Salon Owner Finds His Calling

AR Salon's Arnil Pabalan spent some time wandering before he found his true calling as a hairstylist.

"I was figuring out who I was at the time," said Pabalan, 39, who was a traveling  nurse before he ventured into hairstyling 13 years ago.

Pabalan grew up in the Philippines and at 14 was adopted by his father's sister, who brought him to Carson, Calif. and a life much different from the one he had known.

"My adoptive mom was a hairstylist and she wanted me to become one," said Pabalan, who now lives in Gardena with his wife and their 15-month-old son. 

But Pabalan wasn't so sure he wanted to follow in his aunt's footsteps. He obtained his cosmetology license from Flavio's Beauty School in 1989, but still had his doubts whether hairstyling was the career for him.

He worked as a nurse and traveled throughout Europe. Making his way across the globe, Pabalan ventured to his homeland in 1996 to visit his relatives. 

"I had my 'aha' moment when [my] family asked me to give them haircuts," Pabalan said. "I did their hair and realized that I had something here."

From that moment on, Pabalan traded his scrubs for scissors. After growing up in the impoverished rural province of Pampanga, Pabalan was familiar with the need to work hard to earn a living.

"Coming from the Philippines, I had nothing," he said. "I work hard because I don't want to go back to where I came from."

Until he moved to the U.S., Pabalan had never stepped on carpet, flown in an airplane or ridden in a car.

"We didn't have those kind of luxuries in the Philippines," he said. "I know what it's like to have nothing, so I put my best efforts in my job to give people what they want."

Eventually, Pabalan and cousin Rodilyn Basco-Wooldridge opened AR Salon (A for Arnil and R for Rodilyn) in Hermosa Beach in 1999. At the time the city wasn't as desirable as it is today,  but the salon's ocean view and prime location near the pier helped it attract customers.

In the years since, Pabalan has cut the tresses of ice skater Michelle Kwan and football players Michael Strahan and Wes Welker as he's built a loyal clientele.

In finding his American dream in Hermosa, Pabalan no longer wonders whether hairstyling is for him.

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