The concept of the hair salon and hair dressing comes all the way from the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome. Women would decorate and adorn their hair in different ways, using clips, wigs, braids, jewels, powders, curls, flowers, dye,pins and combs. Hair was typically tended to by family members or servants until Roman gentry popularized hairdressing which was attended to by public barber shops or by slaves at home.http://www.ukhairdressers.com/history%20of%20hair.asp

Today the modern hair salon is as much a service establishment as it is an outing, complete with entertainment and shopping. Amenities and services range from a regular shampoo, hair cut and style to color, permanent wave, extensions, highlights, frosting, deep conditioning and straight ironing. The list continues with services such as manicures, pedicures, massages, waxing, mud baths, oxygen therapy, body polishing, wraps, facials and hydrotherapy, but that's not all. Through it's gregarious nature, the hair salon has become a gift shop and cafe of sorts offering beauty accessories and products, cosmetics, aromatherapy and other sundries. Some serve coffee or wine and hours devours to their guests. Typically establishments which offer varied high end services refer to themselves as day spas.http://www.bevdayspa.com/services/

Women and men have been styling their hair since the beginning of civilization. Over the course of some 3000 years styles have fluctuated between ornate and decorative, to simple and natural. With the French Revolution came the demand for wigs, levitating hair frames, and elaborate makeup. By the turn of the 19th century and the advent of the Victorian era, however, simplicity and puritanism came to prevail. And so it was until the 1920's when an entirely new style was born along with the advent of the hair salon. It was no longer necessary to be discreet about the use of cosmetics, and the precision cropped hair style in high demand. Perhaps the strongest element in the rise in popularity of the hair salon was the Hollywood starlet. Women wanting to emulate the looks of the big screen turned to their hair salons for help.http://www.fashion-era.com/make_up.htm