I'm embarrassed to admit that I've been living in Charlotte for over a half a decade and was still getting my hair done by my stylist in Winston Salem. To be fair, I've been going to her since 2002 and I always scheduled my appointments for weekends I was going to be in Winston anyways to visit my family. Better still is that since I've been her customer for so long, she still charges me the same rate I paid when I started going to her way back when- $55 for a cut and color! After a couple of great (read: expensive) experiences and a couple of really bad experiences around Charlotte, I had come to accept that I was just going to have to be one of those people who traveled to get their hair done...
Then I found Corey! After some asking around amongst my friends with good hair, TWO (who don't even know each other) referred me to Corey. After hearing all the great things my friends had to say about him, I figured I may as well give him a try. After some phone tag trying to set up an appointment, he was able to work me in later that week. Since I was going to someone new, I brought lots of pictures and ideas. After looking through them and asking me some questions, he told me his game plan and I was ready to go. Then I revealed to him my long-time dream of being a red-head but that I had been told before that my skin tone wouldn't work well with the shade of red I wanted. After showing him pictures of the red I liked, he said we could alter it slightly to make it "mine" and said, "my theory is: if your hair looks good enough, the last thing anyone will care about is how well it matches your skin tone." With those words of encouragement and the level of comfort I strangely already felt with him, I told him to go for it and just do whatever he thought would look best. Throughout the process, he kept me filled in on what he wanted to do next to make sure it was what I wanted. Man, was I impressed with the finished product!
I was offered a beverage immediately (and he kept my glass filled throughout the appointment), his salon is very laid back- he's the only one in there and it has somewhat of a toned-down tattoo parlor decor, his prices are reasonable, and Corey is cool as hell. I am absolutely in love with my hair (and Corey) and am happy to say I have now found my new local salon and no longer have to be one of those people who travel to get their hair done!