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Christin Boecker, Ovations Salon & Spa

When you meet Christin Boecker, the owner of Ovations Salon & Spa, the first thing you notice is her striking naturally curly hair. And therein lies a tale.

Christin didn’t come to owning a salon and spa by the route that many owners take. She doesn’t have a background in cosmetology, massage, or anything related. Rather, she has a college degree in Actuarial Science and a background in Computer Science. Calling herself an “extroverted geek,” Christin loved the work itself, but found herself craving more from the work environment.

She worked in several other areas, including website design, web training, and mortgage banking, before discovering the salon world. All the while, because of her outgoing nature, her friends were telling her that she should go into sales. Maybe even open her own business. About the same time, Christin began to suffer from headaches and was referred to a chiropractor. There she found the relief she was seeking, but she also discovered the world of Health and Wellness. Chiropractic care led to massage therapy and both engendered a heightened sense of personal wellbeing.

That’s what led her to the salon and spa business. Initially she was interested only in the spa side – especially massage therapy. She thought it would be a great business to be in. Her husband Bob, an entrepreneur himself, found a salon for sale with space next door where they could expand with a spa. When Christin heard that, she wondered, “Why a salon? That’s no fun – I hate going to the salon.”

Which brings us back to Christin’s naturally curly hair. For most of her life, getting her hair cut had been a chore. She never liked what the stylist did to it. Going to the salon was always just “something you had to do.” Then, several years ago, she discovered the hair care products of Ouidad, a New York salon owner and developer of a complete line of curly hair care products. Christin tried the products and liked them.

One day, when Christin and Bob were in the midst of the search for a location, Christin was placing an online order for Ouidad products. She saw a banner ad about becoming a Ouidad Certified Salon. She put 2 and 2 together and thought, “Now, if I could get a curly-haired salon, that’s something I could get excited about!”

Christin and Bob soon found another salon for sale. This one was a closer fit for their needs, the current location of Ovations. They purchased it and set up shop in December 2008. Within two months they were Ouidad certified and had two trained stylists working with curly haired women. In fact, they were the only Ouidad certified salon in the five-state area. Curly haired women from all over were coming to Ovations to get their hair styled and treated!

When curly-haired women walked in the door, they found a staff willing to do more than style and treat hair. Stylists were willing to teach their clients how to style their own hair at home. Ovations’ mantra is Educate-Educate-Educate. Old school thinking and experience were that you only looked good when you came out of the salon. Christin feels that people should look at least as good if not better, when they do it themselves. Therefore, Ovations teaches how to do this sort of styling at home.

The salon side of the business is going very well and growing. In fact, Christin told me that they could use more stylists certified in curly hair, but there’s a long wait for training in New York.

With the salon side going well, Christin is shifting her focus to the spa side. She wants to focus on massage as wellness, similar to the way chiropractic care does. She’s concerned about the perception of a massage as a “fluff-n-buff” when it’s done at a spa versus true repair work when done at a wellness center of some sort.

Christin points out this difference is in the perception rather than the actual therapy. All salons are different, and some will focus more on relaxation, but most are true wellness treatments. Christin says, “If you go to a massage therapist who focuses on wellness, you will see huge results.”

Ovations’ focus with massage is for wellness and healing, not just a once-a-year treatment. Thus, their slogan is “An integral part of your healthy lifestyle.”

To support that philosophy, Christin is thinking about adding other wellness professions, such as a chiropractor, acupuncturist, nutritionist, perhaps even a physical therapist. She’s constantly looking for more good people.

Christin found her primary inspiration for Ovations in the benefits she personally experienced from massage and chiropractic. Adding to that was her desire to serve the curly-haired girls of the world. She’s thrilled when she sees the changes that come with women discovering what can be done with their curly hair, and discovering their own ability to work with it themselves. Women are always stopping in just to show off what they’ve done. “Look what I did this morning! Doesn’t it look great?” is a frequent comment during those visits.

Ovations is growing. Christin is looking for more people, she’s updating business systems, looking at new marketing approaches with her mom (who’s a former ad agency executive), and frequently networks with other salon owners to exchange ideas. They have 9 stylists, a massage therapist, and an esthetician, a person specially trained to perform services having to do with the skin – facials, waxing, and other skin treatments. Several people have training and skills in more than one area.

Ovations Salon & Spa offers a full range of services, including haircuts, hair coloring, deep treatments, conditioning, relaxing (hair), manicures, pedicures, artificial nails, skin treatments, makeup (wedding parties), and massage of all types, but specializing in deep tissue and pregnancy massage, and hot stone treatments.

Christin’s also really excited about a new set of products/services they offer – health supplements and body applicators. These applicators are detoxifying wraps that are smaller than a whole body wrap, but larger than a patch. They’re all natural, firming and tightening, “bringing the skin as close to fountain of youth as possible.” They’re seeing instant results, but there’s also a progressive aspect. Applications also include post-pregnancy and weight loss. Additionally, they’re anti-inflammatory. Therefore, they’re great for things like sports injuries.

This latest addition to Ovations Salon & Spa’s wide-ranging list of services is indicative of Christin’s constant search for things that can change people’s lives. She really wants to get the word out about health and wellness.

A Little More About Christin Boecker

Christin was raised in Stillwater. Husband Bob is from Chaska. Bob was living in Chanhassen when they met and brought her to the west side – a rare occurrence according to Christin. She was so entrenched in the east side of town, she’d never even heard of Chanhassen!

Bob is a co-owner of Ovations Salon & Spa, but is not involved in the day to day operations. They have a 14 year old daughter, Amber, who’s starting high school at Chanhassen High this year. Also lurking around the house is Skyler, a Siberian Husky.