Trading scrubs for scissors, The Hair Bar owner starts new chapter at Riverview salon

Glen Mackey never thought he would find his calling as a hairstylist. Starting off as a nursing student, he said he hit a rut and needed to make a change. Through the encouragement of a few friends, he traded in his scrubs for a set of clippers.

“Once I started, there was no turning back,” he said. “I truly love it.”

Starting off at Birmingham beauty school Paul Mitchell, Mackey later transferred to the now-closed Regency Beauty Institute in Hoover, where he graduated with a degree in cosmetology. After working for a few different salons in the Birmingham area, he decided to open his own studio and work solo. “Honestly, I just felt like there was always something that I was unhappy with,” he said about his decision to go out on his own. “So instead of trying to bend to someone else’s rules and world, I just wanted to create my own environment.”

Mackey worked on his own in a studio at Inverness Corners for about two years, until growth in clientele brought a need for more space and more staff. 

“This has been a phase situation,” he said about the shift from working solo to now working alongside seven other stylists at The Hair Bar’s new Riverview Parkway location. “The studio was just me, myself and I in 2016, and then we moved to a temporary location behind Logan’s on [U.S.] 280, and we worked inside Aura, which is another salon and spa.”

Mackey said the owner of Aura wasn’t using its salon space, so he was able to rent it out until his client list outgrew the space once again. In addition to cutting and color services, The Hair Bar’s new location now has a massage therapist on staff and an aesthetician who provides skin care services. 

Mackey said since opening the new location in late October, they have 15 to 20 people in the shop every day. 

In the midst of how busy the salon is getting, he said his favorite memory of the process is watching his staff come together. Everyone had a part in picking out the finishes for the new location and worked together to make sure that the move to a new location went seamlessly.

Together, Mackey and his staff work together to create a warm environment for their clients. They stay active on social media and offer referral discounts to keep loyal clients coming back and draw new customers.

“When you sit in that chair, we want to know more about you,” he said. “We want to know about your family. We want to build a relationship. The relationship is what I feel like keeps people here.”

The Hair Bar is located at 4507 Riverview Parkway, Suite 106. The salon is open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Saturday; and noon-6 p.m. Sunday. Learn more at facebook.com/thehairbarbham.