The Art of Hair by Nikki Amidon is a unique oasis in the middle of the Shreveport/Bossier salon scene. It is the only place in town that offers not only a walk-in blow dry bar but also a full service salon for all your styling needs.

When you talk to owner Nikki Amidon, you can tell immediately that she is all about building a team of excellent stylists.

“There was no salon in the area that had that desire to work as a team. I’ve been doing hair for almost 30 years now, so as you grow and learn, and you get older you learn more about yourself when you’re around younger people. They keep you fresh,” said Amidon. “I really have a passion to teach because I can’t work as hard as I used to - I wish I could. I need to work smarter and not harder. Shreveport has a lot of artistic people in it, and I don’t think it’s completely tapped into. My goal is to change that.”

After living and styling in Shreveport for over 10 years, Amidon saw an opportunity to start a new business, and the timing was just right. “It’s a blow dry bar - there’s a lot of social events in town, and I would hear that people were going to go get their hair and makeup done at the mall. I thought, as social as the South is, blow dry bar is going to do well,” she said. She just had to find the place.

“For me it was really a God thing, a Christian thing more than anything. I owned a salon when I was younger and so I knew how hard it was. I had looked at this place which wasn’t available and realized if I’m going to do it, you’re (God) going to have to open something up just like this for me. A week later they called me and said the place was available.”

Not only does Amidon offer high quality services for her clients, she is also creating an atmosphere that encourages growth among her employees. “I wanted to create an environment where there’s always a rotation of people learning from each other. I want people that want to be their best and always want to challenge themselves and work together to be the best,” she explained. “I teamed up with Eufora (hair care products) because that was their whole goal; to get back to the professionalism of this business and find passion in your work. want the girls to be knowledgeable and sharpen their skills.

I’m older, I want to be a mentor. Not just with the hair, but as a person,” said Amidon. As someone who has been in the business for a while, she is relishing the role of mentor and guide.”We have lots of education for our stylists in products and different techniques as well as the business end. We are going above and beyond to try to become extremely polished. It’s about change - we have to get inside ourselves and change a little bit. I don’t just work on them about how they do hair - I want them to make a change in their lives and reach their goals and dreams. There has to be balance.”

The Art of Hair by Nikki Amidon will be open a year in August - the blow dry bar was the first stage to open, followed with the full service salon around Christmas. “We want people to realize that the blow dry bar is to come in to relax - they can have a girls night or a birthday party because they can just come in and just hang out. We do a lot of bridal parties as well,” Amidon explained. “The blow dry bar is fun. You don’t cheat on your hairdresser when you come to the blow dry bar, so anyone can come in and we take walk-ins. I also have an excellent facialist who uses Glymed Plus products, and we are the only salon in the area to offer Halo extensions - you can do it yourself and you will have the Victoria’s Secret/Kardashian hair everyone is looking for these days.”

Amidon is passionate about her business, and passionate about the legacy she is creating at The Art of Hair. “A beauty shop is the only business with a license to touch besides a doctor. We have to get personal with them - your hair is an outlet to how you feel inside and out. 20% come back because you do good hair. The other 80% is from building relationships. I want to make an impression in Shreveport for customer service, which I feel has fallen by the wayside. I’m trying to make it relaxing, professional and have people walk out of here looking fabulous,” she said.

“We have the vision worked out as to where we are trying to go to and we are working to polish it. My goal is that once (my stylists) are trained that we can bring others in and they can become the mentors. I want to see that as we grow others may want to open their own salon, which is awesome. It spreads - it’s not just about me. I want it to spread throughout Shreveport and Bossier,” Amidon said.

“The shop isn’t’ so much about doing hair as it is about changing the industry in the area. That’s my goal. I want people to come in here and they know that we are going to care for them and listen to them - as stylists it’s our responsibility to listen.

We are their hair doctors. Your job is not just to do their hair that day, it’s also your job to help the client find the right things to maintain what you have done outside the salon. It’s not a compliment when someone says ‘my hair never looks as good as it does when I leave here’. We need to teach the clients as well. They are our advertisements - if they look good, they are going to come back and bring others with them.”

Make Your Appointment Today! Walk-ins Welcomed

318.216.3434 • 6030 Line Avenue Ste. 330