Childhood friends Jacqueline Moore (left) and Traci Barrett returned to North Central and recently launched a reimagined salon experience at The Root Salon (submitted photo).
If getting your hair cut in a room full of mirrors and fancy people gives you a sense of dread, and instead of going to a salon you head for the kitchen shears, read this. There is a place for us, and it’s right here in North Central. It’s called The Root Salon.
“I avoided salons all my life, because they intimidated me,” says now salon owner Jacqueline Moore. “Mirrors everywhere, stylish people with perfect makeup…not for me,” she said.
But one day her bestie from elementary school, a successful stylist to the stars and national consultant to top brands, moved back home from Hollywood, “because I wanted to raise my little one here in North Central, close to my family and friends,” said Traci Barrett, celebrity stylist and co-owner at Root.
Barrett left Hollywood and came home, renting a chair in a neighborhood salon and one fine day was pushing a stroller full of fussy toddler through the neighborhood with her bestie, Jacqueline. Many of Barrett’s clients were flying to Phoenix for her haircuts and color, and she flew to them on occasion. It was “a little crazy.”
“As my friend and I were walking with our little ones, I kept telling her about the problems in the beauty industry. Gone are the days of young stylists working in a salon where they learn and perfect their skills with the mentorship of older, experienced stylists. Instead, they graduate from beauty school and rent a booth somewhere and they are isolated, inexperienced and easily frustrated and they burn out. Not to mention that their clients don’t have the benefits of a stylist who can offer truly top-notch services,” said Barrett.
Cue Moore, the lifelong friend and salon-avoider.
“I really like to build systems that work for established industries – and optimize them for success. I was listening to Traci and thinking, here’s what I’d do about that,” she said.
She had taken a break from business but was itching to get back to what she does best. “I’m a mom and a wife and a business builder – I see ways to change traditional ways of doing business and remake them to suit today’s markets.”
So, the pair hatched a plan. “We started looking for a space for our own salon, where we’d create a place for all people to feel welcome and safe, and we’d teach them to trust our stylists. They may come in unsure and a bit wary, but they leave with confidence and looking their best. And we’d make educating our stylists a top priority. Whether discussing cuts and color or how to best understand each client’s hairstyle priorities, we mentor and share information,” says Barrett.
The pair bought a long-time salon named “The Root Salon,” and changed everything except the name.
“The name ‘root’ describes us – we came back to our own roots here in North Central, and we’re firmly planted here to raise our families and build a business that serves our neighbors,” said Moore.
They gutted the salon at 5813 N. 7th St., #120, letting in natural light with floor to ceiling sliding glass doors that open onto a grassy courtyard shared with neighboring businesses.
Wednesdays at The Root Salon are especially interesting for clients and stylists alike. Clients can book services with a junior stylist at a special rate yet benefit from that stylist getting hands-on mentoring from a more experienced one.
Currently loyal to a long-time stylist you just don’t want to cheat on? Book a scalp treatment and zone out in a dimly lit room with a heavenly scalp massage, complete with gently cleansing shampoo and a red-light treatment.
Moore, the business mind at the salon, laughs when she remembers how dropped lemon wedges set her on a path of remaking established businesses and, eventually, to the beauty biz.
“Back in the day, I had left teaching and had gone to work as a hostess at Steamers. Remember Steamers at the Biltmore?
“We were at a team meeting and here I was, the new girl working as a hostess, admonishing servers: ‘Stop dropping the lemon wedges! They cost money!’ After the team meeting, the manager said ‘Come with me. We need to talk.’ And of course, I thought I was in trouble. But no, he liked what I had said because, apparently, lemon wedges do cost money. He put me on the management track and I learned so much. I had found my sweet spot. And now? Here I am remaking a hair salon,” she said.
The Root Salon invites neighbors to get to know them at a community celebration on April 26 at 5 p.m. Held in the courtyard, the event will offer music, product samples and fun. For more information, call 602-277-4072 or visit www.therootsalon.com.
