By Ashley Mitchell
Owners: Elizabeth Azzara and Marisa Perrault
Start Date: Dec. 4, 2009
Square Footage: 2,300
Address: 310 W. Holly Street, Bellingham
Phone: (360) 778-3858
Web site: www.honeybellingham.com
It might sound cliché, but it really is all about hair at Honey, a newly opened hair salon on Holly Street. The salon came into existence when owners Elizabeth Azzara and Marisa Perrault teamed up to take the next step in their stylist careers and open their own business.
Honey is located in a modern space within a historic building along Holly Street and the salon staff works to uphold a fresh artistic and creative atmosphere.
“We strive to keep ourselves educated, which is something many salons don’t do,” Perrault said of the staff. “For example, we’re planning to attend a two-day, hands-on workshop in New York to receive specific training and learn new styling techniques.”
Azzara and Perrault have known each other for eight years since attending beauty school at Gene Juarez Academy in Seattle. Azzara was living in Seattle and Perrault in San Francisco, when they decided they were both at the right place in their careers to open a salon together. Perrault wanted to come back to the Northwest and Azzara had spent much of her youth in the area, so Bellingham was a good compromise.
The salon also offers a unique and different service known as sugaring hair removal. This service, akin to waxing, uses a product known as Sugar Suite, which is a gel-like substance made out of sugar, lemon juice and water. It is an ancient hair removal technique from the Middle East that is more sanitary and less wasteful than waxing. The ingredients create a consistency that doesn’t stick to the skin as easily and feels similar to honey, an inspiration for the salon’s name.
“The process doesn’t involve paper products and is more gentle than regular waxing,” Perrault said. “It’s still painful, just not as much and the technique fits right in with our style, which is very new and fresh.”
The staff is comprised of four people: one “sugarist,” and three stylists. Azzara and Perrault want solid customer service and looked for stylists who echoed their talent, style and outlook for the salon. Since they feel strongly about advanced stylist education, it’s important to them their staff does as well.
They offer multiple hair and hair removal services including cuts, color, relaxers, perms and other similar chemical and technical services. The salon also has four available chairs for stylists, but is in no hurry to fill them. Perrault anticipates filling the open chairs within the next few years as the salon builds a reputation.
“We eventually hope to install an advanced training program in the salon to allow for people to apprentice and train for a year and learn our methods,” Perrault said. “We really focus on a particular type of salon environment and our entire staff should be focused on that too.”
