Fringe Salon

When you’re desperately looking for a hairdresser who won’t give you a bob when you ask for a trim or Ringo Starr bangs instead of face-framing layers, it’s hard to stay relaxed. Enter Fringe. When a customer walks into this West Queen West salon, the team’s primary objective is to make him or her feel at ease. The space is illuminated by natural light, and the warm tones of the exposed brick and woody accents are pleasing to the eye. You won’t find unflattering, harshly lit mirrors and glacial hairdressers with unrelenting visions for your new ‘do here.

Lora Sousa, the owner of Fringe, cut hair for 10 years under other stylists before she breaking away to open her own salon. “I couldn’t really find a place that suited what I wanted,” she explains. “I wanted to take away a bit of that intimidation factor and create something that I would feel comfortable going into as a client.”

Lora’s experience working in salons that were similarly unpretentious and welcoming helped her to develop the feel of Fringe, much to the delight of her customers. “Clients like the feel of it, how easygoing it is,” she says. Lora and her staff pay attention to what the customer wants, a simple concept that is often missed in the hair styling industry.