I spent most of my life in big cities before moving to France. In these cosmopolitan cities, hair salons formed a part of the basic amenities offered to citadines and I was no stranger to regularly using them.
The hair salons in my life
Even in Orsay, a small Parisian western suburban city of 16,500 residents over 20km away from the centre of the national capital and the first French city I lived in when I arrived in France in 2016, it was still a big enough city to accommodate four hair salons along the main downtown street, each just a few steps away from another. As you moved further away from the centre, you would find more hair salons but less densely distributed. As I lived right in the city centre, the four salons were more than enough to meet my bi-monthly needs.
Three years ago in 2021, I moved to a neighbouring town—no, more of a village— Gometz-le-Châtel of 2,500 residents which was 5km away from Orsay. Technically, the village had no hairdressers within its village limits. To get to the nearest hair salon, I had to walk downhill for 20 minutes to use the services in another neighbouring town.
The nearest hair salon was a one-woman show business. I had no complaints with the salon, whatsoever; I found it a little quaint when I first frequented the small business. A less-than 10m² salon space that was run by a friendly, chatty thirtish-year-old lady. Since there was only one hairdresser, the salon could accommodate only up to two clients at a time. A slight inconvenience of this small business was the limited slots; it had a short working week of four days and it was often closed for long periods during holiday seasons. Hence, making a reservation for a hair cut sometimes needed to be planned way in advance. The biggest pull factor of this place was that the price was about 25% lower than that in Orsay for the same set of cutting and colouring services. Since it was a unisex salon, my other half also frequented it.
Quest for a new salon in Grenoble
Anyway, my point is that I have experience in visiting hair salons in big and small cities. Regardless, the three-year stay in a small village has kind of temporary wiped off my experience of visiting big city hair salons. Now that I am in Grenoble, a city of 161,000 inhabitants (62 times bigger than Gometz-le-Châtel), I will have to get used to visiting hair salons in big cities. I hope it will not be too much of an adventure in my quest for a regular hair dresser in this new city.
Last week, three days after I installed permanently in Grenoble, I got myself a hair appointment. A hair cut was sorely needed to start the inescapable hot summer in France’s flattest city. After checking out the services and prices of a few downtown salons that were suggested from Google search, I randomly picked La Verrière Sur Cour and reserved a haircut at 4pm three days after I moved to Grenoble. It was not surprising that the prices were much higher than the one-woman show in Gometz-le-Chatel, but comparable to the prices in Orsay.
WOW effect
My three-year hiatus from city salons might have resulted in me being susceptible to the WOW effect. When I arrived at the address of hair salon, the first WOW was simply its location—an inner courtyard. Getting out of the main street and walking along the passageway that led to the salon was like walking into an oasis. I am perhaps exaggerating a little; just by stepping into the passage way had knocked a couple of degrees off the sizzling Grenoblois ambient temperature of more than 30ºC. Entering into the salon was another WOW. I was impressed (too easily?) by a brightly lit, elegant lobby overhung by a modern lighting structure fitted under a translucent roof. A short flight of stairs located on the left side of the lobby led to the second floor where all the hair pampering activities took place.
Upstairs was bustling with life, a significant change from my last salon scene. On reaching the landing, a quick glance of the spacious working floor showed that there were at least 3 female clients waiting on the styling chairs with their hair in various processing stages, and two or three male clients either waiting for their turn or having their hair cut. It seemed that the salon was managed by two male hair stylists who were assisted by two ladies, who dealt mainly with the washing and colouring of hair.
The service was prompt. I was directed to a styling chair and assisted by one of the two female assistants. After indicating to her that I wanted cutting and colouring services, she suggested a chestnut colour which I agreed. Minutes after, she started sectioning the hair and applying the chosen colour. As usual, I took off my glasses and read from my iPad while she set the colours. After the colour was set, she asked whether I would like to put on “sleeves” on my glasses. I had no other what idea what she was talking about and mumbled some noncommittal comments. The lady came back with two slim plastic tubes—the sleeves—and slip them onto the temples of the glasses. That was another WOW for me. I exclaimed that it was the first time I had seen such a contraption. She chuckled and said that it was commonly used in salons (except my previous neighbourhood salon). I must have been missing out all the fun stuff at the big city salons.
I sat patiently, waiting for the colour to set, filling my time by reading from my iPad and drinking a glass of salon’s refreshing grenadine flavoured water. Around 30 minutes later, the assistant directed me to the shampooing chair. I think subconsciously, based on the “WOWs” that greeted me so far, I was expecting a luxurious shampooing session with exceptionally good stress-relieving head massage that sent tingles from the head to the toes. Hélas, my expectations were not met. The shampooing / head massage was nothing earth shattering.
After my hair was washed and massaged, I was directed to another chair to wait for a hair stylist to attend to me. Not soon after, a young man in his late twenties with kind eyes and a smile approached me. I explained that I wanted a hair cut, with the back being as short as possible. Then I whipped out my phone to show him a photo of a hair style that I found on internet, adding that I wanted a style that would refine my round face. He nodded and replied that what I needed was a cut that would give me volume. With no further adieu, he grabbed a pair of scissors, sat on a stool and started snipping my locks.
I was very slightly taken aback. I was usually posed several questions regarding the hair length that I wanted to keep at the front, side and back, but he asked no such questions. The only question he asked was to confirm the side that I part my hair. I swear, within 5 minutes, definitely less than 10 minutes, he said that he was done. I looked at myself in the mirror and I liked a lot what I saw. Another WOW for me. The only request I asked of him was to shorten the side. After a few more minutes off getting the side length reduced and then followed by having my nape shaved with a electric trimmer, I got my pixie summer haircut.
I proceeded to the cashier, accompanied by the same hairstylist and then was told me that the cost was 82€. I was a little surprised as I recalled the online price list indicating 72€ for a short hair cut and colouring service; 82€ was for long hair. I decided not to question him because I thought I might have misremembered the price and that the difference of 10€ was not that big (still, 14% more) and that I was able to overlook the difference given that I really liked my haircut.
Conclusion
Will I revisit the salon? Maybe. But I would definitely confirm on the price before having the hair done. However, I do find the price a tad too much for a lowly paid freelance English teacher whose work situation is in limbo in this new city. I will likely spend some time trying out a few more salons before settling on regular coiffeur. Who knows? I may indeed return to the first one.