by Anna Hovey

UMD alumna Regina Holbert always felt that College Park was missing a full-service salon for diverse hair types. So in January 2018, she began work on opening one of her own. This October, Hair + Space Blowdry Bar was born.

The vision behind Hair + Space was to create a “a chic… beauty hub that caters to all women and prides itself on diversity and inclusion,” the salon’s website reads. “Are we the only blowout bar? No, but ours is out of this world.”

Though Hair + Space opened just over a month ago, Holbert said she is pleased with the business’ growing customer base. The salon held a soft opening a week before its official opening on Oct. 29. 

“I think I may have been fooled a little in the beginning, because when you’re first opening, everyone wants to come,” Holbert said. “In week three, when all your friends and family have already come through… [that’s] where marketing comes in.”

Hair + Space offers an array of services, but as a blow-dry bar, their most popular is the classic blowout for $47. The $15 “healthy trim” option is their second most popular service. When customers get the trim and blowout together, they can expect to pay $62. 

“On Sundays we’re really busy because people just want their hair blown out for the week,” Holbert said.

As owner, Holbert took the reigns on everything leading up to the salon’s official opening, including finances, hiring, leasing the space, construction, opening accounts, inspections, marketing and more. 

“All that stuff that goes into play before you can even open your doors,” she said.

Holbert, 35, also works full time as a school counselor in the PGCPS system, so she hired a salon manager to help out.

“I’m an entrepreneur by night,” Holbert said with a laugh. “So Hair + Space… I’m doing it in my sleep.”

As of now, there’s only one Hair + Space Blowdry Bar in existence. 

“This is the first, but hopefully not the only,” Holbert said.

She added that one of her main objectives is to get all sorts of different women from the College Park area into the salon. To do this, Holbert’s been building the brand on Instagram, as well as emailing and direct messaging people.

Patrice Elleston, a graduate student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore studying physical therapy, visited Hair + Space on Sunday, Nov. 24 for a wash, deep condition, treatment, trim and blowout. She said she wanted to come out to support the new business.

“I haven’t gotten it done in so long, it feels good to get it treated by someone else for once,” Elleston said.

Elleston, originally from New Jersey, said it was her first time visiting Hair + Space. 

She said the service was very good and that she planned on coming back.

In terms of the salon’s future, Holbert said she wants to continue to “break barriers” and let all women know the salon is there for them. 

“We service all women and all hair types,” Holbert said. “That is the number one goal for Hair + Space, to continue to reach a diverse population.”

Overall, Holbert hopes her salon will become a one-stop shop for all women in the College Park area. 

“I’m definitely happy, I’m learning. This is a first for me, but I’m… happy with the progress so far,” Holbert said. 

You can find Hair + Space on Instagram @hairandspace, or on their website, hairandspace.com.