There are no shortage of sexy things to do and see in this city. But sometimes the most important sexy thing about being in San Francisco is the opportunity to walk through the city streets feeling sexy yourself. There are many things that can illicit this feeling - the fashions that you pick up at boutique stores, the confidence that you feel because you can be yourself in San Francisco, the heightened buzz that comes from too much wine at our sexy wine bars or too much caffeine at our cafes and chocolate bars. For me, the feeling of sexiness was aroused again last week when I finally got my hair cut by a really terrific stylist over on Union Street.

Now, I have to say up front that I’m not a Union Street kind of girl. Although I think there are some of the cutest clothes ever in the stores that line the street, I’m not really the kind of gal who drops $150 on a T-shirt. And although I’ve been to the bars over there on a few occasions, the beer pong scene at Bar None is not really my thing. I’m okay with not being that kind of girl and still being able to appreciate that there’s a different kind of sexiness over there that’s right for other people. But I’m also not a girl who has ever actually had a “stylist” and that’s a kind of girl that I’ve always wished that I could be even if the rest of the scene isn’t for me.

You see, I’ve always dreaded going to get my haircut. I am one of those people who puts off getting a haircut for months at a time. In the not-so-distant past, I have gone more than a year without getting my hair professionally cut and have had friends and cheap salons trim my bangs to get them out of my face. The reason for this is precisely because I don’t really feel like one of those Union Street girls. I don’t feel like I ever know what to say to a stylist about how I want my hair; I don’t feel like I’m really the right kind of chick for a good salon. Basically, I’ve always felt really intimidated when I’ve gone to get my hair cut and that’s left me feeling inadequate as a girl far more often than it’s left me feeling sexy.

So I was really excited when I stumbled upon Erika Redding over at Red Union Salon last week, made an appointment and left there feeling like I’d met my lifelong goal of finding a stylist that I adored and want to see again. I went in with the same trepidation, anxiety and sense of inadequacy that I always have when I go to get my hair cut - especially when I go to get it cut at a nice place. But Erika had this way about her that made the whole process simple and serene. Her salon is definitely nice but it’s not nice in an intimidating you-should-be-a-celebrity-to-be-here kind of way; it’s nice in an artsy, edgy, romantic, make-you-feel-sexy-just-being-in-there kind of way.

And Erika is just one of the hottest women I’ve met in a long time. You see, there are a few things that I think are really sexy in a person of either gender. Those things include:

• A creative spirit.
• A willingness to be exactly who you are and to create your own way of working and living rather than just accepting the boxes that are so often placed around us.
• A friendly and open approach to the world around you and the people you encounter.
• Intelligence.
• And that indefinable quality described as charisma or chispa or moxie. That vivacious sense of life that you see in some people that lets you know they’re making waves in the world instead of just floating through it.

Erika Redding has all of those qualities. You could say that what she does is that she cuts your hair but that doesn’t sum her up at all. I can tell that after just one meeting with her. There are multiple layers of business sense and creative spirit and a sensual appreciation of life underneath her surface. And people with that kind of depth just add sexiness to the world around them. Red Union Salon is more than just a salon. It’s an evolving work of art.

Erika has a creative eye that makes the Red Union Salon a place where more than just hairstyles are created. She features the work of local artists on the walls of the salon. She aspires to include fashion and music into this space because she understands the relationship of these things to hair. The thing about getting your hair cut and colored and style, when it’s done right, is that your hair becomes an expression of who you are and what you want the world to know about you. This creative self-expression seems to be inherent in the work that is happening in that salon in ways that go far beyond the surface of just changing your hair.

I can’t speak to the work of the other stylists at the salon but I can say that the energy of the salon is positive enough that I would make the leap to guess that the other people who work there are also creative, entrepreneurial, sexy individuals. I can say that the salon is surprisingly affordable especially given the location. And more importantly, I can say that the feeling of walking down the streets of San Francisco with a sexy haircut is well worth the cost anyway!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 10:56 am and is filed under Art, Fashion, People, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.