At 18/8 Fine Men’s Salon, stylists are trained to make sure their clients leave feeling and looking better than when they came in for their appointments.
Franchise owner John-Michael Stern opened an 18/8 location in Hughes Landing almost a year ago. He made sure to incorporate a distinct Woodlands theme, complete with wood flooring and canvas photos of pine trees on the pale green walls.
“The barbershop mentality is often a different type of personality,” Stern said. “Not every gentleman wants to go to a barbershop and have the barber say, ‘Hey, welcome to the barbershop. We’ll take care of you when we can.’ Here, it’s much more of that hospitality personality.”
In addition to hair styling, 18/8 offers blade shaves, scalp and face treatments, nail treatments, waxing and hair coloring services.
“I think men are starting to realize there’s a lot more to taking care of themselves versus just a quick chop-shop haircut,” Stern said. “There’s taking care of your nails [and] taking care of your skin. Traditionally, services were all kind of separated. Men don’t necessarily want to go to 15 different places to get themselves taken care of.”
Although Stern is not a stylist at 18/8, he has a background in retail management. He first got involved with the franchise in 2014.
“I loved helping make people look good and feel good,” Stern said. “That really translated to this concept. I wanted to go beyond the four walls of retail and get into ownership. This really made sense to me and seems like an underserved concept.”
When searching for a place to open 18/8 in the Greater Houston area, Stern said Hughes Landing was still underdeveloped and The Woodlands seemed like a good fit.
“This seemed to make a lot of sense in The Woodlands,” he said. “[With] the experience of the exclusive feel with our services, men deserve a place to have as their own.”
While 18/8 is designed to feel like a trip to a luxurious spa, its prices do not necessarily reflect that, Stern said.
“If you go to a traditional spa to get the type of service we have, you may be looking to spend about $160 for the service that we provide for $47,” he said. The Hughes Landing 18/8 location has seven stylists on staff, and Stern is looking to expand the team, he said.
“We love helping men look good and feel good,” Stern said. “Every day is a new adventure for us as we continue to evolve and learn how to better connect the dots with our clients. I like to think of ourselves as a pretty progressive concept.”
18|8 SALON SERVICES
18/8 Fine Men’s Salon offers clients a one-stop option for their styling and grooming needs.• Hair styling ($28-$65) • Blade shaves ($14-$74) • Scalp and face treatments ($32-$89) • Nail treatments ($31-$69) • Waxing ($11-$57) • Coloring services ($16-$89)
EXECUTIVE MEMBERSHIPS
Clients have the option of signing up for a membership. All 18/8 Salon memberships include seven executive haircuts, seven complimentary cleanups between haircuts, 50 percent off one grooming service and 15 percent off retail products. Memberships never expire and vary in price depending on the stylist’s level of experience.-Centre stylist membership: $273 ($39 per service) -Senior stylist membership: $329 ($47 per service) -Master stylist membership: $371 ($53 per service)
THE WOODLANDS’ MOST POPULAR HAIR STYLES
Popular styles requested at 18/8 Fine Men’s Salon in Hughes Landing range from classic and clean-cut to modern and edgy.
CLASSIC BUSINESS Hair is styled shorter around the sides and back of the head. However, the top is still long enough to style in a layered-back fashion away from the sidepart.
MODERN POMPADOUR Hair is much fuller on top and gradually fades to be shorter around the sides of the head. A defined, shaved part finishes off this look.
MESSY DRESSY This versatile look can be worn combed to the side for a more professional look, or it can be styled to look more free-flowing. Hair is shorter on the sides but long on top.
