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At Wair Studio Salon, the goal is to make clients feel even more beautiful and confident than they did when they walked in. Each part of the hair care process is thoughtfully designed to ensure a healthy, individualized result that clients love and it all starts with the stylists.
Salon owner and master stylist, Hope Doms, takes responsibility for the training of her team.
“I don’t expect everyone to do hair just like me but being able to take techniques and ideas and bouncing ideas off each other … I think that’s the best way for people to grow,” says Doms. “I send my team to classes and I pay for their education. I give credit and feedback all the time, especially with my young assistants. They have to assist for at least a year before they get their chair. It’s a slow growing process but they’re set up for success and not failure.”
Wair Studio Salon is one of only a few salons in America to be certified in the calligraphy cut, which is a specific method of hair cutting where the hair is cut on a 21 degree angle. Benefits of the calligraphy cut include increased color radiance, fewer split ends, overall smoother and healthier hair that lasts longer between cuts.
“It’s easier to blow dry. It’s great for fine hair, curly hair and I love it for long hair,” says Doms. “If you are that type of person that doesn’t like to get your hair cut, but you need to get it cut maybe four times a year, I always say the calligraphy cut is the way to go.”
Talented stylists are then combined with clean, organic products.
From juice cleanses to keto products, people are increasingly concerned about what they are putting into their bodies but not so much what they are putting onto their bodies. Salons are filled with chemicals from bleach to dyes, meaning clients and stylists alike are surrounded by them.
It’s an issue Doms realized within her own career and it’s a big reason why she chose to switch to organic products.
While she knows a salon can’t be entirely chemical-free, constantly swapping out harsh chemical products with healthier organic products has allowed her to create a safer space for her stylists and clients.
“All we do is work around chemicals all day. Being in this business so long, I’ve been exposed to so much,” says Dom. “Because of that, I’m inspired to give a place for other stylists to work that’s safer and cleaner.”
Doms efforts go beyond ensuring the products Wair uses are good for her clients—she also wants them to be good for the environment.
This includes researching the companies to see what their sustainability goals are. From their excess usage of water and their disposal methods, to the containers in which they package their products, Doms wants a product that has the least ecological footprint.
“I really try my best to make sure that what we do is better for the environment,” says Doms. “Even though it’s really hard these days … every little thing makes a difference.”
At the end of the day, owning a salon is more than just hair for Doms. It’s about client relationships.
“I want to have a bigger salon but you know, bigger isn’t necessarily better. The bigger the salon, the harder it is to have that special touch,” says Dom. “When anyone walks into the salon I say, ‘Hello.’ Everyone knows who I am and I know who they are. I don’t want to lose that.”
That’s not to say she doesn’t have aspirations for the future.
“I definitely want a bigger space and I would love to expand with my sister who owns a consignment store to create a multiple-experience salon, but still keep it small and boutique-like,” says Dom. “If in the near future it happens, it happens. I’m just kind of leaving it up to time to see where everything goes.”
Wair Studio Salon
Marlton
(856) 334-8231
WairStudioSalon.com
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Published and copyrighted in South Jersey Magazine, Volume 20, Issue 7 (October 2023)
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