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| > About the Chamber > Member Profiles > The Cutting Edge Salon and Wellness Center |
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The Cutting Edge Salon and Wellness Center
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The owner of the Cutting Edge Salon and Wellness Center, Linda Carter followed in her mother's beauty bound footsteps. When Carter's mother Josephine Griffith outgrew her first beauty salon, Anita's Beauty Salon in the Plaza Building, she rented space upstairs from Windsor Federal Savings.
Roller sets, teasing, big beehive hairdos, platinum blondes and permanent waves were all popular with the ladies in the 60's but not with Windsor Federal Savings Bank. The bank employees would complain of the heavy smells that wafted down the stairs. The permanents and bleaches of yesteryear could peel the paint off a school bus and the scent would linger within ones olfactory sense for days. Realizing banks and beauty parlors were not a good combination, Griffith then moved into a shared space next to the Windsor Town House with Strong's Tent and Awning. The salon was called Anita's Cutting Edge. That building no longer exists and is now an empty lot.
Carter graduated from Windsor High School then earned her cosmetology license from the Creative School of Hair Design in Hartford in 1974.
After working with her mother and in other salons, Carter purchased the Colonial home on Maple Street that was the office of Dr. Poirier in 1990. The Cutting Edge first occupied only the front of the building and shared the space with a lawyer with two tenants upstairs. In 1993 the lawyer moved out and Carter added the massage and facial area. One apartment vacated in 1995 and she created her nail area and in 2000 the last tenant moved out and Carter added the tanning salon. Future plans include adding yoga and personal training. She owns one of few salons in the state that offer so many services under one roof and is constantly renovating and changing to keep things fresh and updated.
Carter stands out because of her acceptance of diverse culture, with many of her stylists coming from different parts of the world. One example is a girl from Russia she met at a convention center, they were both lost at a hair conference and became fast friends navigating the exhibits, it wasn't long before the girl came to work at the Cutting Edge.
Carter realizes the trend toward wellness with more and more people looking for ways to care for themselves and to relax, especially in the male population.
Carter said, " Men are more comfortable today about having services like facials, manicures and body waxing. When men come here, we make them feel relaxed, we have a spa atmosphere that doesn't feel like granny's beauty parlor, we have private rooms where people can get the services they are looking for and not out in the open where other's can see."
The Cutting edge is admittedly a fun shop. Carter said, "It is a happy place, a fun spot to catch up on the latest goings on in town. But the real secret to my success is that I have the best staff in Connecticut. The moral support and their wonderful quality of work, with out them I would simply not exist."
by Shari King
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