There is one of these across the street from my bus stop. Presumably, it has something to do with hair, but do people show up with sopping wet hair to have it dried at this place?
Can you see through the windows?
It’s a hair salon that doesn’t do cuts or color. They wash, straighten, and style, and that’s all.
I didn’t know what a “blow out” was until I started going out with my current girlfriend. She loves them. They wash her hair, wrap a bunch of round brushes in her hair like they’re curlers, and blow her hair dry. Something like that, anyway.
Do they serve booze?
The place next to it is a “wine bar”, so it’s a pretty foofy area.
OK, so it’s like a hair salon you can go to when you don’t actually need your hair cut?
^ It seems like that’s what goes on at the place you’re talking about, but they cut at my girlfriend’s place too. But she just goes there for the blow outs.
Yes. You go to get your hair washed, dried, and styled. Drybar is one of the biggest chains, but there are plenty of other more local salons. Some offer aesthetic services as well (waxing, manicures and pedicures, makeup application, massage), lots offer champagne or tea or fancy water to drink while they work on you.
I walked by one of those places at the Scottsdale Quarter the other day, and when I looked in as I passed, I swear this is what I saw.
I go to these places from time to time if I have a special event. You go in and they wash, blow dry, and style your hair.
On an episode of Supergirl, Supergirl was going to meet the President and wondered if she should get a blowout. I said, “No, because you’re going to fly there and it will get messed up anyway.”
That being about the biggest problem Sup’grrl ever faces. What a saccharine show.
Before there were blow dry bars. It was fairly common for women to go to the salon to get there hair done for things like weddings, proms and formal parties. I know at my sisters wedding the master schedule included when the bride’s maids were getting their hair done. I think that a stylist came to the venue to do my sister and Mom’s hair. Now there are businesses that cater to just the styling part instead of styling and hair cutting.
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I walked by one of those places at the Scottsdale Quarter the other day, and when I looked in as I passed, I swear this is what I saw.
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The boyfriend’s been a “cosmo” (cosmetologist) for close to 32 years. The depiction is accurate. 
I’ve never heard of this before. But now I’m curious:
But what’s the business advantage for only doing the styling and not offering regular hair cuts, too?
Everybody needs haircuts at pretty regular intervals, and most people have a place they go to out of habit and convenience.
I’m guessing that blow/styling or whatever is less common…but wouldn’t the shop draw in more clients if you offer both services at the same place?
*(yes, I’m a guy…so I have zero understanding of this stuff. And my wife has very short hair that somehow gets taken care of by… I dunno, black magic?)
Cutting & coloring hair are specific skill sets. (Plus, the coloring process can smell weird.) Ladies get their hair cut less often than they may want just a shampoo & blowout. I remember my grandma going to the beauty salon for the same purpose–sleeping in a hair net & applying massive amounts of hairspray made the look “last”–I wonder if the technology has improved.
A few reasons that I can think of:
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The atmosphere in these places is sort of bar-like. Everyone sits around a u-shaped bar like area with the stylist behind them working on their hair. They even serve wine & champagne so the smell of hair color or brazillian blowout solution would kill the vibe.
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Color, cut & other services take a lot of training & a higher trained person is more expensive, but training someone to blow dry and flat iron is simple, so they can charge a much lower fee than a regular salon.
3.Because of the business model, I, as the consumer, can call up last minute and get a same day appointment-I can never do that with a regular salon.
This is still extremely common, because they’re catering to different things. Blow-dry bars are focused mostly on doing blowouts, which are more casual but polished styles where the hair is generally kept long and loose, and either flatironed, curled, or some combination. Some, but not all, will do a full complement of updos, which are more common for weddings/proms/etc., and usually take much longer. I would say that most blow-dry bars are focused on clientele who are maybe going to a party or an interview or a date night out or just want to look nice for everyday. Most women who are going to get an updo for a formal event will still go to a full-service salon.