The Parlour on 3rd

Posted by Stacey

on November 7, 2009

I’m always on the lookout for a good salon in Los Angeles, so when I heard about The Parlour on 3rd, I was really excited to try it out. It had been way, way (WAY!) too long since I’d had a good cut and color and my hair definitely looked it. When I found myself actually starting to frown at it in the mirror, I couldn’t make it down to the salon fast enough.

When I first walked in, I immediately felt relaxed and at ease. The space is bright and inviting, with big comfy chairs to wait in and a super friendly staff. I wasn’t even there three minutes before they were handing me magazines to read and getting me a big cup of delicious coffee (both immediate ways to make me happy). A few minutes later, when my stylist Leeya Alvandi came out to get me, I was almost sorry to get up!

Before we started doing anything to my hair, Leeya and I talked about how I wanted it to look for awhile, which I always find to be a sign of a really good stylist. Not only did she listen to me, but she told me what she thought and was very honest with her opinion. (So much better than a stylist who tells you what you want to hear and gives you something that doesn’t suit your face). I showed her a few pictures from magazines, but we also extensively discussed the color. My hair is naturally a light brown, but I prefer it to be a much darker shade and since it had faded so much, I wanted to make sure that we got it back to looking the way I wanted. I’m really terrible at descriptions though – I think what I said to Leeya went something like this, “Uhm, dark, but not too dark. But not too light either. Definitely brunette. Just sort of rich and… warm. You know what I mean?” Shockingly, she actually did! The color came out perfectly – what I really like about it is that it’s glossy and shiny, not at all flat and bland like some dark shades can turn out. It has depth and dimension, which is important to me because my hair is pretty straight, so if it’s not colored correctly, it can look really boring and bland. The dark brown that Leeya created for my hair by mixing two different shades together gave me what she called “A natural look – something you could’ve been born with, but pumped up a little bit, with warmth and shine.” It’s what she specializes in and she does it very well.

As far as a cut, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do, so I got Leeya’s opinion and went with that. I had been wondering if maybe a shorter haircut would look better on me, but Leeya didn’t think that was the case, so we left most of the length. She gave my long, medium-fine hair layers to shape my face and create fullness and volume so that it wouldn’t just hang around my shoulders. She likes her clients to have “full and healthy” hair that can grow out naturally – nothing that would have to be cut every few weeks to maintain the shape. (Thankfully, because who has time for that?) When she blew out my hair, she used round brushes and a few spritzes of product to give my hair tons of volume and bounciness. It looked so great that I made her take pictures of it with my iPhone because I wanted to see if I could replicate it myself. (Sadly, I could not. I have no talent for hair. I did, however, make my sister very jealous when I emailed the picture to her, which was kinda fun). In fact, my hair looked so good when I left that when I randomly ran into two friends I knew on the street, they both asked me if I was going to an event because it looked so much better than what they were used to seeing. (I decided to not be offended by that!)

The Parlour on 3rd is located at 8113 West 3rd. Street in Los Angeles. It’s a super cute neighborhood, so you could totally make the appointment and then meet a friend for lunch or do some shopping afterwards. To make an appointment, call 323-651-4200. I highly suggest asking for Leeya if you do. She did a great job with my hair and was so much fun to talk to – it was almost like hanging out with a friend instead of being at a salon. (And she’s her own best advertisement because her hair is gorgeous. I totally coveted it while I was there). I’ll definitely be heading back to The Parlour on 3rd the next time my hair needs some attention.