Best Hair Salon in Braintree, MA | Kimberly Messing Hair Design
Searching for a hair salon in Braintree, MA that actually delivers? Kimberly Messing Hair Design has held down 533 Washington Street since 1986, with nine specialists covering color, precision cutting, balayage, extensions, alternative hair and toppers, and tinting and waxing, led by a board-certified color expert.
Voted Best Salon in Braintree | 38+ Years on Washington Street
Kim Messing Built This Salon on One Idea: Listen First
Kim Messing opened her first chair in 1986. Nearly forty years, several moves, and a full buildout of a specialist team later, the founding idea hasn't budged: every client gets a real conversation before anything happens to their hair, and nobody leaves feeling like a number. Clients who've been with Kim for ten, twenty, or thirty-plus years will tell you that's not a slogan, it's just how the place runs.
Kim is a board-certified color specialist, a credential fewer than 5% of working colorists ever pursue. It demands advanced testing in formulation, color theory, correction, and continuing education that most owners stop chasing after their first decade. Kim is closing in on her fourth. She's also Hot Heads certified for tape-in extensions and trains regularly with Goldwell, Redken, Keratin Complex, and Olaplex, because hair chemistry keeps evolving and she doesn't intend to fall behind it.
Inside the salon, Kim mentors. Every stylist on the floor has trained with her or alongside her, which is why the standard holds no matter whose chair you sit in.
Phone: 781-817-5077
Email: hello@kimberlymessinghairdesign.com
Address: 533 Washington Street, Braintree, MA 02184
Salon Hours
- Monday - Closed
- Tue: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
- Wed: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
- Thu: 9:00 am - 8:00 pm
- Fri: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
- Sat: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
- Sunday - Closed
Why Braintree Voted Us the Best Salon in Town
Braintree is a town that notices when a business earns its keep, and it made its opinion official: this salon was voted the best in Braintree. That's not a plaque we bought, it's a reflection of nearly four decades of appointments where the work simply held up.
Nine Specialists, Not One Generalist Stretched Thin
Most neighborhood salons run on one strong stylist and a rotating bench of newer hires. This one doesn't. Jackie owns color and topper work. Maureen handles color and cutting. Janet is the resident curly hair authority. Each chair belongs to someone who picked a lane and went deep in it, so you're matched to a specialist, not whoever happens to be free.
An Eco-Conscious Operation, Not a Marketing Line
Kim runs this business with genuine attention to its environmental footprint, and it shapes day-to-day decisions here, not just the language on the website. For clients who weigh where their money goes, that matters.
A Room Built for an Honest Conversation
Walk in and the pace slows down. Consultations happen before anything else, they're thorough, and nobody's rushing you toward the chair. That's kept people coming back for the better part of four decades.
Services at Kimberly Messing Hair Design
Every service on this menu is handled by someone who specializes in it, and every appointment opens with an actual conversation about what you want, how you live, and what your hair can realistically do.
Hair Cut
A cut here starts with a conversation about your goals, your routine, and how you actually style your hair at home, not a five-minute once-over. The menu:
Barber's Cut Clean, low-maintenance, sharp.
Kid's Cut Patient, gentle haircuts for kids, handled in a kid-friendly way.
Haircut (Short) Bold, precise, easy to keep up.
Haircut (Medium) Shape and movement without sacrificing versatility.
Haircut (Long) Shaping and trimming that keeps length healthy.
Haircut (Extra-Long) Built to preserve length while cleaning up split ends.
Shampoo and Cut A refresh that leaves hair more manageable.
Shampoo, Cut, and Blow-dry Walk out styled and ready for whatever's next.
Shampoo and Blow-dry Smooth, shiny, frizz-free, no heat tools required at home.
Perm Lasting texture and volume.
Hair Color
Color here isn't a fixed formula pulled off a shelf. It's built around your skin tone, your hair's history, and how you actually live, with New England's seasonal swings factored in so results hold through both August humidity and February dryness. The menu:
Single Process Color Rich, even color with depth.
Double Process Color A bigger transformation: lift, then tone.
Partial Foil Dimension where you want it most.
Custom Foil Targeted brightness, placed with intention.
Full Foil Bold, multi-dimensional color throughout.
Balayage Hand-painted color that grows out gracefully. One of the most requested services in the salon.
Color Balance Correction for faded or uneven tone.
Up-Do Long-lasting styling for events.
Add Flat Iron A polished, sleek finish.
Add Curl Soft waves or defined curl, added on.
Alternative Hair and Toppers
Price Upon Consultation
Jackie leads this work: private, unhurried consultations and expert fittings for clients navigating thinning or volume loss. Every conversation is handled with discretion, and every fitting is built around what you actually need, not a generic solution.
Learn More About Alternative Hair and Toppers
Hair Extensions
Requires Consultation
Kim personally handles extension work, matching and applying for length and volume that reads as natural, not obviously added. Every appointment opens with a full assessment of your hair and your goals before a single strand goes in. Clients travel from across the South Shore specifically for this.
Learn More About Hair Extensions
Tinting and Waxing
Precise, clean finishing work that pairs naturally with a color or cut appointment:
Lip and Chin Gentle waxing, smooth results.
Eyebrow Waxing Shaped to flatter your features.
Brow Tint Fuller-looking arches without a daily makeup routine.
Learn More About Tinting and Waxing
Meet Your Braintree Style Team
Kim Messing — Owner and Master Colorist
38+ Years of Experience Extensions, Custom Color, Color Formulation
Kim is the reason clients have stayed nearly four decades. Board-certified, technically rare on the South Shore, and still mentoring the next generation of stylists to hold the same bar she set on day one.
Jackie — Color Specialist and Topper Expert
Color, Alternative Hair, Toppers
Jackie's depth in both color and alternative hair makes her the go-to for clients who need comprehensive, high-skill care and natural-looking topper blending.
Maureen — Color and Cutting Specialist
Color, Precision Cuts
Maureen pairs sharp cutting with strong color instincts, so a fresh cut and a new color actually work together instead of competing.
Janet — Curly Hair Specialist
Curly Hair Expertise
Janet has built her career around curl pattern, routine, and realistic planning. New England summer humidity is a real test for curly hair, and it's exactly the problem she solves for.
Alicia — Stylist
Full-Service Hair Care
Alicia's warmth puts clients at ease from the first minute in the chair, appointment after appointment.
Emma — Junior Stylist
Full-Service Hair Care
Emma brings fresh energy and solid foundational training, held to the same standard as everyone else on the floor.
Kat — Salon Assistant
Salon Support
Kat keeps the floor running so every visit feels seamless from the moment you walk in to checkout.
What It's Actually Like to Visit This Braintree Salon
Right on Washington Street
The salon sits at 533 Washington Street, close to Hollis Elementary School, the Braintree Historical Society Campus, Thayer Academy, and the Thayer Public Library, with the MBTA Braintree Station on Ivory Street putting it within reach without a car. Clients regularly make the trip from Weymouth, Quincy, Milton, and Randolph because they've already found out what's different here.
Hair on the South Shore Isn't Simple
Four real seasons means four different sets of problems. Summer humidity, peaking around July, tests styling and color longevity and turns frizz into a daily fight. Winter dries hair out and dulls color. Spring shows up wet and unpredictable, putting fresh color at risk before it's had time to set. Fall is repair season: undoing summer damage and shifting into deeper, warmer tones. Every recommendation from every stylist here accounts for whichever season you're walking in during.
Nearly Four Decades on the Same Street
This salon has been part of Washington Street long enough that clients are also neighbors, the people you run into at Mary S. Bean Park, at South Shore Plaza, or on a Saturday walk near Pond Meadow Park. That's not incidental to the business. It's most of why it works.
What Our Clients Are Saying
Real, verified Google reviews from Kimberly Messing Hair Design clients.
★★★★★ Kaitlyn Burns — “Can’t say enough about my experience at this salon. From the moment I walked in the door I felt welcome and knew I was in the hands of experienced, talented, and friendly stylists. The decor alone is gorgeous and is the perfect atmosphere to relax with the certainty that...” (Verified Google review)
★★★★★ Laureen Browning — “I had another wonderful experience at Kimberly Messing Hair Design and highly recommend visiting! My stylist, Emma B., provided a thorough consultation and valuable guidance for my color, cut and blowout, I couldn’t have been more pleased w/ the results! Shout out to the...” (Verified Google review)
★★★★★ Jennifer OBrien — “Just want to give a huge shout out and recommendation to Kimberly Messing Hair Design. I’ve been seeing Kim for a couple years now. The staff stays up-to-date on education within their field. They offer not only a fabulous service of haircuts colors and more, but also...” (Verified Google review)
The Full Team Behind Your Hair: Nine Specialists, 180+ Combined Years
Most salons run on one or two strong stylists and a rotation of newer talent filling the rest of the floor. This one is built differently: every chair belongs to a specialist with real depth in that specific discipline, not a generalist covering for whoever's out. Book here and you're matched to exactly the specialist your hair needs, not whoever happens to be open.
Kim Messing, Owner and Master Colorist
Kim opened this salon in 1986 and has spent 38-plus years studying how pigment actually behaves on real hair, not textbook hair. She's one of a small number of board-certified color specialists in Massachusetts, a designation that requires advanced testing across formulation, theory, correction, and ongoing education. Where most colorists reach for a preset formula, Kim mixes from scratch, weighing your underlying tone, porosity, water quality, lifestyle, and how you want your hair to behave between visits.
She's also Hot Heads certified for tape-in extensions, refined over thousands of installations, and it's clients dealing with thinning, postpartum shedding, or age-related density loss who most often end up in her chair for it. Her color-correction work is what pulls clients in from across the South Shore. When another salon's color goes sideways, Kim is who gets the call.
Outside the chair, Kim mentors younger stylists and keeps up ongoing education with Goldwell, Redken, and Keratin Complex, a level of continued certification most owners stop chasing after their first decade.
Jackie Shaughnessy, Senior Stylist and Cutting Specialist
Jackie has cut hair for 38 years, and her precision work is why clients book her months out. Trained in classical technique, she's built a career on the kind of cut that grows out cleanly for eight to ten weeks instead of falling apart after three. Every section gets full attention. Nothing is approximated.
Her specialty inside cutting is curly hair. A lot of curly clients arrive having spent years getting cut wet, which leaves shapes that collapse the moment the curl springs back. Jackie cuts dry, curl by curl, accounting for how each one actually moves, so the result looks right in real life, not just in the chair.
Maureen Lamie, Master Stylist and Foiling Specialist
Maureen is the foiling and balayage specialist on this team, with 25-plus years building dimensional color. Other stylists come to study her foil placement specifically. The gap between average highlights and Maureen's comes down to strategy: she maps face shape, growth pattern, and lifestyle before the first foil goes in.
Her balayage technique is hand-painted, built to avoid the harsh regrowth line that comes from a sloppy application. Clients chasing low-maintenance, graceful-growing dimension book Maureen, and she's also the one who handles complex highlight work on hair with multiple prior color histories.
Janet Layden, Color Correction Specialist
Janet is who gets booked when something's gone wrong: box-dye disasters, botched highlights, tones that won't lift, banding from years of root touch-ups. Color correction is one of the more technical disciplines in the field, demanding real fluency in lift levels, fillers, toners, and bonding agents, and Janet has built her whole career around it.
Her dimensional work is just as strong. She builds depth through layered tones rather than a flat single shade, the kind of result people notice without being able to say exactly why it looks so good.
Laura Blaikie, Blonding Specialist
There's a real difference between a stylist who can do highlights and a specialist who lives in blonding, and Laura's firmly in the second category. Her work is bright, dimensional, and lived-in, built to flatter skin tone and grow out well, using a mix of foil and hand-painting to avoid the stripey or brassy look.
Clients going significantly lighter from naturally dark hair book Laura because she knows how to lift safely, using Olaplex and K18 through every lightening service to protect the hair's bond structure along the way.
Alicia Hayward, DevaCurl Certified Curl Specialist
Alicia is one of the few DevaCurl-certified stylists on the South Shore, trained directly with the DevaCurl team and now years into applying the technique to curly, wavy, and coily hair that most stylists cut against the grain of.
If your curly hair history is a string of disappointing salon visits, Alicia is the fix. She cuts curl by curl, dry, after a real conversation about your pattern, your daily routine, and what you actually want to wear.
Emma Browning, Contemporary Cuts and Vivid Color
Emma brings the newest energy on the team and the most contemporary technique: textured shags, French bobs, butterfly layers, and whatever's trending that clients are bringing in from Pinterest, cut with a technical foundation underneath so the shape actually wears well.
She also handles vivid and fashion color, pink through pastel, using Pulp Riot and other professional fashion lines formulated for longevity instead of the fast-fading vivids most stylists turn out.
Judy, Senior Stylist and Blowout Specialist
Judy has styled hair for 25-plus years and is the resident blowout artist, fluent in pin curls, finger waves, French twists, and every classic technique through voluminous, runway-style waves. She's the one booked ahead of weddings, galas, and anything where hair needs to hold up under pressure.
Her cutting is just as in-demand, especially with clients who want a polished, intentional shape that fits a professional life without needing daily styling effort.
Kat, Texture and Updo Specialist
Kat handles the styling that needs more than a curling iron: braids, updos, intricate twists, half-up looks, and ponytails engineered to survive a full night of dancing. Brides, event clients, and anyone who needs their hair to hold through humidity and hugs book Kat.
She's also building a following for color work, particularly with brunettes wanting dimensional, polished results, and clients consistently mention how genuinely warm the whole experience feels.
See our full service menu and pricing.
The Professional Products We Trust and Sell
The retail wall carries over 200 products from 28 professional brands, every one of them something the team actually uses in the chair and stands behind. Nothing gets shelf space just to fill it, and every purchase comes with a real explanation of how to use it at home.
K18: Peptide Repair Technology
K18's peptide formulation rebuilds the hair shaft's internal structure rather than just coating over damage, and it's used in every chemical service here. Clients with bleached or chemically processed hair who add the at-home leave-in mask typically see a real jump in shine and manageability within four to six washes.
Goldwell: Color and Care Foundations
One of the primary color lines in the salon, with take-home care to match: Color Revive for fading color between visits, Kerasilk for smoothing and protection, and Dualsenses for daily maintenance across hair types. Anyone coloring regularly should be using it at home to stretch the life of the work.
Redken: Performance Styling
All Soft, Color Extend Magnetics, Acidic Bonding Concentrate, and the broader styling line are retail mainstays here, recommended to clients who want dependable, technical everyday performance. The Acidic Bonding Concentrate shampoo and conditioner in particular have reshaped how damaged-hair home care gets recommended.
Keratin Complex: Smoothing Specialists
The full line supports the salon's keratin smoothing services, and anyone who's had a treatment should be using the sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner to extend it, along with the styling products built specifically for smoothed hair.
Olaplex: Bond Building
Still the most reliable at-home bond-builder available. Used in-service and recommended as the Number 3 hair perfector between visits, with the Number 4 and 5 shampoo and conditioner maintaining the bond work done in the chair.
Other Key Brands
Soma, Zenagen for thinning hair, Tri Design for styling, Living Proof for frizz control, Aluram for clean beauty, Design Me for performance styling, Amika for color care, Pureology for color-treated hair, Milk_shake for moisture, Hot Like Me for thermal protection, Revitalash for lash growth, ECRU New York for protective styling, FHI Heat for tools, Wahl for clipper work, and Jon Renau for wigs and toppers. Every product comes with personal guidance from your stylist, not just a shelf tag.
Our Philosophy: One Stylist, Full Attention, No Exceptions
Most salons run on volume: tight booking, double-booked color processing, multiple chairs per stylist, clients moved through quickly. It's efficient for the business and exhausting for everyone in the chair. This one doesn't run that way.
Your stylist works on you, and only you, from the first consultation through the final blowout. No double-booking. No handing color processing off to an assistant who doesn't know your name. Whatever's happening to your hair is happening with someone's full attention.
Clients consistently point to this as the biggest reason they keep coming back: the calm, the real conversation, the sense of being a person instead of a slot on a schedule. The work is genuinely better for it too. A stylist focused on one head of hair instead of three delivers more precision, every time.
Honest consultation is part of the deal. If something you're asking for won't look good on you, you'll hear that. If your hair needs some health restored before it can handle the cut you want, you'll hear that too. The finished result has to be something both you and your stylist are proud of, and if it isn't, it gets fixed. That's been the standard since 1986.
South Shore Hair: Why It Behaves the Way It Does
Hair reacts to its environment, and the South Shore's coastal climate, hard water, humidity swings, salt air, and rough winters all leave a mark. Most stylists treat environment as an afterthought. Every consultation here builds it in from the start.
Hard Water Mineral Buildup
Local water is hard, and over time it deposits calcium, iron, and magnesium onto the hair shaft, which shows up as dullness, brassiness in lightened hair, flat texture, color fading faster than it should, and shampoo that seems to stop working after a few months. If any of that sounds familiar, hard water is the likely culprit, and there are specific chelating treatments and take-home products built to reverse it.
Humidity and Frizz Management
Summers here are humid enough to bring on frizz even in clients who've never dealt with it before, as moisture works into the hair shaft and disrupts the cuticle. The fix is a combination of a cut built to work with humidity instead of against it, the right anti-humidity and sealing products, and in some cases a keratin smoothing service to reduce the frizz pattern directly.
Salt Air and Coastal Influence
Time spent near the coast means salt exposure, which dries hair out and can leave color looking dull or grayish. Clients who spend a lot of time near the water benefit from a more intensive moisture routine, UV-protective leave-ins, and shampoos that lift salt without stripping color.
Winter Damage
Winters bring cold air, dry indoor heat, and hats and scarves that all cause real damage, from breakage due to friction to dryness from heating systems to static from cold air. Home care recommendations shift every fall to get ahead of it.
Seasonal Color Strategy
Color reads differently depending on the season. Bright blondes that feel harsh in winter can look gorgeous in summer light, and rich brunettes that feel heavy in July can feel elegant by December. Plenty of clients adjust tone twice a year to match the season, and it's a conversation every stylist here is ready to have.
What a Free Consultation Actually Covers
Every new client gets a free consultation before the first service, no charge and no obligation to book. It typically runs 20 to 30 minutes and it's a working conversation, not a sales pitch.
- Hair history. What chemicals have touched your hair, when, and how it responded.
- Current condition. An honest read on health, integrity, and porosity, and what your hair can handle.
- Daily routine. Wash frequency, products, styling tools, and how much time you actually spend on your hair.
- Lifestyle factors. Workouts, swimming, sun exposure, work environment, sleep.
- Visual reference. Photos of what you want and, just as useful, what you don't.
- Realistic outcome. What's achievable in one visit versus what needs multiple sessions.
- Cost and time. Clear numbers upfront, no surprises at checkout.
- Maintenance plan. What it actually takes to keep the result looking right between visits.
People routinely say the consultation alone gives them more clarity than years of appointments elsewhere. It's treated as the foundation the rest of the relationship gets built on.
Part of the Braintree Community
Neighborhoods We Serve
East Braintree, South Braintree, Braintree Highlands, and the Five Corners area each have their own character, and the salon sits centrally at 533 Washington Street, walking distance from Braintree High School and easy to reach from Granite Avenue, Pearl Street, and South Shore Plaza. Clients stop in between errands, after school drop-off, before an evening out, or on a lunch break from work nearby.
Landmarks Nearby
South Shore Plaza is two minutes away. Braintree Town Hall, the Thayer Public Library, the Cathedral of the Pines, and the Braintree Community Arts Center are all within ten. Sunset Lake and Pond Meadow Park round out the outdoor options that plenty of active clients here factor into their hair decisions.
The Town Calendar
The Fourth of July parade, the holiday tree lighting at Town Hall, summer concerts at French's Common, Braintree Day, and the Cherry Blossom Festival all bring people out, and appointment volume noticeably picks up ahead of each one.
Schools and Family Bookings
Braintree High School, Thayer Academy, East Middle School, and South Middle School bring in families who tend to stick around for years. Prom, homecoming, graduation, and senior portraits fill the calendar every spring, and plenty of long-running clients first walked in for a daughter's prom appointment and never left.
Is the Drive Worth It?
It's the most common question from new clients, and the honest answer is yes, for specific reasons. Plenty of salons sit closer to home. What's different here is board-certified color expertise, nine specialists instead of one or two generalists, and a model built around undivided attention per client. Retention here runs high, and clients who book once tend to stay for years, sometimes decades.
The logistics are easy: free parking, evening hours Tuesday through Thursday, and Saturday availability for anyone working a standard week.
What Clients Book Us for Most
Color leads the list, especially highlights, balayage, and correction work. Between Kim's board-certified formulation, Maureen's foiling, Janet's correction skill, and Laura's blonding, that's four specialists under one roof for color alone.
Cutting is close behind. Curly-haired clients specifically seek out Alicia for her DevaCurl certification and dry-cutting method. Clients wanting classic, polished shapes book Jackie. Clients chasing on-trend cuts book Emma. Anyone booking for an event books Judy or Kat.
Extensions, treatments, and alternative hair round out the rest. Kim's tape-in work draws clients from across the South Shore, particularly for fine hair, postpartum shedding, and density loss, while keratin treatments help manage frizz and Jon Renau toppers serve clients navigating thinning or medical hair loss.
Building a Relationship With Your Stylist Over Time
The value of this kind of salon compounds. The first visit sets a baseline. By the second, your stylist starts learning your hair specifically. By the fifth or sixth, they understand it the way they'd understand a close friend's habits: how it lifts, how it deposits, how it grows, how it ages between visits. That depth doesn't happen through one-off appointments or hopping between stylists.
Clients who commit to one stylist for a year consistently see better results than clients who shop around, because the work builds on itself. That's why booking your next appointment before you leave is standard practice here: color clients typically return every 4-6 weeks, highlights and balayage every 8-12, cuts every 6-8, and treatments quarterly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes Kimberly Messing Hair Design the best salon near Braintree, MA?
Nearly four decades on Washington Street, a board-certified color specialist as owner, and a team where every stylist specializes rather than generalizes. Braintree voted it the area's best, and clients from Weymouth, Quincy, Milton, and Randolph make the drive for the same reasons.
What do haircuts cost?
Barber's Cut and Kid's Cut start at $35. Short cuts start at $44, medium at $66, long at $88, extra-long at $110. Shampoo and Cut starts at $50, Shampoo/Cut/Blow-dry at $60, Shampoo and Blow-dry at $35. Perms start at $105.
What does hair color cost?
Single Process starts at $75, Double Process at $120, Partial Foil at $148, Full Foil at $185, Balayage at $220. Custom Foil add-ons start at $22, Color Balance at $37, Up-Do at $100.
Do you do hair extensions?
Yes, Kim personally handles extension work with a full consultation before any installation. It's a service clients travel across the South Shore for specifically.
What about alternative hair and toppers?
Jackie leads those consultations and fittings, priced individually after assessment, handled with full discretion.
Is there a curly hair specialist on staff?
Yes, Janet. Curly hair needs a different approach entirely, especially with local summer humidity working against curl definition, and a consultation with her is the place to start if no stylist has fully understood your curl pattern before.
What do tinting and waxing services cost?
Eyebrow Waxing starts at $20, Brow Tinting at $20, Lip and Chin Waxing at $25. Popular add-ons to any color or cut appointment.
How do I book?
Book online any time, or call 781-817-5077. Booking ahead is smart for color, extensions, and curly hair work, and Thursday evenings until 8:00 pm cover later time slots.
What are the salon hours?
Tuesday and Wednesday 9-7, Thursday 9-8, Friday and Saturday 9-4, closed Sunday and Monday. Saturdays fill fast, so book ahead.
Do you work with every hair type?
Yes: fine, thick, curly, color-treated, all of it. Every client here should walk out feeling understood, and that's been the standard since 1986.
Extended FAQ: Deeper Questions
How long does color last?
Single process and root touch-ups typically need a refresh every 4-6 weeks. Highlights hold 8-12 weeks before regrowth is obvious. Balayage stretches 12-16 weeks since the regrowth is intentionally soft. Vivid and fashion colors fade fastest, usually 4-8 weeks. Using the recommended at-home products extends all of these noticeably.
Will color damage my hair?
Done correctly, no. Single process is the gentlest chemical service and rarely causes damage. Lightening services are more demanding, which is why Olaplex and K18 are used in every one. Damage tends to show up in clients who bounce between salons, push too far in one sitting, or use box dye between professional visits.
How long does a color appointment take?
Single process: 90 minutes to 2 hours. Root touch-up: 75-90 minutes. Partial foils: 2 to 2.5 hours. Full foils: 2.5 to 3.5. Balayage: 2.5 to 3.5. Color correction: 4-8 hours, sometimes split across visits. Nothing here gets rushed.
Balayage or highlights, which is right for me?
Highlights are foiled for maximum lift and a brighter, more defined pattern. Balayage is hand-painted for a softer, more lived-in look with easier regrowth. Plenty of clients combine both. A free consultation is the fastest way to figure out which fits your hair and your maintenance tolerance.
How do I keep color from fading?
Sulfate-free shampoo, washing every 2-3 days instead of daily, a cold final rinse, heat protectant before hot tools, a UV-protective leave-in, rinsing with bottled water before swimming, and a monthly clarifying treatment if your water's hard. Clients who follow this see meaningfully longer color life.
What does a full color transformation cost?
It depends on your starting color, target color, and hair length, and it's always quoted after a free consultation, never as a surprise at checkout.
How do I find the right stylist?
A free consultation is the fastest way. The team matches you to whoever's strengths fit your goals, whether that's Kim, Maureen, Janet for correction first, or Laura for ongoing blonding, based on what you need rather than who happens to have an opening.
What if I don't like the result?
Say so. There's a plan for adjusting almost anything: color too dark, too light, too warm; a cut that needs reshaping; a style that missed the mark. Nobody should leave unhappy without saying something.
Can I bring someone with me?
Yes, plenty of clients book alongside a sister, mother, daughter, or friend, and overlapping appointments can usually be arranged.
Do you serve clients dealing with medical hair loss?
Yes, Kim handles Jon Renau wig and topper consultations personally, with discretion and, if preferred, private parking in the back for added privacy.
Gift cards?
Available in any amount, online or in-salon, and they never expire.
Payment methods?
Cash, Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, debit, and gift cards.
Cancellation policy?
24 hours notice, please. Same-day cancellations and no-shows are charged 50% of the service cost.
Tipping?
Not required, always appreciated. Standard practice runs 18-22%, and tips are accepted in cash, on card, or via Venmo.
Walk-ins?
The salon runs by appointment, though same-day slots occasionally open up. Call 781-817-5077 to check.
Running late?
Call ahead. Past 15 minutes, your stylist may need to shorten the service or reschedule depending on the day's schedule.
Kids at appointments?
Welcome, as long as they stay seated and supervised. Kids with their own appointment need an accompanying adult.
Wedding day services?
Yes, with advance booking. Trials happen in-salon; day-of styling typically happens at the venue or hotel.
How do I book my first visit?
Online, or by calling 781-817-5077, ideally by phone for a first visit so you can be matched with the right specialist before booking.
Booking, Hours, and What to Expect on Your First Visit
Book online at our portal or by calling 781-817-5077 during business hours.
Hours of Operation
Tuesday: 9:00am–7:00pm | Wednesday: 9:00am–7:00pm | Thursday: 9:00am–8:00pm | Friday: 9:00am–4:00pm | Saturday: 9:00am–4:00pm | Sunday & Monday: Closed
What to Bring
Photos of what you want, ideally with clear lighting and angles, and photos of what you don't want, which are often more useful. A list of your current products. Questions. Come ready for a real conversation.
What to Wear
Something you don't mind getting slightly damp; color services involve water and occasional splashes. Skip white shirts. Capes and towels are provided, but a stain-resistant top never hurts.
Time to Plan For
Cut and style: 60-90 minutes. Single process and cut: 2-2.5 hours. Highlights and cut: 3-4. Balayage and cut: 3-4. Color correction: variable, sometimes split across sessions. Time commitment gets confirmed at booking.
Parking
Free lot at the salon, no meters, no garage.
Check-In
You'll be greeted at the desk and your stylist will find you within a few minutes. Consultations start right away.
Also Serving Nearby Communities
Looking for a top-rated salon near you? Visit our dedicated pages for towns near Braintree:
- Best Salon Near Holbrook, MA
- Best Salon Near Quincy, MA
- Best Salon Near Weymouth, MA
- Best Salon Near Randolph, MA
- Best Salon Near Milton, MA
Our Specialty Services
- Hair Color Services
- Precision Haircuts
- Hair Extensions
- Tinting and Waxing
- Alternative Hair and Toppers
- Meet Our Stylists
Your Best Hair Is Waiting
Color built to survive a Braintree summer, extensions that finally give you the length you've wanted, curly hair care that actually gets it right, and a team that listens before anyone picks up a brush. That's the case for Kimberly Messing Hair Design on Washington Street.
Kim built this place for people tired of feeling unheard in the chair, and for anyone who knows great hair starts with a stylist who genuinely cares, in Braintree, Weymouth, Quincy, Milton, and Randolph alike.
We've been on Washington Street for over 38 years, and we're not going anywhere.