A Little Off the Top

Inside the barbershop at this Costa Mesa strip mall, two guys wait patiently for their turns. Owner and stylist Nicola Lee is trimming a tattooed, heavyset man’s butt-length hair short enough to satisfy any branch of the military. Nicola’s own brown hair hangs just below her shoulders, covering the spaghetti straps of her floral bikini top. Her slender torso is exposed but her bikini bottom is veiled by a matching sarong.

Like all the stylists, Nicola does her trims wearing only swimwear. Since the Bikini Barber Shop opened three years ago, the 95% male clientele has gladly shelled out $13 for a haircut and an eyeful. While customers aren’t difficult to find, stylists are.

“Whenever someone calls in response to an ad and they hear ‘Bikini Barber Shop,’ some won’t even apply,” says Chris Lee, Nicola’s husband and the shop’s co-owner. The couple received a few attacks by women who claim they’re using sex to sell haircuts. “Some women would stick their heads in and call us names,” says Nicola.

“Our main goal is to give a good haircut in a fun environment,” says Chris. He admits that, at first, customers do come in for the gimmick, but if the cut “isn’t good, they won’t be back.”

Nicola says the idea of bikini-clad stylists came from Australia, where hair is cut on Bondi Beach. But even in Southern California, winter can get chilly. Regardless, bikinis are the uniform. “It’s always summer at the Bikini Barber Shop,” says Chris. “We just have to close the door and turn up the heat.”