Blyss Salon In Yorkville.

Canada is a "low-pressure" country when it comes to customer service. And I like that.

See, in the states (mostly Boston - not so much NYC) when you go to get your "hairs did" at a salon, they put the pressure on you...

• I recommend you use these products which we make and sell exclusively here, and have been featured in Allure magazine.
• How about we do a gloss treatment on-top of the color today? It'll help protect it.
• We really need you to come in in about six weeks to get your hair cut. Let's get you set up in the schedule now for then. You gotta stay on top of those split-ends!
• Your color will fade out in about eight weeks. Let's get you set up in the schedule now for then. You gotta stay on top of those grays!

Don't get me wrong. I really liked the place I went to in Boston for my hair. But they were very pricey. (A cut and a color would run me about $300 - including the tip - every three months.) And I really didn't like the fact that I would spend so much on the service for my hair, and then turn around and be bombarded with what were essentially requests for more dollars out of my pocket.

Let me tell you... Canada, so far, has been nothing like that.

I went to get my hair done (cut and color) for the first time in six months. I have colored my hair on my own using a fab product from Sephora. But since I was getting it cut today, I decided to get it colored professionally too.

I went from this out-of-control long-thick-wavy mess...

To soft Blair Waldorf-esque long hair...

And it cost me HALF of what I paid in Boston. And that was with me going to a salon in the chi-chi part of town, just like when I lived in Boston.

The colorist and stylist both did a phenomenal job. They were much more genuine in the delivery of their advice for my hair. The colorist couldn't believe I had so much gray...

"You're way too young to have this much!" she said.

I didn't want to tell her I was probably older than she realized... As I tend to look younger (in the face) than my 32-years. It's called, "Don't have kids. And don't be too thin."

The stylist told me right off that she loved my natural wave.

"But you need fewer layers in it," she informed me. "The longer your hair is, the less the curl will frizz and it will lay closer to your head."

At the end of my appointment, no one tried to guilt me into making another appointment in the too-near future. No one tried to pitch me any products, even though they sell them there. No one was fake.

I liked that. And I liked that it wasn't a huge chunk of my paycheck that I had to fork over.