especially if people are waiting because they just want to chase that money. Not these people, not her.
I usually hate people's eyebrow work--they always leave some obvious stray hair and it aggravates me that they dont just pluck it out because I go home and fix it myself AFTER I just paid someone to do it for me. BUT NOT THEM--The young Albanian lady who took care of me the whole time took such pride and care in her work.
I was thrilled with her work. I loved my experience so much! For $12 I got a high quality hair experience and one of the most excellent eyebrow waxing experiences I've ever had in my life...obviously because I'm gushing about it. Even got compliments from people about my hair and eyebrows when my friends saw me that evening!
Believe me, I'm a visitor to Oak Park and wish I could take this whole salon back to New Orleans with me! They also do nails, and threading I think. They are an all-around family hair and nail salon...for men, women, children and their nail and depilatory needs. I hope they will continue to be around for a very long time so whenever I come back here I know I have people I can trust to get the job done right.