Come celebrate with Silver Scissors Salon

By Natali Trivuncic

The feeling of a fresh haircut has never gone out of style and Silver Scissors Salon has been delivering that feeling to customers for 40 years.

Co-owner Eli Saikaley says Silver Scissors, opened by his brother-in-law in 1979, was the first unisex salon in the Glebe.

“We didn’t know how we were going to be accepted and we got accepted very well,” says Saikaley.

Eli and his cousin and co-owner, Bruce Saikaley, continuously work on their craft, which has helped them create a thriving hair salon.

“There’s always things to work on, there’s always new things we keep up with but we’re very pro education,” says Eli Saikaley. “We travel the world, we participate in a lot of fundraisers, so we’ve stayed involved to keep us moving forward.”

Saikaley says he credits their success to their customer service.

“We opened up 40 years ago and we’re still community oriented and we still strive so that our customer service is one of the best in the area and that’s why we survived 40 years,” says Saikaley.

Although they have been met with success, it is not to say it has been a smooth 40 years. April will mark the fourth anniversary since the fire that displaced them from their last location in the Glebe.

Saikaley says they are grateful for the community’s support during that time, and it was that support that pushed them to return to the Glebe.

“We wouldn’t be here without them and they supported us through the times we had construction, still visiting us. They kept us open during the time of the fire, with other competitors coming and going. I’m just grateful 100 per cent.”

He says the key to keeping a business alive is to keep up with trends and today that involves having an online presence. A strong social media presence not only helps to showcase their work, but also to gain new clients.

“Its part of business now to have social media,” says Saikaley. “I think if you don’t have a strong social media game that could hurt you.”

The now infamous selfie wall in the salon’s washroom has become a place for customers to take pictures of their haircut and showcase it on Instagram.

Saikaley says social media also helped them keep in touch with clients during the time of the fire.

“I think social media saved us quite a bit and then our support from the Glebe BIA and the Glebe Report, and when we came back it was as if we didn’t miss anything,” he says.

As for the most rewarding part of owning a salon, Saikaley says it’s the relationships built with the clients.

“Seeing them happy, seeing them return, thanking us, referring new clients to us, getting to know their families, growing with their families, it’s a rewarding thing.”

Over the course of 40 years, hair trends have come and gone but for this year’s trend, Saikaley says soft looks are in.

“The technique of the balayage colouring, the technique of the long layers, the technique of lobbing it, the back shorter, the front longer, are very popular,” he says.

Saikaley says clients today have more options when it comes to styling hair at home but the salon treatment will always be in fashion.

“There are some things customers can do at home now which back in the day they used to come here and sit all day and be here for hours. They don’t need the everyday things as much in that, but we’re still rock solid with our haircuts and hair colouring so that keeps us in business.”

As for what’s to come in the future, Saikaley says to keep an eye out for new services. “We’d like to add esthetics hopefully in the near future.

We’d like to add maybe more hours. We don’t work on Sundays now but Sundays have become very popular, so we’d like to extend our services and our hours.”

Celebrations for their 40th anniversary will be taking place during the month of January so be sure to check out their Instagram page @silverscissorssalon and website to know what promotions and celebrations the salon will be offering.

Natali Trivuncic is a third-year student in the Carleton journalism program.