In Kyiv, where most hair salons are either fancy and expensive beauty parlors, or cheap low-quality spots, Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya occupies some rare middle ground.
The place’s name is Russian for “City Hair Salon,” and just like its name, Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya is straight and to the point – it’s a tiny place with a minimalistic design and a modest signboard. Its name is painted in unfussy black letters on the outside wall of a building on Vozdvyzhenska Street.
But its plain appearance is doing no harm to Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya’s popularity – in fact, it might be the other way round. The salon attracts some of the capital’s most creative people, who are looking for a stylish cut at a welcoming hairdresser’s, while avoiding all the bustle and fuss of the city’s top beauty salons.
Video by Irynka Hromotska. The video was produced as a part of the Journalist Exchange Program by Media Development Foundation with the support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Content is independent of the donor.
“It’s a simple city hair salon, where everyone feels comfortable – men and women, a doctor and an artist, a student and a man over 60, because of the atmosphere and the people,” Pavel Sergeev, the co-founder of Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya, told the Kyiv Post.
Sergeev, 29, used to work in landscape design until five years ago he realized he wanted to give his longtime hobby of hairdressing a real shot.
After taking some hairdressing lessons, he became even more engaged in the craft.
“You make a person beautiful, and it is wonderful,” he said.
Sergeev went on to study at the Kyiv-based Noise Academy hairdressing school, and at first worked in local barbershops.
However, when it came to opening his own salon, he wanted to make it a welcoming place for both men and women.
He says that he had chewed over the idea with his friend for a while.
“It was one of those things you discuss in a bar and say ‘that would be cool.’”
The dream became reality for Sergeev when along with his friend and business partner, who prefers to avoid publicity, they founded Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya in the spring of 2017.
They decided to settle on a simple name and a picturesque location in Podil district, and focus on creating stylish cuts.
Sergeev says that style is a very individual thing, but he has his own, general definition of a stylish cut.
“A stylish cut is one after which a person gets up, smiles, and leaves in a good mood.”
A haircut at Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya costs Hr 550-900 for women and Hr 400 for men.
“It is important for us that our prices don’t upset our clients, but at the same time keep our hairdressers in high spirits,” Sergeev says.
Enthusiastic hairdressers
Until recently, Sergeev worked more than any other hairdresser at the salon, five days a week. Although combining the work with managing the place wasn’t easy, he says that he didn’t want to disappoint his regular customers.
“I love all of these people, they are precious to me. And I’ve been cutting their hair for years.”
The co-founder of Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya hair salon and one of their seven hairdressers Pavel Sergeev talks to the Kyiv Post on Feb. 13, 2019, in Kyiv. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya now has a team of seven hairdressers – some of them are newbies, while others have years of experience. But what they all have in common, Sergeev says, is their love of beauty.
“It’s the love of creating a new image, or the desire to enhance an old one and make it even more flawless,” he said.
One of the salon’s hairdressers, Anna Klochkova, says that she has been interested in hairdressing since as far back as she can remember.
“(In my childhood) I used to cut dolls’ hair, flowers, and everything I saw,” Klochkova told the Kyiv Post.
She has been in the business for over 11 years, working in a range of Kyiv salons.
Klochkova, 32, actually used to cut Sergeev’s hair before he even started his hairdresser’s career.
So when he decided to open Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya, Klochkova was one of the first ones to join the team.
She says that she enjoys being a part of people’s transformations and seeing the result of her work.
“I just love my job, because I can see how a person changes,” she said. “And then they tell me how many compliments they receive.”
Another of the salon’s employees, Viktor Ohonko, 47, says that he loves what he calls the “architecture of hairdressing,” when he can make out of one thing something completely different.
He says that he also enjoys the job’s unpredictability.
“It’s a new task every time a customer sits down in the chair,” Ohonko said.
Sergeev says that apart from professional skills, hairdressers should be interesting conversationalists, so that customers enjoy their visit and come back again.
He says that his hairdressers travel, read, visit art exhibitions, go to the theater and watch films, and are interested in fashion, innovations, and technologies.
“It is very important that our employees are not only good hairdressers, but that they are also well-rounded people that know a lot,” he said.
Creative community
When Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya opened, their first customers were mostly friends and the regular clients of their hairdressers.
Although today their client base is much bigger, the salon has managed to retain a warm and friendly atmosphere.
The parlor’s staff says that people come to Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya not only for the service, but also to hang out, play table-top games, have a drink and talk.
Olga Shyrobokova, a public relations specialist and a businesswoman recently visited Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya for the second time, while her husband is a regular there.
She says that she appreciates the salon for its welcoming atmosphere.
“Everyone here is good-natured,” she told the Kyiv Post.
And this intimate approach of appreciating every customer can also be seen in the way Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya promotes itself on social media.
Their Instagram profile is full of happy faces with new haircuts. But rather than simply showing off the results of their work, the salon tells the stories of their customers in their photo descriptions.
“Masha loves Fridays because on Fridays her favorite bar is full of people, music and colorful cocktails. Masha also loves to experiment with her hair, because it’s the easiest way to change something,” one of the salon’s posts on Instagram reads.
The salon’s list of customers is already quite impressive: Many of them are involved in creative fields and some are quite famous, such as Ukrainian fashion designer Ivan Frolov and the leader of local electronic dance music band Vagonovozhatye, Anton Slepakov.
Sergeev says that they are happy to serve anybody, but most of their clients tend to be from the creative community.
“Gorodskaya Parikmakherskaya is a place that brings together talented people,” he says.
