Traveling to The Industry Source’s (Nailco) Great Lakes Beauty Show for  NAILS’ Salon of the Year Awards gave me the opportunity to see how they do nails in the Midwest at two fine full-service salons: Pannos and Gina Agosta. The salons were recommended to me by the distributor’s staff as two of the best in the area.

At Pannos, which is located in West Bloomfield, Mich., independent contractor Ashley Yono gave me the most detailed, fine-tuned pedicure I have ever received in my two years on the magazine. The Pannos Salon was recently redesigned and Ashley says the new set-up has helped boost business for her and the five other nail techs. “I have a full book,” she brags. The salon’s new layout, which is a result of gutting the entire salon space and redoing the interior with a more modern color scheme and salon furniture, has also made the nail techs’ jobs easier. New pedicure thrones with whirlpools made my pedicure a divine pleasure.

Next, I traveled to Novi to visit Gina and John Agosta who run a unique salon. The mother-son duo divided the salon in two to address two very different types of clients: men and women. The Gina Agosta side of the salon is an elegant setting that offers a full menu of services for women, while Agosta for the Civilized Man targets male clientele with a full range of nail, skin, and hair services. The inspiration for Agosta for Men was female clients who couldn’t refer their spouses, brothers, or boyfriends to a high-end, full-service salon that catered specifically to women. After my tour, Gina Agosta’s nail technician, Carlo Siano, who mixes great humor with her nail advice, pampered me. I laughed as she recalled some of her tactics to get clients to use cuticle oil regularly, stop picking at their acrylic nails, or try a new shade of polish. Her sense of humor and love for clients and her business is infectious.

 

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, Click here.

Read more about