Fabulous Has a New Address Downtown

While this week marks the grand opening of ShaQueen Valentine’s new luxury salon in Stamford — Vanity Studio on Atlantic Street — it seems that style has been in her blood from the beginning.

“My dad was a barber, there was hair all over when I was growing up, hair in my food, when you hugged my dad you got hair on you,” Valentine joked.

Her father, Michael Valentine, is the owner of on West Main Street and Valentine is proud of her Stamford roots.

“I was born in Stamford Hospital, went to Westhill, and now I’m in Stamford Downtown!” Valentine laughed.

Valentine started out attending Parsons the New School for Design where even though she was working toward a business degree, she was able to take courses in subjects like color and design. During her sophomore year, Valentine left school when she had her daughter. She is now raising two children, ages 2 and 7.

“I wanted to do something. I was attending a top notch school and wasn’t able to finish, I could have thought I was a failure, but no, I never really did, I said, “I’m going to make something happen!”” Valentine explained.

During hair dressing school, Valentine realized that her design background would be the perfect supplement to her natural talent for hair. She quickly moved up the ranks, garnering the years of experience that have helped given her the knowledge and client base to jump when she stumbled upon a unique opportunity to own her own salon.

Valentine turned a relationship with Melonie Early, owner of For Girls Like Us, a premiere location for full lace wigs and accessories in Downtown Stamford, into a chance to own her own business and offer exciting new possibilities for Early’s customers.

The salon space for Vanity Studio used to serve as a waiting area for For Girls Like Us — now, the two will share a small waiting room in the front of the building. In the past, Early was able to provide the wigs and weaves, but would have to send clients elsewhere for styling. With Valentine in the adjacent space, it will be a one-stop shop.

Early provides wigs for many women who have lost hair during cancer treatments or women with alopecia. For them, being able to have styling done on the premices will add an extra level of privacy to the process.

“It’s a confidence thing, you don’t want to walk around with people staring, you want to feel beautiful,” Valentine said.

Of course, that sentiment extends past the community visiting the salon for medical reasons.

“This is for anyone. If you want that full Kim Kardashian look, get yourself extensions!” Valentine said.

Valentine emphasizes that Vanity Studio wants to have broad appeal where women of all ethnicities and with all types of hair can come and know that they will be understood. Among her six stylists is a Dominican stylists who understands their emphasis on the hair’s body. Also at the heart of Valentine’s mission is to match the luxury salon experience with a price tag that makes it accessible.

“I still want to have coffee, tea, a mimosa on Saturday morning, but spending over $100 for a haircut in this economy is crazy,” Valentine said.

In the future, Valentine looks forward to making her salon her own — a place where women can go after work and leave feeling better on the inside and looking better on the outside. She envisions princess parties at the salon for young girls on the weekends and setting an example for young women that despite detours along the way, anything is possible with hard work and a good dose of ambition.

“I love doing hair, I love doing makeup, I just love everything fabulous," Valentine said. “I’m excited about where I’m going and I’m excited about where I’ve been.”