Get primped, pampered and plucked at one of Kyiv’s fabulous salons
kraine, one needs only to step out onto the street. How do these girls do it? What kind of beauty parlors do they frequent? “The demand for female beauty in Ukraine, is like the demand for rice in China,” Inge Shishchenko, a Kiev-based cosmetics consultant, told Deutsche Press-Agence. “The secret to an attractive appearance is hard work, and no one works harder at being pretty than our Ukrainian girls.”
If you have the means of 45-year-old former PM Yulia Tymoshenko, with an estimated net worth of around $7 billion, you could perhaps have a personal hairdresser arrive at your house each morning as she does, someone to fashion her hair into her characteristic peasant plait. As known for her politics as her image, Tymoshenko’s blonde braid became a symbol of the Orange Revolution, and she graced the cover of the Ukrainian version of the fashion magazine Elle wearing Louis Vuitton and Chanel in spring 2005.
Then again, most of us are not as wealthy or famous as Tymoshenko and lack the cash for beauty professionals to make daily housecalls. We, the frazzled masses, must content ourselves to being clipped, manicured and massaged at one of the thousands of beauty parlors that have cropped up around town. We should consider ourselves lucky: in Soviet times, women had the “choice” between two salons, the interiors of which were probably as gloomy and, well, Soviet, as you would imagine. While we could not review every beauty salon in town (there are so many!), we selected a few to highlight and hope that the enclosed list and information will prove helpful:
Aldo Coppola
At the Premier Palace Hotel, one can find a salon of the famed Italian hairdresser and L’Oreal consultant Aldo Coppola. If words on the salon’s website are to be trusted, “Victims does not exist at the beauty salons of Aldo Coppola.” Patrons can lounge in the salon’s modern interior and leather chairs while they wait for their treatments.
Premier Palace Hotel (5-7/29 T. Shevchenka, 537 45 65)
Haircuts: Hr 204 (408 w/blowdry)
Henna: Hr 318 (522 w/blowdry)
Manicure: Hr 108
Pedicure: Hr 300
Massage: Hr 570/hour
English-speaking staff: yes
Barbaris
For many, nail condition is taken as a real micro indicator of the way you take care of your body in general; as it turned out – much more, than I ever thought about it. In order to have a manicure I decided to visit beauty salon “Barbaris” situated among two big Kyiv universities with crowds of students around. Nevertheless, these students are rare guests of places like this in the center.
After I was guided to my manicurist Ira, she was greatly surprised to find out I don’t usually frequent beauty salons or indulge myself with manicures. It was a surprise to learn that Ira’s customers come to see her once every two weeks and visiting the beauty salon is an essential part of their lives.
Usually a manicure lasts 60-90 minutes. Much depends on the type, shape and condition of your nails. For starters you are given a special hand-bath with aromatic sea salt and soap. Then the master cleans your nails. Afterwards comes the most pleasant part – Ira massaged my hands, fingers and nails using some special cosmetics. The only thing left was choosing a nail varnish and covering my nails with it. Ira helped me to choose a light, natural color, because the way it looks in the bottle is different than how it looks on your nails. What I received was great: you’ll never say my nails are covered with varnish; they look tidy, healthy and natural.
While working Ira told me “Barbaris” can also offer a nail-raising (acrylic and helium) spa manicure. The advantage of artificial nails is that they are stronger and harder, and usually longer than natural nails. A spa manicure is very pleasant and avoids using all those sharp instruments needed for a regular manicure.
Pedicures take longer than manicures (not less than 90 minutes) but they only need to be done once a month to maintain them. Unfortunately, I had no time to try it.
By the way, my manicurist shared her observation that Ukrainian men have begun paying more and more attention to their appearances. For example, Ira has one regular male customer who often visits her salon for manicure s and pedicures. It is as essential for him as it is for all those well-kept women we associate with beauty salons. Who knows, maybe in some few years, the balance between male and female customers of the beauty industry will equalize completely.
Barbaris (65 Volodymyrska, 244 41 81)
Haircut: Hr 25-500
Manicure Hr 30, Pedicure Hr 80
Massage: Hr 100
Tattoo: Hr 160
Highlight: Lazer epilaition
English-speaking staff: Some
Jacques Dessange (30b Lesi Ukrainky or 49a Volodymyrska, 569 50 69)
Kyiv location of famed French salon chain.
Haircut: Hr 300-640
Manicure Hr 135-250
Pedicure Hr from 250
English, French language spoken
Salon Krasoty
I decided to try out this mid-range option, nestled in the side of one of the European Commission buildings in central Kyiv. Construction in the courtyard made finding the salon hard; I ended up having to call someone inside to help me locate it. I was pleased to enter the bright, airy space and hang my coat from a rack suspended by wires from the ceiling.
Upon my arrival I was quickly whisked away in front of one of the winged mirrors to consult with my stylist Olya, to whom I explained what I wanted in Russian. I wanted a hairstyle that is essentially and angled bob, shorter in the back and longer in the front. Understandably, I was nervous that I would switch the Russian words for back and front and end up with a mullet, a hairstyle much reviled in America that has regained popularity all points east of Berlin.
Olya spent the next hour and half carefully cutting away at my hair, stopping only to blowdry it before commencing cutting again. Luckily, I emerged from the salon content, my cut quite similar to the one I had received in Washington a few months earlier.
Beauty Salon (24a Ivana Franka, 235 32 52)
Haircut: Hr 150-300.
Manicure Hr 100, Pedicure Hr 175.
Massage: Hr 150.
Highlights and other hair coloring available, price differs.
English-speaking staff: yes
Rashel’s
Rashel’s is an upscale salon that offers a range of services, from haircuts and pedicures to massages and a special tanning treatment called “bronze-express.” Although it seems pricey compared to the average Ukrainian salon, it is nothing compared to prices I would normally be paying back in my hometown of Boston in the U.S., where my usual wax costs over $40, and a haircut at a similarly elegant salon can cost $60 or more.
“You must be Elisabeth,” came a warm, pleasant voice as I walked in the entrance of Rashel’s, tucked deep in a courtyard off vul. Mykhailivska. I had made an appointment over the phone only a few hours earlier for waxing and a haircut. Victoria, the polite, gracious host of Rashel’s greeted me and showed me to a plush leather sofa by the reception desk. As she helped me take off my coat, she told me that the wax specialist was waiting for me, and afterwards the hairstylist would be with me.
Waxing
Inna, the wax specialist, greeted me near the reception and brought me to a private room, where I laid down on the special massage bed and relaxed while she worked her magic on my unwanted hair. I was genuinely surprised by how quickly Inna was finished. Waxing both my underarms and legs took no more than 20 minutes total – amazing compared to the 45 minutes I was accustomed to.
Rashel’s is a great place to come for a wax. For those of you who haven’t tried it, it is a great way to spare yourself the hassle of shaving on a regular basis and the discomfort of that prickly stubble that appears soon after. About four years ago I quit shaving permanently and switched to having getting rid of unwanted hair by waxing. Waxing usually lasts for two weeks or longer, and the more often you wax, the thinner the hair that grows back.
Haircut
“I would like my hair cut to here,” I told Ira, my new hairstylist, gesturing to the area just below my jawline. “And not cut straight across, but…” – “layered,” Ira finished for me, as I struggled to explain myself in Russian. I generally have a very detailed notion of how I want my hair cut, but I decided to stick to those short and simple directions and hope for the best. After quickly washing my hair, Ira started snipping away. As I saw the hair getting shorter and shorter, I tensed up a bit, but my worries soon passed as I saw that Ira was attentively following my directions.
After a dollop of mousse, a blow-dry and a few spritzes of hairspray, my haircut was finished. Save for the mousse and hairspray, which gave my hair an unpleasant crunchy feel, I was pretty satisfied with my new hairstyle. I left Rashel’s feeling somehow renewed. It is great not to have to worry about shaving, although my friend now jokingly refers to me sometimes as “Jennifer Aniston,” because she thinks that I have the same haircut as Rachel from Friends. Fitting, given the name of the salon.
RASHEL’S (24b Mikhayilivska, 279 82 22)
Haircut: Hr 100-400
Manicure: Hr 65,
Pedicure: Hr 100
Wax: prices vary
Cosmetics: Hr 20-400
Dentist: Hr 80
Massage: Hr 150-250
“Bronze-express:” Hr 180, special tan that lasts for 10 days.
English-speaking staff: yes
Other Salons
Barbara (32a Pushkinska, 234 97 36)
Haircut: Hr 70-90
Manicure Hr 30, Pedicure Hr 80
Massage: Hr 70 – 250
English-speaking staff: some
Daisy (37 Hyzhniy Val, 425 19 18 )
Haircut: Hr 10
Manicure Hr 25, Pedicure Hr 70
Head massage 1min – Hr 2English-speaking staff: no
