East Brunswick Salon Marks 20 Years of Style

Two decades ago, Steven Camins, a protegee of legendary hair stylist Vidal Sassoon, was looking for a new place to open a salon.

After working for 16 years with the company, he began talking with a colleague from Mountainside about starting a business. The man turned Camins' attention to East Brunswick, a suburb he had heard was full of professionals and families.

Their partnership on the business did not last, but Camins was set on East Brunswick, opening the salon in the Lexington Avenue shopping center.

At the time of the salon's opening in June 1993, Camins' neighbors were only a pizza shop and a video store, he said. He had three stylists on staff.

Since that time, Drama Salon has grown roots in East Brunswick, and this year, the salon is marking 20 years of serving the community.

The salon offers hair cutting and styling as well as hair coloring, makeup, bridal services, and waxing. It can accomodate both men and women.

Camins, a resident of East Brunswick, currently employs 11 staffers, all of which have been trained through the salon's in-house apprentice program.

"As they develop, we send them to New York City to the Redken Academy, (to the) Vidal Sassoon Academy and we develop stylists and we also help young people develop their lives," Camins said. "(That) has been the most rewarding part of this."

Camins himself started off as a young person in search of artistic expression. A creative young man with a "turbulent youth," he came across hair styling in 1973 after a friend invited him to a public class at Vidal Sassoon's New York City salon.

"I walked in there and it was like magic," he said.

Excited by the creativity of shaping and designing hair, Camins asked the folks at Vidal Sassoon if he could have a job, and they told him to go to hairstyling school first.

"Five years later I was general manager of that salon," he said.

Camins' career with Vidal Sassoon lasted 16 years and had him running salons in New York City and Beverly Hills, but he said he enjoys the "tranquility" of East Brunswick, where he settled down and raised his son.

Thirty-six years of working in hair has nurtured a philosophy of cooperation and support with clients when it comes to designing looks, Camins said.

Upon each visit, all client first sit down with the stylists to discuss their current style and care of their hair, and what they want to do with their hairstyle, whether it is their first visit or their 100th visit, he said.

"We want to make your life with your hair both happy and easy," he said. "Our job is to make you feel great about the way you look."

Drama Salon is located at 3 Lexington Ave. in East Brunswick.

For more information on the salon and its services, visit www.dramasalon.com, or visit the the Drama Salon Facebook page.