A Hair Salon on the Cutting Edge

Having had their fill of high-profile salons that attract big-name clients and charge a price to match, some folks about town and even from out of town are heading to a low-key, moderately priced salon tucked into the corner of a shopping mall. No $150 haircuts here. Prices range from $28 to $32. But more than that, the limo service, personal shopper on call and list of other, hand-picked professional services available in the area, set this place apart. It’s in Torrance, called Lynore’s Beau Monde Salon and owned by Lynore Oliveri.

Question: How do you account for your clients who travel in from places that are not exactly around the block?

Oliveri: You mean the people who come in from Phoenix or New York or Chicago? I guess what draws them is the service. They feel they are getting a value. One thing that makes us unique is we do an awful lot of corrective work. So after they’ve tried other salons they might come here and we fix them up. A bad perm doesn’t have to be cut off, you know.

Q: How do you doctor up a bad perm?

Oliveri: Anything that we know how to do, we can undo. A perm can be relaxed with a milder chemical and intensive conditioning. Asking a client to wait four months or more for a bad perm to grow out is just plain cruel.

Q: Tell us your favorite horror story from the battle zones.

Oliveri: A client came to us after her hair had turned blue from a product used as a highlighter and color enhancer. To complicate matters, a salon had tried to bleach out the blue, and-- poof!-- her hair literally went up in smoke!

Q: Do you find it important to have celebrity clients?

Oliveri: We do have some, but actually we prefer to keep our low profile. Our best form of advertising is word of mouth.

Q: What inspires clients to spread the word?

Oliveri: People who have tried other places like our personal touch. We avoid the conveyor-belt approach. That means that here you’re not passed around from one person to another. The person who cuts your hair won’t hand you over to someone else for your perm. Also, we offer a limousine service with a personal shopper who helps you get your total fashion look together. This service has been particularly useful for out-of-towners, like those from Japan who stay in the nearby hotels. We also offer a referral list for all kinds of professional services.

Q: How did you hit upon your Southwestern decor? You certainly have your share of bows and arrows and drums in the salon.

Oliveri: I personally picked out most of the artifacts, which come from Indian reservations. I love the Southwest and feel the art adds just another personalized touch to the salon.

Q: It sure sounds like all of this gets you out of bed in the morning.

Oliveri: Thirty members of my family are hairstylists or barbers. It makes me believe in genetics.

Lynore’s Beau Monde Salon, 24239 Hawthorne Blvd., Torrance.