UPPER EAST SIDE — These women aren't letting presses ruin their tresses.
A new Manhattan business is providing express hairstyling services in the dressing rooms of Upper East Side gyms to help ladies look runway ready after a sweaty workout.
Erika Wasser, 26, founded Glam & Go when she realized that protecting her blowout was interfering with getting in her gym sessions.
“I really wanted to work out, but I have frizzy hair,” she said. “Rather than rush to get somewhere sweaty, I’d just avoid the gym.”
Glam & Go, which offers blowouts and dry styling options, opened in November 2013 in the Upper East Side and Central Park South locations of Exhale, a spa and fitness center. A third location at Sports Club L.A. on 61st Street opened on Jan. 20.
Wasser — a stand-up comedian who has worked as a host on "Spaces," an online TV channel focused on home decorating — thought back to her experiences with stylists before going in front of the camera.
“I would show up to the green room and they’d have my hair camera-ready in 15 minutes," she said. "I thought I could really use that at the gym."
So Wasser created an online survey and gave it to more than 100 women. Sixty-three percent of her respondents said they also avoided the gym because they didn’t have time to work out and get ready afterwards, she said.
Hence, a business was born.
Glam & Go customers can choose between a 15-minute styling for dry post-workout hair or spend 30 minutes for a full wet-to-dry blowout. For those who want to wear their hair up, there are also four braided options.
Prices range from $20 for a 15-minute style to $40 for the 30-minute job.
“We wanted to keep it accessible and affordable,” Wasser said. “So, if a woman wants to see us three times per week, she’ll spend about what she would from one blowout at a high-end salon.”
Glam & Go operates during the gyms’ busy times, when women are finishing their workouts and heading to the office or out for the evening. At Sports Club L.A., two stylists work from 7 a.m. to noon and from 5 to 8 p.m. Wasser estimated that her stylists see six clients each session.
To further streamline the process, clients can sign up for post-workout appointments when they show up to the gym. They can also purchase pre-paid packages for three, five or 10 styling sessions.
Wasser is already in talks with other gyms that want to offer Glam & Go’s services. She’s aiming to open 24 locations in 2014, including one at Exhale Bridgehampton that is set to open in June.
One Sports Club L.A. member who works out five times a week tried Glam & Go for the first time before heading out to dinner recently with friends.
“This is a great idea,” said the member, Diane, who declined to give her last name. “I didn’t want to go out with wet hair, and I didn’t want to do it myself and carry all of my products with me. I could have gone to a salon, but that’s an extra step.”
Leaving the gym with a head full of loose waves, Diane said she will definitely use the service again.
“You feel better when your hair is looking nice,” she said. “It makes all the difference.”