his past year, we had the pleasure of working with the talented Traci Macfarlane, owner of Thair Salon + Boutique in Toronto. Her goal was to create an urban sanctuary as a refuge for Toronto’s busy clients to pamper themselves with the very best organic and environmentally conscious products, while creating an experience that always has the client’s utmost wellness at heart.

When Traci approached us, she also wanted to incorporate a beautiful shop section in her new space, so that her clients could buy and take these incredible natural products home too. Our mission was to merge the salon, spa and retail experience in a seamless way, while maintaining THAIR’s dedication to sustainability at all times.

The wood wall in the middle of the space with the green-wall background is an abstract play of a forest! The wood represents the tree trunks and the green wall represents the leaves. The idea was to bring the beauty of nature inside.

The wash stations were designed in a way that they are a part of the salon experience, instead of being tucked away in the back like usual. The styling stations were kept modern and minimalistic, with floating counters. We wanted the space to not feel like the typical salon set up, simplicity was the focus.

And in the retail area, continuing the modern and uniform look, we didn’t want the many colours of different brand packaging to take away from the vibe of the space, so here visual merchandising was key and things had to be strategically placed!

The result is a beautiful retail space that is light, airy, modern and organic.

We sat down with Traci to ask her a few questions about her as a business owner and her experience in designing & building her new salon + boutique. - Read on!

ND - You choose to use only natural products in your space. What inspired you to make the switch and go fully green?

TM - I started experiencing headaches fairly regularly about 10 years ago - I realized it was triggered by fragrance/chemicals. Even as a child I would complain about smells when we would go into stores, I would feel sick to my stomach. I was able to link things like cleaners and mixing hair colour to my headaches. I decided to do whatever I can to avoid these chemicals, and I did so in my home where I had control. Work was the last place to make the change - working for others I really didn’t have a choice of what products they used. This helped give me the boost to open my own place, where essentially we are chemical free. There are many individuals like myself who suffer from ailments such as chemical sensitivities so to have a space that is safe, free from these nasties, was really important to me. Especially working with hair colour, the smells and chemicals are huge triggers for many of us. At Thair we really do our homework, we make sure all the products we bring on board are clean and green, as well as local.

ND - How does the new THAIR salon + boutique match with the vision you had in your mind prior to starting the design process with NOLA?

TM - It is exactly what I had hoped for. Bright, airy, minimal, we have lots of wood, greenery and reflections throughout the space which is an art in itself. The space is stunning!

ND - Tell us your favourite part of the design / building process. What did you love most about the experience of creating your space?

TM - Seeing the mock ups come to life - they were exactly like the images. To me, seeing it come to life from paper was an incredible experience. I loved how Nickeisha was able to translate my words, my vision, and essentially 3 inspiration photos to what we now call Thair. It’s perfect. In fact, I was passing by another salon up the street from us (I won’t say the name) and they had copied her design - so let’s take that as a compliment!

ND - How did you choose the colours for your space? What was your inspiration behind the white, green and wood details?

TM - I love white, I love wood. The green is in our logo, the dot on the i of Thair - I did that to give a hint (for those who don’t know us) that the green represents our green way of life, our brand.

ND - Do you have a favourite spot in your space that you feel the most inspiration?
TM - That's a tough question as I have many; I love the reception looking in, I love the hair area with the airiness and reflections of the mirrors, I love the pedi area looking toward the front through the wooden walls, I love looking in from the street….honesty I really love it all.

ND - As we know the pandemic has forced you to close for quite some time now, how does your space inspire you to keep creating and building your business forward?

TM - Since we opened in October 1, and then we were mandated to close November 20, we really didn't have much time to tweek the finishing touches. When we opened in the new space we were slammed, so there wasn’t the time to get things completely ready. There were a lot of small things that needed attention, and we are doing just that. It feels great to have the time to get it perfect. We have been staying positive and using this time to our advantage.

ND - What have you learned over the last year that has made you stronger as a business person?

TM - To trust myself. To not take things for granted. We are so fortunate to have the customers we have, so supportive, so loyal and truly amazing people. Building the brand and making a difference - helping to heal the planet with the choices we make. Support local whenever possible - there are some amazing and innovative beauty brands made right here in Toronto!!! I used to think that beauty products abroad were superior, but that is not the case anymore. The market is very competitive and Canada is right at the top.

ND - We can’t wait to see what is next for you and THAIR Salon + Boutique. Any news you would like to share?

TM - We are building up the spa - we want to have the spa just as booming as the hair. We have a new amazing boutique manager to help with the customer experience and to help focus on the spa. New spa services will be coming our way with new staff. We have also created a recycling program and partnered with Teracycle to make sure we are all doing our part to try to recycle EVERYTHING, so that our crap isn't going to landfills. It’s very exciting, clients can bring all of their empty beauty products, we mean everything and we will recycle it on their behalf. We also have a station for laundry bottle/packaging, dishwasher bottles/packaging and more to come.We have also started a refill station for many of our products, again to help reduce waste. Bring in your bottle and we will refill for you. We hope to launch that this month. It will be a huge incentive for clients, as there will be a savings as well as a positive impact on the environment.

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