Combine the Yellow Pages with Facebook and Craigslist, toss in a couple of celebrity hairstylists and you get pickmysalon.com, a new Web site aimed at serving both salons and their clients.
 Pickmysalon.com helps clients find your salon. |
Designed to make the salon search process stress-free, pickmysalon.com offers consumers a searchable database that has grown to include more than 900 salons nationwide. Profiles feature a link to the salon's personal Web site, a map to the location and even an online portfolio featuring photos and videos of past work and specialties. "When people go to get their hair done, they typically grab a magazine, find a style they like, and bring it with them to the salon," says co-owner Angela Kzinowek. "They don't know what to expect and they're often disappointed. But with the online portfolio, they can walk in with confidence." Once consumers visit a salon, they are encouraged to take advantage of the site's rating system in exchange for a coupon or discount for the salon, benefiting the consumer, other users and the salon itself.
Although membership is free for consumers, salons and stylists must pay a small monthly fee to be part of the database. In return, the site offers salons the ability to reach out to potential clients, network with product manufacturers, trade tips with other stylists on the site's blog, and buy and sell beauty products in the classified section.
So what's next? Kzinowek says that in addition to working on building membership, she's developing an iPhone application and a reality show on MTV to help publicize the site. —A.F.