{McManus and Campbell Hair Salon – Distillery District}

Late last year, I attended the one year anniversary party for McManus and Campbell, a fabulous hair salon tucked in the Distillery District. For those of you living in Toronto, you may not even know that it’s there since it’s located closer to Cherry Street behind Cluny restaurant. The salon is beautifully decorated with a sitting area at the back (with a charging station), a small area for manicures and pedicures (be sure to check out the resident nail technician, Dylan on IG), several stations and sinks with a series of the most unique seats I have ever seen. I met Sharon McManus of the McManus and Campbell duo. She was so kind to take the time to show me around and tell me more about the salon. I was so impressed that I wanted to come back to either get a haircut or my hair coloured. Luckily for me, I found a $150 gift certificate in my gift bag when I left the event.

I had been thinking about going blonde for some time so I thought that with the gift certificate, it was the perfect opportunity to take the plunge. I emailed the salon and to my surprise, I instantly got a response with a suggestion to book an appointment for a consultation. A few days later, I came in to see Zoe, one of their Junior Stylist who specializes in hair colour and creative styling. I showed her some photos of what I wanted and what kind of blonde I wanted to achieve. She was honest with what she thought was achievable and I left with a quote (starting at $120+) and an appointment to come in a week.

The whole process took almost three hours. She used the balayage technique to get the blonde I requested. We were unsure if my hair would take the bleach considering I had some ombre left in from almost a year ago. In the end it all worked out and my hair is still healthy. In fact, my hair holds styling much better now since it’s slightly “damaged”. Anyone one with typical “Asian” hair will  understand what I am talking about. She dried my hair and curled it with a flat iron (I LOVED the look she did). I used my gift certificate to pay for the service and since I had a little left over, I bought some purple shampoo to maintain my new blonde hair.

As I mentioned, I was impressed overall with the decor of the salon, the kind staff and the great customer service. I know I am definitely going to return to touch up the blonde again before summer hits. I do hope that the salon gets more recognition despite being located in the Distillery where traffic isn’t as flowing.

If you’re in the Toronto area and need to colour, cut your hair or even get your nails done, I definitely suggest that you check out McManus and Campbell Hair Salon.