Adding photo backdrops for braiding clients led to selfie side business at Braid & Beauty Bar

Tim Harty, The Business Times

Desaray Hutto thought she was merely doing something nice for the customers of her hair-braiding business when she added a half-dozen backdrops to take photos of her work at Braid & Beauty Bar.

Turns out, she created an extension of her business.

That’s how Selfie Lounge came to be, and she made it official with a grand opening on Oct. 25.

Hutto said she moved Braid & Beauty Bar from Orchard Mesa to Solarus Square, 2829 North Ave., Suite 212, about four months ago.

The new space had some extra room, and she envisioned creating backdrops for shooting photos, because she does “unique styles” and “crazy extensions,” and she wanted to have examples of her work for herself, plus something fun for her customers.

She also had two swings that weren’t being used, so she incorporated each into a backdrop area at the salon. So, a customer with freshly braided hair could be photographed on a swing hanging in the clouds.

“It was just kind of having unique backdrops to take pictures of my work that I do here at Braid & Beauty Bar,” she said. “That’s kind of where I created the Selfie Lounge was for my clientele.

“And then just really being here and having the people look in and be interested, and my client’s friends talk about it, and everybody’s wondering where they’re getting these pictures at. So, I decided to open up to the public and just allow people to come in and take little selfies.”

Selfie Lounge is open two days per week, Friday and Saturday, but appointments are required, and they can be made online at booking site Square by going to selfieloungegj.square.site.

Rates vary depending upon: the length of the session, 30 minutes or 1 hour; number of people, one or two; and whether an actual photographer takes the photos for the client.

For example: It costs $15 for one person taking selfies for 30 minutes; $30 for one person for an hour; or $30 for two people for 30 minutes. A photographer and one guest will be charged $70 for 30 minutes.

Hutto said she will rotate in some different backdrops, especially when holidays approach.

Hutto said she hadn’t seen a business like Selfie Lounge before, so she thought the novelty would help bring in business.

“I decided to bring something that we don’t have around here, that people would enjoy and that you don’t ever see in a salon,” she said.

She will consider expanding if the Selfie Lounge is a hit.

It’s off to a good start. Hutto said a woman came in for a maternity shoot. There was a back-to-school shoot for a preschooler. Someone did a Halloween shoot, plus another Halloween shoot was booked.

Meanwhile, Hutto keeps busy braiding hair, which she has been doing for about five years.

She said she is a licensed cosmetologist who taught herself how to braid in beauty school.

“I just enjoyed it,” she said “It’s an art itself, just creating designs and adding extensions. I have people that have no hair and walk away with 30 inches, so it’s a really creative thing.

“I don’t do color anymore. I kind of taught myself how to braid in beauty school and did color for a little bit and just have been strictly braiding pretty much my whole career. I just braid about six days a week.”

Hutto said she averages about 15 to 20 braiding customers per week, depending on the length of the service, which may be a half hour or may be four to five hours.