Photo courtesy of Brendon Pinola.
The Hair Bar in Cahaba Heights offers hair, wax, massage and makeup services.
Growing up in the small town of Luverne, Glen Mackey didn’t dream of owning his own beauty salon. Instead, he had set his ambitions on becoming a nurse.
“From ninth to 12th grade, I took medical terminology courses, and I had a 3.8 GPA,” he said. “I never had to take a single book home.”
College life at Troy University, however, proved to be an entirely new challenge.
“I was trying to go to school, and I was working a restaurant job, a retail job and at a hospital," he said. “I only made it about halfway through when I knew it wasn't going to pan out, but now I know it didn’t so something better could.”
It was at that point, Mackey said, that a conversation with friends led him to a new career path.
“My roommate was a business student who had graduated from Aveda, and we both had mutual friends who were in the hair industry,” he said. “They were talking about how successful you could be with it. I thought this was something I could do.”
Mackey moved to Birmingham in 2012 and began taking classes at Xcell Academy, a Paul Mitchell partner school, and then went on to Regency Beauty Institute in Hoover. After graduating, Mackey worked at GeGe’s in Greystone, Mac Cosmetics and LifeSpa before deciding it was time to go out on his own.
In 2016, he opened The Hair Bar in the Target shopping center on U.S. 280. Since then, business at The Hair Bar had far exceeded its space.
“We grew about 600% in five years,” Mackey said. “We now have about 7,000 regular clients. It’s been amazing.”
Now, Mackey has brought what he calls his “team of rockstars” along with him to The Hair Bar’s new location at Parkside at Dolly Ridge in Cahaba Heights. At 2,500 square feet, the new salon is three times larger and now has eight hair stylists, three full-body waxers, three massage therapists, one lash expert and one permanent makeup expert.
“Our team is not just coworkers or employees, but a chosen family who have worked really hard so together we could expand into a bigger and more beautiful space,” he said.
Mackey, who is certified in five hair extension techniques, also specializes in blonding, color services and multiple smoothing and conditioning treatments. A new service he is excited about is the head spa, a Japanese-inspired beauty treatment that is like a facial treatment for the head and scalp.
“We do a deep conditioning treatment at the end that gets rid of build-up after you get your extensions out,” he said. “It really helps if you have dry or damaged hair.”
In addition to staying on top of new hair care and beauty regimens, Mackey said he believes the secret to The Hair Bar’s success is in building relationships.
“If you take care of your people, they will take care of you,” he said. “It’s a small family. It doesn’t end when the lights go out.”
When choosing a new location, Mackey said he wanted a place that had more of a community feel and where clients would not have to deal with the stress of traffic on U.S. 280.
“I thought of my clients and where they come from,” he said. “We have some that come from Auburn, Jasper, Hoover and even Nashville.”
But Mackey said he had a deeper reason for choosing Cahaba Heights.
“It’s a tight-knit community where people take care of their own, and this is what being a small business is all about,” he said.
The Hair Bar is located at 4317 Dolly Ridge Road. The salon is open Tuesday-Thursday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information or to book an appointment, call 205-848-8828 or visit thehairbarbham.com.
