RUDY & KELLY GREENBRIER

Redesign wows clients, old and new

by Joanna Gail King

Owner Christine Harvey was practically born into the salon business and has devoted her career to making the guests at her own salon feel comfortable and look wonderful.

Don’t be surprised if the next time you go to Greenbrier Mall you find yourself attracted as if by a magnet to the Rudy & Kelly Salon there. Owner Christine Harvey wants her newly energized salon to be an attractive force in every sense of the word.

Drop-dead gorgeous and appearing easily a decade younger than her age implies, Christine may be her own best promotion for her business, and for the new direction she is taking her salon.

“What I’m trying to do with the new look,” she says, “is to make a clear statement about what real beauty is all about. To celebrate women. Every day I am more grateful that our guests choose to come to us and trust us to help them visually portray the beauty they take into the world. It is a responsibility we do not take lightly.”

That “attractive force” is Christine’s renewed commitment to walk a fine line in an industry that typically preys on women’s insecurities.

Christine Harvey’s Rudy & Kelly Salon’s stunning new look is attracting lots of attention at Greenbrier Mall.

“We are here to be a part of a woman’s positive self-image. Not to ‘fix’ her,” Christine laughs and shakes her head. “We never want to be the kind of salon that sends someone home with a hairstyle they can’t replicate. To use someone to boost our ego about how talented we are! For too long, women have been made to feel like they had to fit into a look. True talent and artistry isn’t about that. A true artist sculpts with the belief that the masterpiece was there all along—just waiting to be revealed.”

Christine spent a great amount of time soul-searching about how to bring her spiritual and moral values to work with her. The redesign is the result of that search.  “I don’t want my salon to be the kind of place women feel like they have to do their hair and make-up just to walk through the door,” she says. “Please! We are here for the guest. To spend time ‘reading’ her and to give her that style of her own that builds confidence. The best hairstyle is one that lets women experience the freedom of not having to think about her hair! To not feel self-conscious walking into a room. The right haircut can do that. A woman is more than the sum of her parts, and her beauty comes from somewhere way deeper. Our intent is to dig deeper and be a partner in each client’s ‘good hair days’ so they’re  free to get on to more important things. The salon redesign reflects the new passion of our commitment to our guests.”

Christine wants her guests to know that while there are true artists in her stations, there is no room for prima donnas. “Women are loyal by nature, but if a guest is ready for a change, we want her to know she doesn’t have to go to a different salon to get a different stylist. We are here for her.”

Christine was truly born into  the hair business. She grew up, literally, in salons as her mother was a stylist. She received her professional training at the Rudy & Kelly Academy.

She went right to work at the Greenbrier location after graduating in 1993. She became the salon’s owner three years ago but she’s  not finished training and learning.

Her redesigned salon reflects Christine’s new energy and vision, from its crystal chandeliers to paintings commissioned to celebrate women. The light and colors, the art and atmosphere are vibrating with…  “Magic,” she says. “A little bit of magic.”

“I stepped out on faith with the redesign. Sort of a
‘if you build it they will come’ conviction. I am just humbled—
grateful—to get to do what I love to do today in such a meaningful way.”

             — Owner Christine Harvey

“One of the best things about owning the salon is the group dynamic. Each stylist brings her own talent and ability to work each day and is only limited by perceived limits.  I am constantly amazed by how each of us is growing in what we have to offer our guests now. The feedback has been amazing,” she says.

Like a magnet, Christine enjoys watching that unseen force attracting those to her who, she says, “get” what she is trying to do. “It’s like even long-term relationships have gone to a new level. And new guests are coming through the doors because they see such a difference in how a friend who trusts us with her hair feels about herself, and they want that too. People just walking by do a double take and come in for the first time. Or come back after a long time. They can just feel what I am trying to do. I stepped out on faith with the redesign. Sort of a ‘if you build it they will come’ conviction. I am just humbled—grateful—to get to do what I love to do today in such a meaningful way.”