Salon Pure

Salon Pure

Stylist Scott Scanlon, who specializes in cutting

By Sierra Feldner-Shaw

My first thought on walking into Salon Pure on a warm recent Wednesday evening was, “How have I never noticed this place before?”

Just down the street from the newly opened New York transplant Babycakes and across the street from Cole's French Dip, the salon is tucked in to an unassuming little storefront on Sixth Street in Downtown’s burgeoning Arts District.

Handsome but discreet, the space was once home to a 24-hour barbershop that, like most of Downtown, had more or less gone to seed until its current inhabitants took it over. Opening the door, those barbershop roots are immediately felt in its network of exposed brass pipes that crisscross the ceiling, rich dark wood, and the old-fashioned Tiffany lamp hanging just above the door. Owner Rick Renoir's family is from New Orleans, and the space, with its dark leather chairs, hanging plants, wrought iron banisters on the staircase, and fleur-de-lis, very much reflects that city's warmth and laid-back parlor elegance. There is none of that hard-edged modern design typically found in a trendy salon.

Though the salon has been open since 2007, it has managed mostly to fly under the radar, building up a steady clientele through word of mouth and the increasing viability of Downtown as a destination for luxury goods and services. Their purported mission is to provide the kind of quality services that a person might expect to find at a Westside salon, with a Downtown edge. And they seem to be pulling it off. It is decidedly not pretentious or stuffy here, and while all of the stylists are attractive and on trend, there is no unnecessary attitude. Everyone seems genuinely nice, helpful, and interested.

After changing into a little black salon kimono, my two stylists sit me down to talk hair – specifically, my hair. I can tell from their questions and attention that they take this process seriously. Eugene Park, a sweet-faced 28-year-old with sea-foam green hair and black plastic glasses, is my colorist, and he gets to work right away. After a luxurious washing with Bumble and Bumble products, which the salon features, he coats my medium-length hair with thick goo and puts it under a dryer.

Over the noise of the dryer, we chat a little about his background and training. Trained at Vidal Sassoon academy in 2000, Park moved to San Francisco and then San Jose, picking up experience along the way and developing his craft. After moving back to Los Angeles to get married, he tried salons in Santa Monica, Hancock Park, and West Hollywood before settling in at Salon Pure a little over a year ago. “It was kind of a journey to find the right salon,” he said. "I tried a lot of places that didn't work out. But when I came Downtown and met the people here, I wanted to be a part of it." It’s clear from the easy rapport he has with the other stylists, and the loyal client base that he’s developed here, that he has found his place.

After washing the clear gloss "cellophane" treatment out of my hair, stylist Scott Scanlon, who specializes in cutting, goes to work on my out-of-shape locks. Scotty, as his friends call him, trained at Toni and Guy Academy in London and Holland after getting his basic training out of the way at Santa Monica Beauty College. As an artistic director, he was charged with bringing back what he'd learned to the Toni & Guy location in Long Beach. But after a while, he said, "I realized that it was too corporate. I was working 90-hour weeks, no breaks, burning the candle at both ends. I started looking Downtown because I'd heard there was a great vibe down here."

With his lanky, rock-n-roll look and laid back countenance (on the day of my visit he's sporting a six-inch-long tail that's been colored to look like a raccoon's tail), I don't know if I expected Scanlon to be the world's most precise stylist, but in fact he is. As he cuts my hair, pulling the strands up taut to examine the ends carefully before each snip, I keep picturing him conducting an orchestra. There's an intense attention to detail in his method, which involves cutting my hair wet, then blow-drying it bone straight in order to be absolutely sure of how it lays, then cutting it again, super carefully. At one point he even asks me to stand up to make sure that the ends are perfectly even.

Despite his focus, Scanlon is able to carry on a conversation with perfect ease. As he cuts into my layers, explaining that he is using the "point cutting" method to take out bulk, not length, he talks about what keeps him inspired. "Music, art, everything. Just walking down the street, seeing a piece of artwork, being able to work that in as a piece of inspiration. Basically being able to do something new. London fashion, New York fashion – I think some of that is just starting to come to LA, and so much of it is Downtown, where everybody's showing their individuality. I do all kinds of art: photography, jewelry, painting, and sculpture. I want to be able to get my hands in everything, because you never know what's in your mind and how you can materialize it. That's why I kind of look at hair as a material – just like everything else is a material – for creation."

His creation today has been a really great haircut. I walk out of the salon with a bounce in my step, my hair shiny and swinging, and my confidence high. This reporter is one new client who will definitely be back.

Salon Pure is located at 117 West 6th Street. (213) 624-7873. For more details, please visit salonpurela.com.

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