Saturday's Remaining Interviews

On Saturday, Jen and I continued our interviews at Baked & Wired and took advantage of some of the sunshine (before it got too hot to handle).

Our second (4th?) interview that morning was with a good a friend of mine, Sarah. Jen conducted most of the interview since I already know Sarah so well.

"You need to know that when people come in together, they want to stay together."

Sarah is a 26-yr-old elementary school student in North Carolina. She is in DC for the summer working an internship in development at an education policy firm. She graduated from Duke University, where she was involved in Delta Gamma Fraternity (and where she and I met!) and Hoof and Horn, a musical theater group. She is originally from La Quinada near LA. She did musical theater in high school, as well. She was also involved in cheer when she was younger. She described getting ready for cheer events as "fun to be in a group of girls getting ready together." She and the other girls had to create "networks" on top of their heads then curl the remaining hair in a ponytail. After that, they covered their hair in glitter. It sounded like a very complicated, painful, glitter-tastic experience.

Sarah now considers herself lower-maintenance. She said she likes to go to happy hours or out with her roommates on weekends. She's staying with two girls in her old apartment, where she lived prior to moving to NC. On weekends, she does like to sleep in then go to brunch or get coffee near her apartment. When she does go out, it's usually on H St because it's within walking distance from her place. Most of her time getting ready is spent deciding what to wear. She does not spend much time on her hair because it's so thick but easy to blow dry on her own.

Sarah's most recent experience getting ready for a wedding was a couple months ago. She attended a college friend's wedding in LA. She said she forgot her eye shadow and mascara in DC so she went to her local Merle Norman. She bought her two products and the makeup artist there did her makeup for free. She had previously had her makeup done at Merle Norman for her senior portraits and for her sister's wedding.

Her sister was married several years ago and Sarah was in the wedding. She and her sister got pedicures together the day before the wedding to have sister bonding time. The next day, the whole bridal party had hair and makeup done by professionals who were hired by Sarah's sister.

Other recent experience included getting ready for fraternity and sorority formals and for formal events through Advisory Board Company, her previous employer. She said that for sorority formals, she and her "family" would get pedicures together. She also would get ready with her Big Sister or with her roommates but it was not a huge event. The Advisory Board Company rented a hotel room for her team so she and the rest of the group got ready for the event together in the room then took a cab to the party. 

Sarah loves to get pedicures in groups but she hates when the group gets split up. She likes to be able to sit with her friends to chat and enjoy the experience together. She sees it as a great time for bonding and relaxing with a little pampering. She thinks it gets incredibly awkward when she and her friends end up seated with a random person between them.

After Sarah discussed, her experiences, Jen and I presented her with the idea behind Beauty Bar. She personally would not pay $35 for a blowout because it is not essential for her hair type. She does like the idea behind it, though, and she said she has friends who would use it. She mentioned Mimosa and a few other hair and nail salons that service mimosas and champagne during the service. She said she would likely pay extra for premium liquors if they were offered during the service and she was with a group. Sarah would go to a place like Beauty Bar for special events or birthday celebrations. She said it would not be a place she would go weekly to get ready for a Saturday night out because she wouldn't want to overdo it. The services she would prefer are nails and makeup application (pedicure over manicure, would do both if she weren't a teacher who has to be price-conscious). She suggested massage chairs, magazines, tv, possibly "old school" videogames, mini-muffins, fruit, veggies (if fresh for each group) and other bite-sized snacks. She thinks it's fair to pay $75 for two services and suggested a BYOB option with a small corking fee. Sarah said she is likely to attend more than once a year but not every month. If she were getting married, she would take the whole bridal party there because it would be fun. She also thought a beauty brunch could be fun. She does not have a preference for makeup brand as long as it will not make her break out and she could have the option to bring specific product for application.

Jules (right) and Andrea (left), "If I was loaded, I would do it every day!"

Andrea is a 20-yr-old student at a university in Boston. She is in DC for the summer as an RA for a program hosted at Georgetown. During the school year, she typically wakes up, washes her face, gets dressed and heads to the dining hall. She refuses to skip breakfast, unless she wakes up after 2pm. She usually works out about 3 times a week. She refuses to go out on two consecutive nights. When she goes out, she usually hangs out at a friend's apartment. She gets manicures and pedicures only when someone else is paying for them. She would get a hand, foot or body massage, though. She cuts her hair twice a year and chops off about 5 to 7 inches each time to donate. She already has her new hair style planned for when she goes in later this summer. She had her friends send her ideas and she picked the winner (it sounded like a less-glam Gwen Stefani cut). Andrea was very talkative but definitely not a potential customer.

Jules is a 21-yr-old undergraduate student at Georgetown University. She has grown up in DC and her parents still live in the area. She generally goes for a run in the morning. She washes her hair every three days and usually wears minimal makeup during the day. When she is getting ready to go out at night, she will spend around 2 hours to primp. She attended an all-girl high school so the dress was the biggest issue when she attended prom. She did get her hair and nails done the day of prom, starting at 9am. She tends to get her hair cut every 3 months but she does not always get it blown out. When she gets ready for a night out, she usually gets ready with her roommates. They share a few glasses of wine, ask each other for advice and borrow each other's makeup. She gets asked to get her nails done with friends but she does not do it often because it's too expensive. Jules said she loves Dry Bar and she went there before her boyfriend's formal. She said it's something she couldn't do on her own but that the pricing is good. She said she wished they had a nail package for an additional $10 or so. When she had her hair done for the formal, she had to rush home with her jacket covering her head because it had started to drizzle and she was afraid the rain would ruin her new blow out. She said she wished she had had a way to go directly to the event instead of rushing home to change into her Rent the Runway dress.