.png)
There must be something really special about a hair salon in South Pasadena when customers fly in from San Francisco or New York, and even from as far as London, just to get their hair done.
To find out what that special something is, we spoke with Karmen Aghazarian and Dusty Schlabach, co-owners of Thairapy Salon, located at 815 Fairview Avenue in the heart of South Pasadena, just up the 110 north from Downtown Los Angeles, and about 10 minutes south of Old Town Pasadena.
If you notice, the name itself is quite special already. Thairapy sounds like The Hair Therapy more than anything else. And it’s actually that, more than the salon thing, that probably makes the business tick.
“We don’t like salons,” Dusty Schalabach says, and then laughs. “Salons have a stigma or a stereotype that they’re kind of stuffy typically, and I think one of the biggest things that stylists can take as a compliment is like, ‘oh, I’ll never be able to get my hair to look like this at home.’ And we do not take that as a compliment. As stylists, we want the exact opposite, like ‘It’s good here,’ and you’re able to make it good all the way through until you come back and still look good!”
The stylists at Thairapy accomplish that kind of result by helping women embrace the natural texture of their hair and keep it healthy.
“At that healthy point, your natural texture is going to look phenomenal,” Schalabach continues.
Karmen Aghazarian adds that they are more of a natural-based hair service than anything else.
“We use natural products. It’s about the natural texture, natural hair,” she says. “Instead of enhancing it to something else, we want you to embrace your natural texture. We work towards that now.”
“We’re not a typical salon. We’re way more interested in how your hair is and how it works with you and how you work with your hair in between your appointments,” Schalabach continues. “We’re way more interested in the health of your hair than how great we can style it here. We want you to be able to work with it at home.”
By helping women keep their hair healthy, Thairapy assures clients that they can stay away from the salon for longer periods.
“We definitely don’t want you depending on us or other stylists for every four to six weeks, which some salons do. We want you to come in every three to four months as to what we do, and then you do your part at home to maintain it,” Schalabach says. “Instead of just relying on us, we just want you to know more about your hair, and that way you can go three to four months and look amazing, feel amazing, and know what you’re doing and just come to us, for us to maintain it for you so you can go back again and enjoy it.”
That says it. It’s that kind of service that attracts clients even from far away.
Schalabach says there are other salons in Southern California that do what Thairapy does, but they’re few and far between.
“So that would be the draw,” he says. “That’s why they would drive here, because maybe there isn’t any where they are.”
Both co-owners say they’d be happier if more local clients would come and take advantage of Thairapy’s services.
“We have a lot of people from here, but if I had to guess, a majority of them are from elsewhere,” says Aghazarian. “This is why it’s so exciting for us. We want our own community to be even more aware of what we offer and be able to take advantage of it and so we can give back and do more and have them do the same.”
Thairapy Salon welcomes all hair styles, and they specialize in natural curly and wavy hair, dry cutting, hair extensions, pintura and balayage, women’s short styles, and life-saving color correction.
The salon is LVL3 Deva Curl and Great Lengths Extensions certified.
Anywhere you are, you can call (626) 441-2062 to set up a consultation, or check out their website, www.ineedthairapy.com, for more information.
