By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
A mother/daughter duo is opening a new barbershop in Hays and each cut comes with a complimentary beer.
Don't like beer? Have a Truly or pop. Ladies you are welcome too.
Sara and Emma Humphrey are the creative team behind Blue Moon Barber Lounge.
Hair and beard services are all beer themed. A beard trim (the light) starts at $15. Services range up to $50 for the Blue Moon, which is the works, and includes hot towel, beard trim, warm neck shave, shampoo, haircut and scalp massage.
Women's cuts are $35. Brylee Rupp will also be doing eyelashes.
All services come with a beverage. The coolers are stocked with Bud Light, Coors Light, Blue Moon, Miller Light, Coors original, Truly, O'Doul's, Boulevard, seltzer, water and assorted pops. Coffee is also available. Sara said she hopes to eventually add a Defiance beer to the fridges.
Sara, Emma's mom, has been a stylist for 22 years. She has primarily worked from a home-based studio. Emma has been working as a stylist for three years and just moved back to Hays from Kansas City where she was working at a salon there.
Sara cuts both men's and women's hair. Emma specializes in men's cuts and shaves. Sara's younger daughter, Sophie, will be graduating from the Hays Academy of Hair Design in April and plans to join Blue Moon. She's interested in working with color.
The barbershop has a special room set up in the back just for women. The shop has four styling stations in the front of the shop and two in the back.
With Emma moving back to Hays, Sara said now was the right time to open a store front, which is at 119 E. Eighth in Hays.
"Just for me, the timing was OK," Sara said. "I just never wanted to have my own salon. There are a lot of hours that go into it, so I was never ready to do that. I never wanted to do it alone. Her and I doing it together, it's exciting."
The name Blue Moon came from an illustration of a blue moon that hung in Sara's home studio for years. It now graces the downtown barbershop.
The lounge commissioned local artist Dennis Schiel to paint three murals for the shop's rear wall. The first image is of a moon. The second is of a man getting a cut and shave, the third is a night scene of downtown Hays from the perspective of the barbershop window.
The paintings contain eight hidden images — Mickey Mouse, a rocket ship, tornado, Where's Waldo, Abraham Lincoln, a scoop, a ruby red slipper and a fly.
Sara said she hasn't been able to find the fly or the ruby red slipper yet.
For men's hair services, the lounge will be using STMNT products, and for the women the lounge will use Morocccanoil.
The barbershop's hours will be 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fridays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Satrudays. The stylists are willing to consider times outside of regular hours by appointment.
Appointments can be made on the babershop's website or by calling or texting 785-639-7656. Walk-ins are also welcome. Watch for the barber poll to be spinning in the front window, and you'll know the shop is open, Sara said.
You can also follow the lounge on Facebook and Instagram.