Stylist Jeremy White cuts graphic designer Kelly Seba’s hair. Seba heard about Skullz from her friend who had also heard about the salon by word of mouth.

Photo by David Ranucci | Daily Kent Stater

Credit: Ron Soltys

You won’t find many salons that have a selection of hair colors that span the rainbow. Nor will you find many where vinyl LPs and pictures of Kiss cover the walls. But that’s what the new hair salon in Kent aims to be — different.

Skullz Salon, located at 715 N. Mantua Street, was started in July by owner Angelique Manns, 27. Its appearance from the outside — a skull with pink pigtails in the window — make it look like only a punk rock hair salon, but Manns swears they run the gamut of hairstyles.

“We don’t do just one type of hairstyle. It’s not like we only do mohawks,” she said. “Clientele-wise, we have 70-year-old ladies to little kids that come in.”

The salon’s logo may throw off some people that are used to a traditional salon, but Manns guarantees the service is top-knotch.

“Some people are a little apprehensive, but our skills speak for itself,” she said, “Seventy-five to 80 percent of our customers are referrals, so it’s been good.”

Skullz was the result of a former salon at the same location, where Manns worked. When it eventually closed, she took over.

“It was one of those situations where if you didn’t take it, you know you’d be kicking yourself later,” she said.

Manns, who has been doing hair for the past nine years, said her first experience was cutting and styling hair in a large salon in Columbus. The experience led her away from working for any other big companies and helped her decide what she wanted to see in a salon, she said.

“I just asked the question ‘What would make me feel comfortable about getting my hair cut?’ and that’s what I did.”

Prices for haircuts start at $35 and go up, especially if coloring is needed. You definitely get what you pay for, but if you’re looking for the cheapest haircut in town, Skullz may not be the place to go. One of the salon’s specialty, she said, is coloring people’s hair.

“We do a lot of different things with color that’s kind of off the wall,” she said.

They also cater to the people that come in wanting to look like Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy or one of the members of Paramore.

“We definitely have an emo crowd, and they know who they are,” she said, “they’ll come in, we’ll ask where they part their hair and they’ll swoop it to the side.”

Manns said, most importantly, she wants people to look modern.

“We’ll have ladies come in that just want somebody that won’t make them look old. They want to be a little bit on the front.”

For the moment, Manns said she has no plans of branching out. Currently, she just wants to use the salon as a link to the community and make people to feel relaxed.

“I’ve just want a place where everybody knows everybody,” she said.

Contact all correspondent Andrew Gaug at [email protected].