Petals Salon & Spa: Making a Mane Difference

Dante and Amy Putmon have always believed in true customer service. With cozy chairs and a no cell-phone policy ("If you hear someone arguing or talking loudly on the phone, and you're trying to read or relax, there's no comfort," said Amy), the mother and son duo value their customers like no other salon. 

They've had their shop, at 857 Main Street, since 2004 to uphold these beliefs while offering services from hair straightening treatments, body waxing, and cutting and styling. They also have a massage and nail area, but those services are currently on hold since they're restaffing. 

Sitting down with Patch this week, Dante and Amy discuss their beliefs in the salon industry and how they're not like all other ethnic barber shops.  

Patch: How did you get into cutting and styling hair?

Dante Putmon: I grew up in the business. All my life I've been crawling around the floor of a shop or sweeping up the shop. My mother and all my uncles are barbers, so it seems kind of natural. I noticed a lot of money being made, and a lot of pretty women around, so as a teenager, that's the kind of business I wanted to be into. 

Amy Putmon: When I graduated from high school in '67, I went to beauty school at night. I was already waiting to take the state board because I knew I didn't want to go to work with my grandmother, because they already had a job waiting on me as a nanny.

I knew I didn't want to do that; I always had a love for hair. I burned off all my dolls' hair; I cut all my dolls' hair; anybody who would let me fix their hair, I would fix it; all the kids in the neighborhood, I would press their hair and perm their hair. And my godmother was a hair stylist, and I used to tell her, "When I [grow up], I would fix hair so I can burn you back like you burned me."

I just always had a love for hair, and that's how I got started. Been in the industry 100 years, seems like.  

Patch: What inspired you to open a hair salon?

Dante: We wanted to open a salon that was different than any other ethnic salon because Caucasian salons make millions of dollars. Black salons don't, and it's because of customer service. It's not because of the styling techniques or anything like that; it's because of customer service and, it seems to me, ethnic stylists sell themselves short. We'll undercut our prices and that sort of thing, and you don't get that in white salons. Their prices are what it is, and either you can afford it or you can't. But they believe in their work. 

Amy: And they work as a team. 

Dante: Everybody is for themselves at other shops. Here, we work together. If she needs some help, I help her; if I need some help, she'll help me. And you don't pay at the chair. You pay at the register. We open at 9 o'clock, and we're here at 9 o'clock. We require our employees to be here at 9 o'clock. That's why we don't have any employees. And that's sad, I know, but it's the truth. 

Amy: People don't like rules. I've had clients say, "Y'all have too many rules," because we have a no cell-phone policy, where you can't talk on your phone. You can come in here [in the sitting room] and talk, but not while under the dryer. All salons are supposed to offer comfort. If you hear someone arguing or talking loudly on the phone, and you're trying to read or relax, there's no comfort. Or if your stylist is on the phone, gossiping and not paying attention... When you're in our chair, you are the most important customer we've got. That's how we came up with a lot of customer service skills, just through trial and error from things we've seen that we didn't like. So if we don't like it, who else likes it? 

Dante: Where you go to get your hair done, is your stylist on the phone?

Patch: No. Occasionally, if it's a customer on the phone, he'll just set up an appointment quickly and get back to cutting my hair. 

Dante: That's different. But just cutting and gossiping... And when you make an appointment, your stylist is pretty much ready for you, right? You may have to wait five minutes, maybe 10 at the most. 

Amy: Sometimes you'll wait a little more, but it's not all the time, because things happen. The first person that's late, it'll throw off the whole schedule. 

Dante: That's why we we book appointments, we work by appointments, and most ethnic salons don't. You call and say, "Hey, can I come in at 2?" They say, "Yeah, come on in!"

Amy: And they have four more people [in front of you]. 

Dante: You sit there, complain and mad because you got there. You heard the stories about, "I was at the beauty salon Saturday morning at 9 o'clock, didn't leave until 5 o'clock." 

Amy: They were not working on you that long. 

Patch: Wow, I always thought that. 

Dante: No, they're waiting. They shampoo everybody and get their hair wet so they can't leave. 

Amy: I like to work smart. I don't like anybody sitting around, huffing and puffing, because that causes you to have to rush. You work yourself harder if you overbook. And it's not fair to the client. Every client is important. 

Patch: Any particular reason that drew you to this location in the Village?

Dante: I wanted an old house with a big front porch. I wanted a house with character. I didn't want just a store front; I definitely didn't want be in a mall and that kind of thing; I wanted a free-standing building. Passing by here one day, and my wife has an in-home child care facility. This place was a flea market or something. I saw some children's toys outside, so I stopped to look at those.

I was walking through and said, "This would make a great shop." I was like, "God, if that building ever became available, I would like that building." Then, a couple of months later, I drove back through here, because we both drive school buses also, and saw this building looked empty. Came back, looked in the window and it was empty, found who the landlord was because there wasn't a "For Rent" sign or anything. Talked to the landlord, and here we are. 

Patch: What different hair options do you guys offer?

Dante: Everything. Cut, color, highlights, lowlights, barber cuts, natural hair, relaxed hair, black, white, oriental... doesn't matter. It's all protein keratin. That's what your hair is made out of. All hair is made out of the same thing, it's just the different cuticle shape [that] gives it the texture. 

Patch: Do you still have day spa offers?

Dante: We used to. We are restaffing at the moment. It's hard to get nail techs; I have no idea why. We've been here seven years, and we've had five nail techs. Nail techs don't want to work 9 to 5. You try to explain to them that your money is at work at 5 o'clock, and they still want to leave at 5. 

Amy: In this industry, we pick up when you get off. We have clients in the morning who work at night, but in the middle of the day, you're usually not busy. So many people don't have a flexible schedule. I know you've heard the story over and over again, about the times of day people come. You have to be willing to work afternoons and on Saturdays. That's when you make your money. 

Patch: Do you have a favorite style of hair?

Dante: I have two that I like. I like the silky straight, with barely a bend to it. I love that. And I like that spiky mohawk. 

Amy: And I like the soft petals that you can cut in layers, flat iron it, and make soft petals in it. And I like working on a person with natural hair. 

Patch: And you enjoy working in your salon?

Dante: This is the best salon that I've ever been in, and I'm not saying that because we own it; it's just the way it's set up, the way it flows. When clients come in, they always feel comfortable and relaxed as soon as they come in the door. We serve wine, we serve coffee, tea; it's all complimentary, all day. They sit under the dryer, and the chairs in the dryer lounge are just like this. They sit there with their feet propped up. The dryers are mounted to the wall, so there's nothing that's keeping them from laying back and relaxing. The other dryers (at other salons) sit behind the chair, so you can only move so much, and they burn in your ear and all that. 

Amy: Our clients actually don't mind being under the dryer. Many times, when I want to blow dry their hair, they say, "I brought a book! I can be under the dryer for a few minutes." I say, "OK," because most people don't like being under the dryer, until they experience it here. Those dryers [at other salons] are hot and burn your ears, they're loud.