Salon Owner/Stylist Brings Her Own Brand of Beauty to Boston
Vissói salon owner Betty Ann Wasilunas has the ‘golden touch’ when it comes to anything she touches in the business of beauty. Her thriving Westwood full-service salon is a popular ‘beauty destination’ for those who travel from miles around to seek out the latest hairstyles, the most current hair color looks, the trendiest techniques for make-up, the ultimate in skin care and the most innovative in beauty product technology.
The staff at Vissói shines as a team, yet everyone would agree that this salon’s most shining example of ‘what professionalism today looks like’ begins at the top – with Betty Ann’s own master styling skills, her clear caring for her staff and clients, and oh yes, that magnetic personality and contagious laugh you can hear as far as Providence (that’s how far her clients come to experience Betty Ann’s own unique brand of beauty)!
Betty Ann proudly hails originally from south Boston. Her early career as a cosmetologist began at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas (lots of celeb clients) before moving back to the Boston ‘burbs.’ She owned ‘Headlines 109’ for 15 years before opening Vissói and continuing to service clients primarily from the Newton, Wellesley, and Westwood areas, Vissói offers a tranquil setting within a well-appointed environment, much like a Mediterranean seacoast villa imaginatively created by respected New Hampshire interior designer Cynthia J. Vocel. In fact, Vissói captured the prestigious Special Distinction/Salon Of The Year Award from Modern Salon magazine just months after opening in 1997.
To say that Betty Ann has a penchant for business and beauty is an understatement. This University of Massachusetts graduate gets as excited about math as she does about make-up, and no interesting new business venture escapes her watchful, well-trained eye as she travels coast-to-coast between doing clients and meeting with the media. In her effort to learn first-hand what’s new and next to introduce to Vissói clients, one could say that Betty Ann has become tri-coastal, jetting to beauty capitals New York, Beverly Hills, and South Beach on a regular basis to stay on top of and ahead of the fast-paced beauty industry.
Her most recent new business venture has everything to do with an innovative client service she actually founded called ‘Visàge’. This is a brand new salon consultation service that offers clients an hour-long ‘more in-depth’ facial analysis for cut, style, hair color and make-up based on the Science of Symmetry. Betty Ann envisioned that ‘Visàge’ would be a welcome service not only to Vissói clients but to salons and spas throughout the country. She then set out to develop the necessary software through Symonics, Inc. a Cincinnati-based software technology solutions company she helped co-found. Now, other select salons and spas around the country are offering Visàge exclusively within their market.
No doubt, Betty Ann has single-handedly redefined the salon client consultation service in her on-going effort to always excite, educate and inspire her clients to look and feel as fabulous as possible at any age. Says Betty Ann:
“Visàge is an effective vehicle to give clients the ‘more serious’ one-on-one time they really want today from their beauty professionals. Many women admit that they have simply ‘let themselves go’ after years of raising children, working hard, and just handling life’s demands where they have self-sacrificed and put themselves and their needs on the back burner. Now, they are starving for serious attention and re-interested in updating their unique image… from their personal trainer to their cosmetic surgeon to their (above all) hairdresser. At Vissói, we are now filling that need for not only our existing clientele but for many women (and men) who literally travel hundreds of miles to experience one of our incredible life-changing Visàge consultations.”
One could say that just meeting Betty Ann Wasilunas is a life-changing experience (ask anyone who has had the pleasure). Westwood was never really the same when this accomplished local business owner arrived on the scene. Her famous ‘golden touch’ has been experienced by many… to be in the company of this consummate cosmetologist is to really understand the exciting and electric business of beauty!
Vissói is located at 936 High Street, Rt. 109, Westwood, MA. (Phone: 781-326-8381). Website address: www.vissoi.com. To learn more about the new Visàge Salon Consultation service, contact Linda Wolf, (513) 677-3887 or visit www.symonics.com.