Good Neighbor Podcast: Virginia Beach
Good Neighbor Podcast: Virginia Beach
Good Neighbor Podcast: Virginia Beach
Ep. 6 Elevating the Hair Blowout and Art at Virginia Beach's Hi N Dry
Experience the charm of Virginia Beach's unique beauty scene with Val Powell, the visionary behind Hi N Dry, the Oceanfront's one and only blow-dry bar. Join us as Val shares her entrepreneurial journey fueled by a desire to offer a luxury service without the hassle of appointments. Situated at the Oceanfront on 17th Street, Hi N Dry specializes in professional blowouts that last for days, setting itself apart from local salons. Val's passion for creating a welcoming space shines through in her lovely salon, which also doubles as a gallery featuring stunning vintage art pieces by celebrated artists like Renoir, Salvador Dali, and Henry Matisse.
Val's story is one of transformation and family roots, as she explains her shift from stay-at-home mom to business owner, motivated by her family's move to Virginia Beach for a family-friendly atmosphere. She talks about the importance of community and how her salon reflects a personal touch with its flexible hours and talented team. Dive into a conversation filled with inspiration and creativity, as Val discusses not just hair styling but the artistry and warmth that make Hi N Dry a standout destination. Whether you're a local looking for a fresh style or an art enthusiast exploring new avenues, this episode offers a slice of the vibrant life at Virginia Beach.
Hi N Dry
Val Powell
313 17th Street
Virginia Beach, VA 23451
HiNDryVB.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Denise Taylor.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Good Neighbors Podcast, Virginia Beach. I'm Denise Taylor and I'm here today with Val Powell of Hi N Dry at the Oceanfront. Hi Val, how are you? I'm so good. How are you doing? I'm good. We're excited to have you Tell us a little bit about your business.
Speaker 3:It's on 17th Street at the Oceanfront. Yes, it is the only blow-dry bar at the Oceanfront. It is behind 17th Street Surf Shop on Virginia Beach Boulevard, across the street from the new Atlantic Park. Perfect, the wave pool and all the new stuff coming and happening down there in the Vibe District.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. How long have you been open?
Speaker 3:We're getting close to two years, so still fairly new and what differentiates you from you?
Speaker 2:know other salons in the area that do some services, because I've been in your salon and it is very different.
Speaker 3:Well, we offer something that you can't really get easily at other salons. You can't really get easily at other salons. We kind of offer the icing on the cake feeling when you go to a luxury salon and you get your hair colored and cut and you spend hours there and you get a finishing perfect blowout. So what we do is just the blowout, so you can come in and you get your hair washed and conditioned real well and we've got different kinds of treatments and you get a proper blowout that'll last you days, um, without an appointment, which is the best part, I think, um a lot of salons, if you want that type of a service, you have have to schedule way in advance. You might, you know, get the assistant, somebody there that's just going to blow dry your hair. It's not going to be anything fancy or lasting. It's not going to be something you really kind of can't do your own at home. So what we're doing is a little more advanced and I always like to say proper the difference between a blow dry and a blowout.
Speaker 2:So what are your hours like if people are looking to get a service?
Speaker 3:We are open at 10 o'clock every day till. The closing time varies, but we offer outside of hours, uh appointments. So you know, if somebody needs an appointment at seven or eight in the morning they can. They can call in advance and get those, but our walk-in hours are at 10 every day.
Speaker 2:Oh, perfect. How many stylists are in your salon right now?
Speaker 3:Um, we have, I think, six or seven. Um, it depends on what day it is, how busy it is to have the stylists all in, but, um, everybody's sort of on their own little flexible schedule. So, um, it's kind of like no matter who you see in there, you're going gonna get the our, our classic proper blowout.
Speaker 2:You don't have to see a specific stylist tell me a little bit about what brought you to Virginia Beach, because I know your story but I know our listeners would want to know. Tell me what brought you to the area.
Speaker 3:Um, my husband grew up here. He's a Virginia beach native, um, but we met, uh a long time ago, almost 15 years ago, um and um, we've been back and forth here over the years, a bunch. We have a little daughter and we came here when we were pregnant with her because we needed to be somewhere else, you know, and raise our daughter somewhere a little more family friendly, and so we came to Virginia beach, um, officially and uh, I was a stay at home mom doing you know, hair still, but um really wanted to bring something that wasn't here. It was kind of driving me nuts that there wasn't a blow dry bar at the ocean front, and so I went for it.
Speaker 2:And it's a beautiful space, and you also have some offerings in terms of clothing antiques. Yeah, we have Vintage.
Speaker 3:Yes, we have an amazing art collection in there, um, like vintage fine art. They say, um, but there's some Renoir and Salvador Dali, uh, but there's a piece or two in there from Henry Matisse, um, and a lot of. It's just such a special collection in there of art and it's all for sale. We've got a really cool collection of vintage for sale vintage clothing, and what else was I about to say? We had the art and the oh brain fart. Yeah, we've got a couple.
Speaker 2:It's a very moody, very like space. So I love it because when you go in there it's almost like you can have a cocktail. It's that type of vibe, like you're going to a happy hour. Tell me about some things that you've done with groups of people for events.
Speaker 3:Yes, we love to handle groups and parties because we can get a large group, say, of eight girls or 10 that need to be ready for an event, a wedding or bridesmaids and a bride or something. We can get people in and out in you know two hours and they get the whole place to themselves and they can love that playlist and have champagne and have a good time while they get ready, instead of taking hours and hours to get ready with one stylist on site in some weird cramped small room with bad lighting. Um, so I I like that part about our and everybody gets clean, fresh hair for their event instead of, you know, just whipping together what they can with this dirty hair you know.
Speaker 3:Um so fresh and it's everybody's happy it comes out looking good.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, Um, tell me what you love to do outside of your business. I know you're really involved with your, your daughter and husband, but what do you guys do as a family? Um, when you have free time?
Speaker 3:we don't have very much free time, but um and a lot of time organizing and cleaning.
Speaker 3:And since moving here from the West coast and I'm originally from the East coast as well, so I'm from Pennsylvania and um, we just have so much stuff in our house because our parents have unloaded all of our stuff, so we spend a lot of time organizing and cleaning and um, but we like to get out and go, you know, um do local things at parks and jump parks and really fun things for the kid and um, yeah, it's, it's good, the weekends are fun and she's, she's surfing and having a good time.
Speaker 2:That's what I was going to ask. So she's surfing now. That's great.
Speaker 3:Dad's got her out there teaching her and perfect better teacher than him. So it's good, it's good.
Speaker 2:That's great. Do you guys have a family, a favorite family restaurant that you would go to if the three of you guys could pick something? What do you think?
Speaker 3:I would say Mexican. Yeah, we really like Azteca or Side Street down at the ocean front. Okay, god, I love Side Street.
Speaker 2:It's really good I haven't been there. Oh, I'm going to definitely have to try that. Oh, that's awesome. Is it in the vibe, is it? What Is it in vibe? The? Vibe no, it's down on 11th oh okay, perfect, okay, I definitely have to check it out.
Speaker 3:Oh, it's so good it's they do it proper yeah.
Speaker 2:Proper, tell me what it was your biggest challenge thus far starting a small business, and how did you overcome that challenge?
Speaker 3:Um, I would say I don't know if I have overcome it yet, but a challenge would be marketing and getting the word out there that I exist because there's people that come in there. Oh, I lived, you know, a couple of streets over. I didn't even know you were here and so glad I, you know I came by, or um, so it's just a lot of just marketing.
Speaker 3:It's a lot Getting the word out there A lot you know, and I'm from here, so it's hard for me to really, you know, use connections and things that a lot of other people locally would be able to have. Um, you know, and you kind of lose your steam, you know, but it's, it's just kind of just keep going, just keep going and hoping for the best.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I think one of the common themes that a lot of small business owners say is that they, they work, they eat, sleep, their job, yeah, and we feel like everybody knows about it because we know about it, we know the ins and outs of it, we're living it, and then when we hear somebody not know what we do, it's almost like what you don't know what I do, and so it is getting the word out there and having all those connections and really reminding people don't forget about me. So tell me a little bit about the. You talked a little bit about the location, but you're smack dab in the middle of 17th Street, the Vibe District, yes, and what's your?
Speaker 3:website Hivb. But so you have to remember high N dry is H I space, n, space, d, r Y, so it's not high and dry, it kind of comes out as hindry. Okay so hindryvb. com, and we have our booking site on there and it's easy to book online. Now that's been another tricky thing is getting all of the technology side of it all rolling properly. And yeah, so our website's going and online booking is there.
Speaker 2:And it's. It's there For listeners when you're thinking of weddings, homecomings, proms, or just you know you're going, you have a date night or you just don't want to take care of your hair for an hour. Yeah, at the oceanfront, walk-ins are welcome. Yeah, again, it's high and dry on 17th Street in Virginia Beach on 17th Street in Virginia Beach. Thank you so much, val, for being with us and being part of the show, and our community Really excited to have you down at the oceanfront.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, denise, thank you so much for having me, of course.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpvirginiabeachcom. Go to GNPVirginiaBeach. com. That's GNPVirginiaBeach. com, or call 757-797-8852.