Chuck Nowlen
Three-year-old Charlotte Hintz gets Sharkey’s Cuts For Kids’ signature first-class treatment from stylist Natalie Knauff last week.
For some kids, getting a haircut is no big deal. For others, it’s like root canal without a pain killer.
Woodbury’s new Sharkey’s Cuts for Kids aims to be the ultimate royal-treatment destination for both – part barbershop; part high-end salon and spa; part amusement-park ride; part music and gift shop; part playhouse; part candy, treats and green slime store.
Take it from Ashley Smasal, who owns the newest member of the Twin Cities Sharkey’s franchise family with her husband Shay. Their store debuted May 31 at 1505 Queen’s Drive in Woodbury Village.
Before that, the Smasals had been all the way around the block – and then some – with kids and haircuts over the last decade or so. To them, it just doesn’t get any better than this.
The turning point came with their six-year-old son Leo, who, like many children with autism, finds haircuts to be through-the-roof excruciating.
“We actually went over and checked out another Sharkey’s in Eden Prairie with our son,” Ashley explained in an interview last week.
“It was literally the first time Leo ever had a haircut that wasn’t a complete disaster. It’s a sensory thing with him. For my son, it hurts. It feels like pain.”
She added, gesturing around her bright, busy and lushly stocked surroundings: “That was what sold us on all this. So we started the journey. And here we are.”
When they made the rounds at other area barbershop/salon businesses aimed in some way toward kids, all of them came up short.
“They didn’t have individual TVs and music. All of their TVs played the same thing,” Ashley recalled.
“They didn’t have baskets of toys ready nearby in case they’re needed during the kids’ haircuts. They didn’t have bubble machines, and at a lot of other places, it was kind of a get-’em-in and get-em-out vibe.”
And, of course, they didn’t have the handful of styling chairs that look, sound, feel and even move like multicolored, distinctively designed, functional, real kids’ cars.
Charlotte’s car now?
“They’re a big attraction for all the kids here,” Ashley noted as stylist Natalie Knauff – one of five staff stylists here – gives three-year-old Charlotte Hintz her first royal Sharkey’s Cuts For Kids wash, cut and manicure.
Charlotte chose a pink and light blue SUV-type styling car, themed after the movie “Frozen.”
Charlotte’s mom Corrah stood a few feet away throughout, chatting casually with Natalie as she worked.
“I think it’s really, really cool here,” Corrah told a Woodbury News Net reporter.
“It’s like a mini spa for kids. She’s getting a shampoo. She’s getting her nails done. She’s even getting fairy hair.”
Ashley interjected to explain: “Fairy hair is basically colored tinsel, really. It gets kind of weaved into her hair.”
She continued a bit later: “I really enjoy the kids’ reactions here. They get to try each car out before they pick the one that’s just for them. The cars all make noise, and the wheels actually move – that’s a big attraction for kids. It can get a little loud sometimes here, but all the kids are having a ball. Usually, when the girls get their nails done, it’s for the very first time.”
One last flourish when each child’s Sharkey’s experience finally comes to an end: “Everybody leaves with a sucker and a balloon,” Ashley said. “We do the full experience here. We try to kind of get our customers used to that.”
The Smasals have two other children as well – three-year-old Palmer and eight-year-old Mabel. They, too, are regular customers, like brother Leo, as are a lot of other local kids their age and older.
A KidStrong Woodbury gym for youngsters is right next door.
The juvenile age range at the Smasals’ Sharkey’s is infant through 17, with the older ones typically finding particularly entertaining territory in the shop’s impressive X-Box collection.
Mothers and fathers often join the fun too. There are seven standard styling chairs for them here, too.
“If I can be here for these kids and for other parents, that’s my goal,” Ashley explained.
“My husband and I both know very well that we’re not the only parents who’ve ever had to struggle sometimes with their kids and haircuts – although, I gotta say, for pretty much every customer here, it’s never really a struggle at all.”
For more information or to book an appointment, here’s the Woodbury Sharkey’s Cuts For Kids website: https://sharkeyscutsforkidswoodbury.com/. Phone: (651) 846-9586.