The Red and Black

Issue date: 2/18/08 Section: Variety

Media Credit: JAKE DANIELS Johanna Nicol, center, chats with friends at the grand opening of Nicol's Honey's Salon Sunday. Friends, family and former coworkers attended the opening at Mercury Air on Tracy Street. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: JAKE DANIELS Johanna Nicol, right, the owner of the new Honey's Salon, celebrated the grand opening of the salon with former coworker Tatiana Veneruso Sunday. [Click to enlarge]

With an atmosphere as sweet and charming as its name, Honey's Salon is the latest place in Athens for a fabulous haircut and good conversation.

Located at the Chase Street Warehouse complex near Prince Avenue, the salon is tucked far away from the busy streets of downtown and hidden in a small suite at the back of the building.

Despite the concealment, the salon's owners don't mind the location at all.

"I really like where we are. I don't see us leaving. I see this building getting cooler and cooler," said Johanna Nicol, "Queen Bee" of the business, according to her business card.

Honey's Salon is the brainchild of 25-year-old Nicol and 20-year-old Deanna Poulin.

Both women met while working at J. Scott Salon on Hull Street and "became best friends," Poulin said.

With some encouragement from their boss, Nicol and Poulin decided to branch off into their own business early this month.

"I'd already been thinking about it," Nicol said. "I've been sitting on too many good ideas for too long I think."

Though only Nicol and Poulin run the salon, they do not have plans to hire more stylists.

"I think you get a better teamwork feeling out of fewer people," Nicol said. "I don't want an assistant. We want our clients to be in our chair."

Accented with purple paints, light blue rugs and an antique tea cart with herbal tea, the salon exudes Nicol's theme of "French chic meets Southern gramma'."

"No other salon looks like that," Nicol said. "For a town like Athens where you have stores like Toula's and Frontier, there's obviously a big audience for that Southern charm. Yet most of the salons are super modern."

The salon's Southern charm extends to its name, which was inspired by Nicol's grandmother.

"It's just a sweet thing to call somebody - my grandmother said 'honey' all the time … I think people don't even know they say it," Nicol said.

And with the charm comes the hospitality.

"I really enjoy the intimacy that you have here, you can actually focus on building a relationship with your client rather than 'in-and-out, next,'" Poulin said.

Both women stressed a desire for their salon to be nature-friendly, achieved in using Paul Mitchell products.

"It's so gentle and it's (an) actual vegan line," Poulin said.

"As long as it's not going to taint the universe completely, (we're) trying to keep as much crap out of the landfills as possible," Nicol said.

A women's cut by Poulin is $35, and $25 for men. For Nicol, cuts are $35 for men and $40 for women. Highlights by Nicol are $75. Facial waxing is $12-$15.

The women hope their clients leave with "awesome new hair" and a one-of-a-kind experience.

"I like making people feel good about themselves," Nicol said. "There's nothing better than looking fabulous."

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