Montreal's First All Natural Beauty Salon
3 min. read
Montreal's First All Natural Beauty Salon
Heyyy, beautiful human!
As I have mentioned over the weekend, I was invited to try out V & O Salon to get a gel manicure done - right on time before my 3-week trip too! FYI, V & O stands for "Vegan & Organic" and, as you read from this post's title, it's the first salon in Montreal that I know of to use 100% natural products. V & O Salon opened its door to the St-Henri community in mid-March 2017. They also offer pedicures, body sugaring & facials but I'll be mostly talking about my mani experience.
I Can’t Do My Own Nails…
Ok, so I feel like it's also important to mention why I get my nails done in the first place. First of all, I'm way too impatient to wait for nail polish to dry because ya girl's got things to do & places to be haha. Because of my impatience, I always end up ruining the fresh coat & having to restart the whole process once over... NOT FUN.
Second of all, I'm always coffee crawling, meaning that I always take pictures of my coffee for the 'gram & they've gotta look on fleek haha. Therefore, I'm saving myself hours of frustration by just getting my nails done once a month - my manis tend to last about 3 weeks if I take good care of them.
What Some Nail Salons Don't Tell You
One thing I really appreciated about V & O Salon was that they are super open to educating you about their products & tips on what NOT to do when it comes to nail care.
A lot of the salons I had tried were Vietnamese, so there was sometimes a language barrier between the nail technician & I. Once you sit at their chair, you choose your nail polish color & shape, & then they get to it with no questions asked. So, for about 2 years the nail techs would cut my cuticles & I thought that was just part of the nail care routine. It turns out that cutting the cuticles makes them grow thicker & dryer which some salons are hoping that it happens so you can come back for them to "fix" it.
So, protip I learned from V & O: if you notice that the nail tech is about to cut your cuticles, ask them to just push them back instead & cut whatever hanging skin is around your nails (ok, a little TMI sorry haha).
But Why Choose a Vegan & Organic Beauty Salon?
Now, why would you switch from your usual beauty salon to an all natural one? If you think long term, the latter is the least harmful option - I mean, among the many cancerous things we ingest (we're all guilty of that, I love me some junk food on some occasions) we can at least control what goes on our body. About 70% of my skincare products are organic which is why V & O was a great option for me to explore.
Also, all of their products are non-toxic, chemical-free & not tested on animals. Yes, ALL of it - so we're talking: gel manis (they use the brand Madam Glam), pedis, scrubs, facial & sugaring (which is solely made of sugar - duh haha, H2O & lemon, aka things you can find in your own pantry).
What's also cool about V & O is that everything is sterile & clean (as it should be) but here's the kicker: whatever tools that can't be sterilized (like the nail file & buffer), they keep it in a pouch under your name for the next time you come back. In doing so, that ensures no contamination because they were tools that only you used & it's less wasteful. Talk about a clean salon in every way haha (;
V & O Salon, Yay or Nay?
The verdict: YAY. I mean, I might be somewhat biased because my friend works there (& did a great job on my nails) haha but after meeting the owner & the rest of the staff, I can still vouch for how great the salon is. They even have 4 dedicated private rooms for each type of service, which is an added privacy bonus.
A part of the wonderful team, including the salon owner Pascale in the middle (:
This nail color is called “Merlot” (I’m Fall ready with this color yayyyy)
Well, that's all I have to say, folks! Feel free to leave a comment down below if you have any other questions about the salon.
Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the LAST week of September & until next post, fam! xoxo
Hi, there!
My name is Katrina Tioseco & I’m a self-made social media marketer with a degree in interior design.
Among the many things I’m passionate about, I also love eating (although I don’t cook very often haha), travelling, coffee crawling, taking photos & clever puns.
3 min. read