Charlottesville Salons and Social Media

I would like the works: haircut, color, keratin treatment. I’m living frugally (after all, it was just Christmas and I have recently started a new business) and looking for special offers from local salons. So where do I go? To the social web to find my friends’ favorite salons and stylists, online specials and social communities to get an idea of which salons have the best reputations.

My friend Jen swears by Moxie and her personal stylist Richard the Hair God. I sort-of feel like any salon that calls itself a hair and body lounge might be a tad pretentious. A review of the salon’s website led to a buried mention of its Facebook presence (which is a profile, not a page, one of my pet peeves). Even though the approach is all wrong, the salon seems to have a lot of “friends” and lists in a status update the specials for the month.

The next salon I found with a social presence is Salon Cielo and Spa.  To my great relief, they have a Facebook page (not a profile) and even a Twitter account. Unfortunately the two cross post and are 100 percent redundant (a lazy approach to social web integration). The salon is part of a chain with multiple locations in four states so there’s really no reason to not have a more robust approach to web marketing.

Bristles is another popular local salon — many of my friends seem to like it, judging by their Facebook page. I can’t visit their website, however, since my virus protection software has flagged it as a risk (hey Bristles — something’s up with your site — you might want to check that out.) They have also been voted Favorite Hair Salon in Charlottesville for 13 years — that’s a good sign. I can’t tell what prices are, however, and no specials are evident on the Facebook page, so I’m less inclined to follow up with them.

What about you? How do you find a hair salon/stylist or another service in your community? Do you take your search to the social web?