‘The quintessential queer salon’: Goldenrod Parlor redefines haircuttery in Gainesville - The Independent Florida Alligator

Nov 09, 2024

Goldenrod Parlor is open for business on Oct. 6, 2024.

At the entrance of Goldenrod Parlor, pride flags and plants flutter with each gust of wind.

Tucked between Sunshine Records and Flashback’s Recycled Fashions, the nearly 1,600-square-foot hair salon is accompanied by the aroma of chatter and color, paired with a warm greeting from stylists at work.

Goldenrod Parlor serves as an eco-conscious and gender-inclusive salon and welcomes all hair types, its website said. After three years in Gainesville, the community-focused parlor has something to offer everyone.

The mirror above its waiting chairs is outlined with a fuzzy, color-block border. The words “no filter” are stenciled across customers’ reflections.

Goldenrod Parlor’s owner Sarah Kleeman sits in her office near the door, where hair trimmings of every color scatter the exposed concrete floors. The 38-year-old’s white linen set matches the earthy, neutral tones of her salon.

Opened in 2021, Goldenrod Parlor comes after over a decade of hairstyling and years of business coaching. Kleeman said she was tired of working in rental salons where stylists have to manage overhead costs and taxes on their own.

“You’re running your own business, basically,” she said. “When you work by yourself, you’re really isolated, and you don’t have anyone really inspiring you.”

Goldenrod is commission-based, meaning stylists set their own hourly prices, and gratuity is not accepted. Kleeman handles all of the backend finances, while stylists market their own niches, which range from “effortlessly lived-in looks” to anime hair color.

Kleeman said the parlor’s name was inspired by her son, whose photos decorate the salon’s whiteboard with reminders scribbled in Expo marker.

“I was coloring with my six-year-old, and there’s this Crayola crayon called Goldenrod, and I was just like, that’s a cool name,” she said.

Without prompting, guests can help themselves to a seat in the salon’s waiting area. While peering at the finished products of earlier appointments, one can get distracted from filling out the salon’s client care form. After reading a zine titled “Next Level Ally” and returning it to the coloring book cart, the blank intake form no longer feels like a technicality.

While pacing the floors of her salon, Kleeman does not hide her leg tattoos, which are often stigmatized for female business owners.

According to research from Indiana University, tattoos have historically been associated with a masculine, working-class subculture, but they’ve become more androgynous over time.

One of Kleeman’s business visions was to degender the salon industry and create a place where her clients feel included. Charging for time is common in many de-gendered industries, she said. Kleeman also eliminated gratuity, a concept she said is steeped in sexism and racism.

“I felt like we were at this point in the industry where women were paying an insane amount of money for haircuts, and men weren’t, even though the timing was relatively the same,” she said.

While Goldenrod recognizes that haircuts are a luxury, it doesn’t neglect community outreach.

Once a year, the salon holds a gender-affirming haircut day, where patrons can get styled for free. For those who do want to tip, this allows them to give back to both the salon and the community.

Along with donating to local organizations like GRACE Marketplace, the salon also has a free haircut fund that goes toward marginalized communities. Last year, it was for educators; this year, it’s for reproductive health care workers.

“I am obsessed with our clients. I love giving back to them,” Kleeman said. “However, what I do know about our salon is we’re not going to call ourselves the most affordable salon … My other biggest goal is to make sure that my team makes money.”

As the sun’s reach begins to weaken in the salon, the backlit mirrors illuminate the remaining clients of the day. Eyes take a snooze in the wash chair. Tin foil loosens its grip on settled color.

After 11 years in the hair industry, Kleeman can now look around at the team she’s curated, the niches the stylists hone in on and the environment that has developed, she said.

“I think we are the quintessential queer salon in Gainesville,” Kleeman said. “I didn’t give us that name.”

Jordan Streetzel, one of Goldenrod’s stylists, is working on one of her last clients of the day. Wearing pink platform sandals, pink glasses bejeweled with a green gem and a mushroom pendant hanging from her hair, the 34-year-old stylist started at Goldenrod in June.

“I’m finally getting to be very forward about how I’d like to craft a vision for somebody’s appointment,” Streetzel said. “I’m really getting to lean into not just being able to do what people ask me to do, but to deepen the artistry behind it.”

After living in New York City, Portland, San Francisco and Miami, Streetzel returned to Gainesville to begin her career.

Thirteen years and several moves later, she appreciates how Kleeman structured the business to consider every single person who is a part of it, she said.

“I would say with most people who have been in the industry a long time, the way things have been run is really self-sacrificial,” she said. “A lot of self-abandonment, ignoring the need to take care of ourselves, pushing ourselves to the brim.”

Streetzel praised Kleeman’s leadership. Despite wanting to quit hairstyling several times and constantly moving, Streezel doesn’t see herself leaving the parlor anytime soon.

“I think part of what sets this place apart is the way that she [Kleeman] encourages specializing,” Streetzel said. “Not just can you do anything that’s thrown at you, but can you get really honest and vulnerable with yourself about what you actually like to do, what lights you up, what inspires you, and what you want to focus on?”

Contact Noor Sukkar at [email protected]. Follow her on X @noorsukkarr.

Noor Sukkar is a third-year journalism major with a minor in Arabic. She is the Avenue's Fall 2024 General Assignment reporter. When she's not writing, she's most likely talking to her cat or overwatering her plants.