St. Louisans rejoice! Dry bars are no longer reserved for East and West coast clientele, thanks to the opening of Breeze Blow Dry Bar (9916 Clayton, 314-429-2569). The brainchild of co-owners Lindsay Bush and Susannah Danforth, Breeze is a one-stop shop for a 35-minute shampoo, massage and blow out, as well as a bevy of other beauty services. Whether you want a 15-minute touch-up to your makeup or the latest beach waves rocked on the red carpet, Breeze is the premiere place for a quick, fun and professional boost to your look!
I recently had the chance to visit Breeze and catch up with co-owners Lindsay and Susannah as well as Business Development and Makeup Director Whitney Rhoads to get their insight on opening the first dry bar in the Lou as well as future plans for turning Breeze into a St. Louis hotspot.
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Scroll down for a slideshow of images inside Breeze, and click HERE to view the party pics from the opening.
What inspired you to open up a dry bar in St. Louis?
Lindsay Bush: I’m from the West coast and Susannah is from the East coast. Both of us have Mufasa-like hair, so for most of our adult lives both of us have been seeking out a great blowout. Over the past few years, we have been noticing the concept (of dry bars) popping up all over the globe. We thought this would be the best time to take all the best practices we’ve been harvesting subconsciously over the past few years and bring it to St. Louis.
What inspired the interior design of Breeze? The concept is so calm and relaxing, why did you go with a lighter color palate?
LB: Our inspiration came from Shutters and Mad Men. We really wanted to harken back to the days when women went to the beauty shop and had a fun experience. It was so communal. We noticed that was missing in St. Louis, and we wanted to combine that concept with the blowout. The interior was a meshing of a beauty shop with a modern, upscale feel.
What kind of woman comes to Breeze?
Susannah Danforth: Our customers will be from 5 to 95. They are busy moms, busy professionals. Our demographic is every woman.
Can you tell me about the blow out? What’s your favorite?
LB: We have a menu of eight blowouts ($35 each) and four up styles. The menu will change seasonally, but the more popular ones are the messy beachy blowout, the LA breeze blowout, and the upstyles that feature a messy bun. We think all of those will be popular among the different demographics.
Do you guys use heating tools like curling irons or is it strictly blow dry?
LB: There’s an understanding in the salon industry that a blowout is just a round brush, blow dryer, and no hot tools. But with our concept we absolutely use hot tools. It kind of defines us from the other hair salons that are dry bars in a traditional sense.
Tell me about the products you use?
Whitney Rhoads: We’re carrying Bumble & Bumble as well as Moroccan Oil for our treatments. Our makeup line is Glo Minerals. It’s a great makeup line and appeals to our demographic. It’s not too trendy, and it’s a quality product.
Why did Breeze decide to offer a 15-minute makeup application?
WR: To my understanding, we will be the first blow dry bar to offer a blowout with efficient makeup application ($15). It’s not the traditional sitting for an hour, full face of makeup that you wash off at the end of the day and have to pay $55 to $60 for. Our concept is to get a blow dry and then have your makeup touched up by our makeup artists. We have 20 stylists, seven of whom are makeup artists. You can have fun and play with your look so the concept is still the same. We’ll apply makeup to a clean face or if you want to add drama, we can also add to the makeup you’ve already done.
I know you guys just opened, but what are your future plans for Breeze?
SD: As far as Breeze and the brand, we want to expand and open up three or four more stores east and west along highway 40. We’re currently swamped with online bookings and we’re swamped through December, so when that’s over we’ll take a deep breath and reassess.
