The Cottage at Crystal Lake

The salon sits on property on Crystal Lake Road that was bought in 2003. An early-1900s cottage that had been used as a guest house stood there first. Because the cottage could not be brought up to code for a business, it was torn down, but some of its doors, windows, bricks and hardware were saved and built into the new building. The salon took its name to keep the charm of that original cottage.

Chris Paiva graduated from Mansfield Beauty Academy in Boston and began working in a salon on the South Shore. Four years later Chris opened Haircraft by Chris in Pembroke and ran it for about twenty years. In 2004 Chris left that business to open The Cottage at Crystal Lake, which opened that August. Many clients have been with Chris since the early years of the career.

Visits are by appointment, and booking can be made by phone or by text. Enough time is set aside for each appointment, so a client who arrives late and cuts into the next client's time may be asked to rebook. Clients can wait on the porch, and there are shampoo and styling stations along with a gas fireplace beside the shampoo area. Pricing depends on hair volume, length, texture and condition, so the listed prices are averages and the exact cost is quoted in person.

Color is a major part of the menu. Options include permanent or demi color, glaze or gloss on the full head, dimensional color with partial cap highlights, cap highlights alone, and specialty colors such as half-and-half, special placement and novelty shades. Color services include finish styling, and a smaller add-on refreshes color on the ends and adds shine during a root touch-up. Olaplex can be added to any chemical service, and the salon builds it into the price when a client's hair is judged fragile. Texture perms start at a set price and include cut and finish, with products chosen for normal, resistant, fragile or color-treated hair. Special occasion styling and facial waxing round out the services, and the salon also offers eyebrow tint.

Chris works with each client through the whole visit, from cut to color to finish, aiming to meet the hair goals the client describes. Chris keeps up with current styles, techniques and products.

Set in a building that reuses pieces of an early-1900s cottage, with a porch to sit on and a gas fireplace beside the shampoo area.