Patch Passport: A Little Bit of Paradise At Chazio's

I sat in the midst of my visit to Chazio's with my head upside-down and hair wildly askew, resembling an overgrown Chia Pet. 

But this felt relaxing, really. 

And the results came out looking pretty great, or as my husband termed it, "hot." 

I had walked into Chazio's Hair Salon & Nail Spa in Lake in the Hills an hour and a half ago, spotting those familiar red letters that proclaim "Chazio's" to everyone who drives into the plaza at the northeast corner of Randall and Algonquin, which is anchored by the Dominick's. 

I had driven by several times but had never ventured in for services. When I did, I found myself amid a parade of fluted ionic columns that garnished the neutral tones and open floor plan without appearing too kitschy. 

I first met Mia Kim toward the back of the salon, in a corner equipped with two manicure tables and three pedicure chairs. I had come first for a manicure, something I hadn't had in nearly six years.

That time, I had asked for a French manicure to match the wedding gown I would be wearing the week after, but this time, I was the mom of an almost- two year old little guy who desperately needed an afternoon at the salon. So I picked a polish color that sounded a little crazy and a little sassy: Silver Shatter. Perfect.

I sat with one hand in a heart-shaped dish filled with water and blue stones while another was being held by Kim, who started laboring on my cuticles. 

"A lot of dead skin," she told me. Clearly, I didn't need to tell her it had been six years since I had a manicure. "You probably just lost a pound," she joked, as she finished up clearing the dead skin. 

Kim went on to chat delightfully as she spent nearly an hour on my hands and nails, moistening them with lotion.

Over green-tinged base coat, two coats of Silver Shatter (by OPI Nail Lacquer) and topcoat, I learned that Kim, who lives in Crystal Lake, works two jobs as a single mom. She has three kids -- ages 18, 19 and 20 -- and in addition to launching her nail spa at Chazio's several weeks ago because the environment gave her "a nice feeling," she also works as a server at Bistro Wasabi in Lake in the Hills. 

Born in Seoul, Kim immigrated in the late 1980s and started doing nails about seven years ago, interested, in part, because she had so many Korean and Korean American friends who also worked on people's nails for a living. A Korean working in a nail salon? There is, we agree, a small amount of truth to some stereotypes. 

When she finished, I held up my fingers and couldn't help but giggle. Kim had polished my fingers to a high sparkle. I turn 30 this year, but I felt like Snooki heading to a club. "They look like disco balls!" I said. How great to feel 17. 

Within minutes, Kelsey Bihlmaier came to greet me by the nail spa. At just 25, she has already been a professional hair stylist for more than five years. She and Kim looked at my hair, which fell in a long mass to the middle of my torso. 

I hadn't intended it to look that way. But I last got a haircut in September -- eight months ago. So it is when most days are spent making sure my toddler isn't yanking someone else's hair, much less maintaining my own. 

Both Bihlmaier and Kim noticed that, despite my attempts at fighting it with a straightening iron, my hair had scrunched up into waves. 

"Why don't we work with the wave?" said Bihlmaier. 

Fine with me.

She took me back to where she could give me a proper shampoo and conditioner cleanse with Redken All Soft, which is apparently packed with avocado oil that works to soften hair. 

"So let's talk about length," Bihlmaier said, when she had seated me in her chair. "Four inches would put you here," she said, pointing to a spot that was still somewhere around my torso. 

"That's it?" I said. "More." 

She pointed about a half inch higher. 

"More." 

"More." 

When she had finished snipping, Bihlmaier had chopped five and a half inches off my head. 

Bihlmaier, a newlywed who lives in Belvidere, said she had grown her hair out for her wedding last September and also chopped most of it off. 

We both inspected the mass of my hair at her feet. 

I told her we could make all of that into a wig. "A little toupee!" she added.

Next came a dash of MoroccanOil foam cream and then the part that had me turned upside down.

"Have you heard of a diffuser?" Bihlmaier said. "That's the part that comes with the hairdryer that most people throw away." 

She then used the attachment, which resembles a large shower head, to weave through my hair as she started blow drying it. 

 The process, she says, "seals the moisture in the cuticle." 

It worked, because when I flipped my head, I had a mass of waves and curls. 

If I had dyed it red, I would have looked like Little Orphan Annie. I was in a bit of shock because I have never seen myself with such curly hair, but I loved it. 

If there was one thing I learned from Bihlmaier, it was to not be lukewarm about my hair. Either go completely straight or unleash the waves and curls. 

I paid the bill -- $33 for the hair and $18 for the manicure (every stylist has different pricing) -- and gave Kim and Bihlmaier tips and hugs for the afternoon of transformation. 

Then I strolled out of Chazio's, with silver nails flashing and new curls bouncing. 

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