Lois Burak works hard to show her customers that BeautyWorx salon and day spa is upscale, not uptight. And the owner of the business assures that no matter which of her salons her clients are visiting — the one in Mayfair or the one in Huntingdon Valley — they’ll receive quality treatment and feel at home.

"We want them to feel comfortable," she said last week at the Huntingdon Valley location, which has been open for a year.

The Montgomery County shop is anything but uptight.

Trickling water from two fountains offers a soothing sound mixed with laughter from the employees as they chat.
The cheerful, two-story shop is also lined with "top of the line" hair and skin products, like Yon~Ka skin care products, which the salon also uses on customers for facial massages, the owner said.

Burak balances running two salons while treating her customers — and her employees — with respect, she said.

A licensed nail technician, Burak started in the beauty business when she was just 16, shaping and painting nails and applying customers’ makeup at a salon in the Neshaminy Mall, then the Nailery at the Gallery in Center City.

Burak opened the first BeautyWorx salon and day spa at 7242 Frankford Ave. in 1986.

She was just 21 and had no real experience cutting hair; still, she knew she had a knack for understanding what customers wanted.

"As a manicurist, I had to prove myself (in the salon industry)," she said.

The Mayfair salon has done well over the past 18 years. Customers — male and female — from Philadelphia and Montgomery and Bucks counties regularly come in for a cut, manicure, pedicure, massage or facial massage. Updos for bridal parties and prom-goers are also popular among women, Burak said.

The prices at the salon are on par with national averages, although the owner acknowledges that they are slightly higher than prices at salon chains — $28 for a cut and style, for example.

But she said the prices help to pay the salaries of her talented staff, which she tries to take care of.

"It’s a living for these girls, and that’s what’s important to me," Burak said.

A few years ago, she began to consider opening a second salon in the suburbs to accommodate the increasing number of customers in Bucks and Montgomery counties.

Now, the 39-year-old owner is balancing two shops.

BeautyWorx expanded to the Huntingdon Valley store, at 1051 County Line Road, last September.

With a lot of help from her employees and friends, she updated the place, which formerly was a salon. Luckily, almost everything she needed — including a downstairs facial massage room — was already there from the previous owner.

"It was all done with love," she said of the work that went into the new shop.

Ironically, the second BeautyWorx is attracting customers who used to live in Mayfair or former Northeast residents who recognize the BeautyWorx name.

"It’s a pleasure to see some of the people we served back in the ’80s," Burak said.

Today, she works most of the time at the Huntingdon Valley shop giving manicures. She’s at the Mayfair shop one day a week.

Still, the owner hasn’t forgotten her Mayfair roots.

About 10 years ago, Burak was appointed president of the Mayfair Business Association, but she could not participate because her career was so demanding.

"My business came first," she said.

Burak still stays in contact with business owners from the area, and she’s glad to see the Mayfair Community Development Corporation working hard to make the neighborhood stronger.

"The community is very strong," Burak said.

BeautyWorx also is active in the community, participating in the annual Mayfair-Holmesburg Thanksgiving parade and offering baskets of cheer to local fund-raisers and photo shoots and test updos for St. Hubert High School honor students.

"I constantly am trying to support the community whenever possible," Burak said.