Today we’d like to introduce you to Rabarb Aladin.
Hi Rabarb, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Twenty-nine years ago, I took a chance on myself and what I was passionate about by bringing a new beauty trend into Atlanta. Hair Images was born into the Atlanta community in 1994 as a full-service salon, one of its kind. My journey started when we migrated to the United States back in the early 90s.
Growing up, I was always interested in cosmetology and making other people feel good about themselves. I first went back to school to get my cosmetology license in Atlanta. I worked at various salons and gained more exposure and experience on haircuts, color, etc. But I had something else to offer that the salons here didn’t know much about. Threading and Waxing. I wanted to introduce the art of threading and hair removal by wax to everyone here in Atlanta. So after saving up some money, I decided to take a chance and open up a salon of my own with the support of my family. Since I had experience with all areas of hair, I created a full-service salon in the heart of Atlanta. It wasn’t easy to start something new and introduce this concept to a city which had never heard of threading and very few knew what waxing was at that time. I didn’t let that stop me from pushing forward. At the time, there was no social media and a lot of advertising was done in local magazines or printed flyers. With effort, hard work, and time, the business started to grow. We had a lot of word of mouth clients who tried the service and told their friends and the word started to get around. Few years into the business, we bought the space next to us and expanded into a 4500 square feet salon with multiple waxing rooms, a facial room, henna room, private area for color and highlights, several chairs for threading and haircuts. We were even featured on the local channel 5 news for the new trend of threading, henna and waxing. Today we are proud to say we were the first salon to introduce these services to the greater Atlanta area. Although we have a very loyal client base, we love to see new faces walk in every day.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road to success is never a straight line. We definitely encountered struggles and speed bumps along the way. One of the challenges as we grew our business was to have a loyal staff and those that wanted to help grow the business with us. There were several people that came and left as they built some clientele. But we are very lucky to have two extremely loyal stylists who have been with us for over 25 years – Sana and Brigitte. Our success and brand have survived through a lot of ups and downs. The steady change in economy, the competition and many wax and threading pop-up salons have come and gone, and the growth of the city with everyone moving to different areas further out, have all impacted our business. Being central and in the city, close to the highway and to Midtown and Buckhead, has helped make our salon still reachable to many across the city. Our advertising now is done mainly by word of mouth, social media, and online Google reviews. The pandemic was also a point of struggle for us, but we have survived that as well and hope to survive any other obstacles that come our way. We like to treat our clients as family and appreciate the loyalty Atlanta has shown us. This is year 29 for Hair Images and we are very excited to complete 3 decades next October.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are a full-service salon specializing in haircuts, color, waxing, threading, and so much more. All our estheticians and cosmetologists are licensed professionals with experience spanning over 30 years. We are known for not only being a staple in the threading, waxing, and hair salon industry but offering over 35 services from just a quick 5-10 minute brow cleanup to a full body wax, brazilian wax, men and women’s haircuts, color, highlights, facials, henna, bridal makeup, blowouts, hairstyles, and more. We use top-notch products such as Moroccan Oil, Redken, and Design Essentials for our services and also sell these products at our salon. Our brand and the familiar faces you see at Hair Images are known across the city. We will randomly meet people at restaurants, sports games, grocery stores and they will recognize us, which is such a great feeling! We pride ourselves in being up to date on the latest beauty trends, using all-natural and herbal skincare, and creating a warm, welcoming atmosphere for our clientele.
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
Covid-19 taught us a great deal about resiliency and loyalty. We had many clients who supported us by purchasing gift cards and trusting us when we reopened our salon in phases. Working so closely on people, the most important thing was (as still is) to be extra cautious and hygienic with each and every client. We keep up the practices of sanitizing for every client, using masks when necessary, and making sure our salon is cleaned throughout the day. We have kept up the extra precautions from the Covid era into present day.
Pricing:
- Eyebrow Threading $11
- Brazilian Wax $45
- Men’s Haircuts $20
- Women’s Haircuts $25+
- Facial $60
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hairimages.com
- Instagram: @hairimagesatlanta
- Facebook: Hair Images
- Other: @rabarbhairimages
Image Credits
Vanessa Munsch Photography (few of the photos)
