Talk about the little salon that could. Splitends in Costa Mesa has caught on fire the last few months thanks to some major online buzz.
I first found out about this boutique salon months ago on Yelp, my latest Internet addiction — a site that’s devoted to real reviews of businesses (from restaurants and doctors to salons and shops) from real people. To date, the 6-month old hair salon has received 34 glowing testimonials with a full five-star rating. Testimonials ranged along the lines of “Oh my god, this haircut changed my life” to “Best haircut ever.” And they’re about to be featured in an upcoming article in Fortune Magazine.
Of course I had to check it out. The location is a bit hard to find, tucked away at the end of a tiny cul-de-sac off Randolph and Bristol, near The Lab and The Camp. The building’s shaped like a perfect cube with wooden slats all around the exterior for cooler-than-cool cabin-like look. The salon itself is downstairs and is maybe the size of a studio apartment or small hotel room. The walls and furniture are an almost blinding stark white, save for the fire-engine red tool drawers underneath the vanity mirrors.
It’s just owner Christopher and Gina who cut, color and style hair. Gina has been referred to online (more than once) as a style genius for women’s hair. I’m immediately offered a beverage: Water, soda or wine. It’s a weekend, I opt for a Syrah blend. Woo-hoo. I can feel Christopher eyeing my dreadfully long and bedraggled locks with just a slight gleam in his eye. He was so dying to cut it. Christopher was just finishing up on a mohawk for an Asian male client in his mid-to-late 20s.
Both Christopher and Gina are extremely personable and will chat you up, but without that fake, artificial small talk feel you typically get elsewhere. Christopher assumes the role of a hair professor almost, getting into the science of your hair, how it grows and explains how it’s in the shape that it is. Instead of just asking what you want, he’ll ask questions like, what your job is (so he knows whether you can hang with something edgy - most likely not for a lot of of office-types), whether you take the time to style your hair or just want to wash and go, like me, which means you’d need a low-maintenance ‘do.
He immediately picked out remnants of the accidental mullet I got two years ago, ha. He is a fan of razor cuts, but he doesn’t abuse it. He lopped off about four inches, evened out the straggly bits and gave my straight hair a bit more texture. Cost: $45, but the best part is, bang trims are free. Suh-weet.
To check out their Yelp page and read reviews from fellow OC guys and gals, click here.
Splitends
765 Saint Clair St. Ste #A
Costa Mesa, CA
949. 645.1223
www.splitends.com
