VALDOSTA — A seemingly simple trip to the hair salon takes on broader dimensions at the brand new Serendipity Hair Salon. Plan on having a relaxing, personally pampered experience.

How does a complimentary makeup touchup or hand massage while you wait sound? Or for the guys, a brief neck and shoulder massage? The Serendipity staff calls it pampering with a purpose.

“I like helping people,” Serendipity owner Joy Boots Lindsey said. “I like making someone happy, someone who’s having a bad hair day. I like doing their makeup, the whole transition, then seeing their face light up when they see the result.”

Lindsey gets choked up when asked how it feels to own her own salon. After years of dreaming, working, training and planning, she opened Serendipity in February in the house at 813 Baytree Road where the Barefootin’ manicure/pedicure business formerly kept shop, just west of VSU before the Jerry Jones Drive intersection.

“This has been a dream of mine for years. I get all emotional,” she said.

Lynda Lawlor, her mother, mentor and a licensed master cosmetologist for 27 years, intervenes to help tell the story.

Lindsey, Lawlor and Carrie VanMetre make up the salon’s three-person staff.

“(Lindsey) wanted to be a beauty-shopper under me when she was 3 years old,” Lawlor explained. “She also was a model. She’s worked around me all of her life. She loves people and cares about her customers. She has a husband and two children. She thrives on making people feel good about themselves. She’s the perfect person to operate her own beauty salon.”

Lindsey has been a licensed cosmetologist for 12 years. She worked for the past seven years at Salon Park Avenue. Five years ago, she decided that her long-term goal as to operate her very own salon.

“I started taking business classes at Val-Tech for this about three years ago,” she said. “I applied for a business license, so I had to file a business plan.”

Lindsey found the house on Baytree in January and signed the lease.

“It was pretty much, we walked in the door and we knew this was the place … like Serendipity … it was easy, like everything was meant to be,” Lindsey said. “The first day open was Feb. 22.”

Lindsey and Lawlor went straight to work remodeling the home. Two of the bedrooms in the house and the living room area have been converted into salon-equipped parlors. Artwork and quiet pastel color on the walls, shiny hardwood floors, and little knick-knacks and other decorations give the rooms a calm, home-like atmosphere. Hoisted over the doorway to the hall in black cursive writing is the word “Dream.”

Relaxation is the key. Lindsey’s motto rings out from the salon’s brochure:

“Making you beautiful is what we do. Making you happy is our pleasure!”

Prices are reasonable for the attention granted to each customer: Makeup application, $20; Highlights, $ for each foil; Perm, $50; Manicure, $20; Pedicure, $35; Wax, $10; Man’s cut, $18; Child’s cut, $10; Shampoo and Style, $20; Shampoo, cut and blow-dry, $35; Color, $50.

Serendipity uses Emani Cosmetics Factory Inc. mineral-based make-up products because they are known for being friendly to almost every skin condition, and provide very natural tones, Lawlor said.

Serendipity also uses Goldwell styling aids for creating amazing, durable looks that last. Goldwell uses patented FlexShine technology to prevent build-up or dull hair. “FlexShine creates a great hair shine. It has no smell. It’s very true to color,” Lindsey said.

And color is Lindsey’s bag. “Color is my favorite. You can create that perfect skin tone to match their hair and the color of their eyes.”

Besides training under her very experienced mother, Lindsey also attends Orlando cosmetology seminars, one annual event known as the Orlando Hair Show, where she’s learned new skills in every category of services she provides.

“I learned ‘sahag,’ which is a customized haircut for your head shape and bone structure, for your hair only,” Lindsey said. “In Atlanta, I was designated as an IN/SALON coach, and was able to come back to the salon to teach what I learned from the classes I took, including different techniques for color, foils, cuts, trends for the year, and more.”

This “dream come true” has kept Lindsey and staff running hard.

“It’s been non-stop. We’ve had a very good response,” Lindsey said. “My customers have been very supportive. My own salon? It is awesome. It’s just a good feeling. It’s pleasantly surprising. Every now and then it hits me … my dream came true. And I get emotional.”



Q: Who thought up the name Serendipity? Is there a meaning behind it?



A: Trusting myself and asking God for signs has always worked for me. From 3-and-a-half years old, I wanted to be a “beauty shopper.” And all the signs have moved me to open a salon. Serendipity is the name, befitting the meaning as “it was meant to be.”



Q: What makes your salon unique when compared to others?



A: My mission is to “pamper with a purpose” by hospitality of offering complimentary services and water for health and well-being, and individual consults, customized and designed for their lifestyle.



Q: Do you offer occasional specials?



A: Yes — occasional for the stylist. I always offer a military discount on haircuts.



Q: What is your personal favorite specialty to provide and why?

A: I love for a client to trust me enough to say “do what you want.” That freedom of design and creativity covers the cut, color and makeup of what is meant to be for that individual.



Q: What happens while customers wait?



A: All of us do a hand massage or a stress relief massage on neck and shoulders while customers wait.



Q: How does it feel to own your own hair salon?



A: It feels humbling, from where I have been to where I am going.



Q: What are your goals for the shop?



A: To take educational classes for more productive employees’ knowledge within salon classes for ongoing trends and products. To be resourceful, to meet ongoing change with calculated risks!



Q: How is it working with your mom?



A: I grew up with mom working as a professional cosmetologist and I learned to eat, sleep and breathe customer service and hospitality. We say the same advice to clients without realizing we said the same thing. It validates me and gives me confidence to be who I am meant to be. Payback, too! We have fun and enjoy our traditional hair show trip to Orlando, go to a steak and lobster dinner and have a “bite of the orchid.”



Serendipity Hair Salon

Owner: Joy Boots Lindsey

Phone: 229-241-2007

Location: 813 Baytree Road

Hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m,. to 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.