Hairdresser Review: Hair at the Zoo, Leeming.

What’s all this about: Wash, treatment, trim/tiny cut (inc. fringe), blowdry
Ka-ching: $74
Verdict: Worth it
Join the fun: (08) 9310 3239, Shop 17 Leeming Forum Shopng Cntr, Leeming, WA 6149

Hair at the Zoo is an unassuming little salon nestled next to a fish & chip shop and a real estate agency, it’s your average friendly, non intimidating local hairdresser.

Upon entering, it’s a low key salon, with a childs play area and simple couches. I’m greeted and asked to take a seat. Unfortunately it’s a busy time for them (after school period) and I have to wait half an hour even though I made an appointment.

I don’t mind as my afternoon is free & I’m kept busy by website planning & scowling young boys who don’t want their shaggy hair trimmed, but any other time I think I would have been annoyed – it is a long time to wait if you’ve made an appt.

The woman who washes my hair is very friendly, she does it twice, then asks me what I’d like to get out of my hair treatment (strength & shine in this case) and goes about applying the best one for my hair. Hot towels are then wrapped around my hair to help it penetrate.

It’s then rinsed out by another girl, scalp massaged & then over to the chair for snipping to begin.

I opt for about 4cm off to get rid of the last straggly layers my hair was sporting & a side-fringe trim. Crystal my hairdresser is great, listens to what I want & knows how my hair works (I’ve been to her a few times).

The hair is then blowdried and it looks good! My hair feels shiny, many less split ends, a better shape & a little shorter, so I’m pleased.

She did have to leave a few times to attend to people walking into the salon, again, it’s not a big deal for me, but some might be put off by it.

All up it cost me $74 for a wash, treatment, trim/tiny cut & blowdry. Which I think is a really reasonable price. I’ve had far worse cuts @ other salons for much more $$$ without a treatment.

I would definitely recommend Hair at the Zoo as the price is great and the hairdressers (well Crystal at least – I haven’t tried the others) know what they are doing. If you expect and demand 5 star service, then this may not be the salon for you, but if you are looking for somewhere cheap, cheerful and easy going then Hair at the Zoo may just be your new diamond in the rough! 🙂

Mini Review: Clear Image Skin Clinic, Leeming

Today I whirled into this little salon (open Sunday so a big plus!) which is located South of the River @ the Farrington Road shops in Leeming.

My mission Today was to become less hairy, something which I have been REALLY lax about lately (much to my boy friends dismay @ my prickly legs, I find shaving a very sub-optimal form of hair removal) due to being unemployed for a while & sans-dollars. The torture areas of choice were eyebrows, lip & underarms (the legs will have to wait a few more days!!).

The salon itself is quite small, but it feels nice and clean inside. The therapist seemed young and wasn’t particularly talkative, which I don’t mind.

The brows were the first to go, she tidied them up with strip wax in one little rip for each brow. At other salons I’ve been to they do it incrementally, it turned out okay though so I’m not sure which I prefer.

The worst part was that a tiny bit of wax got on my eyelid so it hurt when she was taking it off, luckily it didn’t seem to have an effect on the lid but I was concerned it might.

The lip was definitely the worst! Afterwards it turned quite red and the therapist laughed when I asked if it was red, which I didn’t think was very professional, but she went and got some i.d Bare Escentuals make-up to conceal it.

The underarms were fine, I was asked a preference between hot / strip wax & I chose hot. In my experience hot wax is always the way to go for underarms! It hurts a lot more otherwise!

So now I’m free from having to worry when wearing dresses and singlets for about a month, I’m such a big advocate for underarm waxing – shaving is so messy & non lasting on me.

It cost $40 for those 3 treatments, which is a pretty standard cost.

PROS: Open on Sunday, average price, concealed post-wax redness with make-up

CONS: Therapist lacked professionality, lip was very red from strip wax, bit of wax on eyelid.

Overall I’m not sure if I’d heartily recommend it yet, definitely for a leg wax it’d be fine & being open on Sunday is a huge plus. If I went again I’d hope for a different therapist or just get legs / underarms done. They do IPL there which I am really interested in for my bikini line, but I might look around a bit more for a salon I feel a little more confident in going to.

6.5/10