Hair Apparent

There are no crystal pitchers of lemon-lime water or misty bottles of lavender spritz in the student-run Emily Griffith Opportunity Salon. The spartan space is housed on the third floor of a nondescript building at 1250 Welton Street, just a tease-comb's throw from the Denver Diner and the new jail site, and while it might not have enough chi for the Cherry Creek spa set, it has its own kind of magnificence: the $4 manicure, $5 haircut and $7 facial.

Emily Griffith's salon is a laboratory for students enrolled in an eleven-month course that leads, hopefully, to a license to practice cosmetology in the state. The future stylists are a cultural pastiche who spend hours perfecting the art of the highlight, the lowlight and the wave. All procedures are supervised by instructors, and students are not allowed to set scissors to mane until they've practiced on non-live subjects. With a service list that includes chemical procedures and hot-lotion manicures, weaves and waxes, cuts and color, the salon is a perfect synthesis of vanity and thrift. Did we mention the $4 brow wax?

The Emily Griffith Opportunity Salon is open from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9:30 to 11 a.m. Fridays. Call 720-423-4798 to make an appointment; walk-ins are welcome, too.
Starts: Aug. 5. Daily, 2004