In its third year in Mt. Sinai, Lipsticks and Lollipops has had so much success catering to young girls for their birthdays that moms told owner Christine Barnhill they wish they could get the same treatment.
"So many parents and kids have come in and asked us why we don’t cut hair and do services where we can come in for appointments," Barnhill said, "because basically we have just done little girls’ parties. They come in get their hair done and nails done and they want to know why they can’t come back for an appointment."
Now they can as the party location for young girls has expanded into a salon where mothers and daughters can return to share a day together. The Salon at Lipstick and Lollipops opened on Feb. 1 after months of renovation after the expansion.
"For a while we looked for a second location," she said. "We were going to move to something bigger, but then the salon next door decided to do that first, so we decided to expand [there]."
After Rapunzel's salon moved in October, Barnhill signed the lease in November. In order to cater to mothers and daughters alike, she brought in experienced stylists to work the salon and along with the cosmetology students who worked the parties, Lipstick and Lollipops expanded to a staff of 13.
"Sometimes you go to salons and they don’t want the kids running around, but in our salon that’s fine," Barnhill said. "During the week moms can come too. We have master stylists that do color, hair cuts, highlights, keratin and all that stuff that moms want also."
Gina DeMaio has been in the business for 20 years and joined the salon as the master stylist and nail technician.
"The atmosphere is very warm and inviting...it’s very homey," she said. "Everyone here still takes ongoing education classes, keeping up with the latest trends."
While expanding was never the plan, Barnhill credited her customers for the idea of the new salon, and the success of Lipstick and Lollipops since opening in 2010 made it possible.
"This was never the plan," she said, "but it was just basically connecting and listening to our customers...and that’s what we did."
