The Boardroom

After a week of poor decision making, making a trip out to the Boardroom in Tanglewood was about the best decision I had made thus far. About a stone's throw from my place in the Galleria area- well, if I could throw a stone 1.5 miles- I ambled in on a Saturday morning. I had never been to a salon tailored towards men so I had no idea quite what to expect.

The waiting area

When you first walk in, rather than the awkward pleather bench with months-old copies of In-style magazines with the pages dog-eared with particular celebrity 'do's to copy (and more often 'do-nots) scattered on the stand nearby, I was greeted with wood walls and leather chairs- the kind of ambiance where million dollar deals are made with handshakes. In this case, the handshake would be an understanding of making me look like a million bucks.

Neshia was my stylist for the day and gave me a quick tour about the salon before settling down to a consultation. I would be getting The Benchmark that day- a cut, shampoo, paraffin hand dip, scalp massage, face massage, hot towels, and a finishing hand massage. After she cleaned off quite a bit of hair to prepare me for a hot Houston summer, I was taken to the back for the paraffin hand dip, which I actually enjoyed probably more than I should. You dip your hands in a water bath of clear liquid which is actually paraffin wax and when you remove your hands, it's as though you had stuck your entire hand in a melted candle. They wrap up your hands to let the wax harden and sit you down for the relaxing shampoo/scalp massage/face massage/hot towel wrap with a few added drops of eucalyptus oil/menthol to bring on a minty fresh sensation.

After the hand wax was peeled and a soothing final hand massage, the appointment felt like it had ended too soon. Neshia then did a quick styling and I felt like I was ready to go out and tackle the weekend. All in all, a great experience and I would definitely go back the next time I'm wound up from a week of staring at spreadsheets and tax returns.