What’s next? This may be the question you’re asking yourself right at this moment. What are you going to achieve in 2015? And what will life throw at you?
For Eric Moon, owner and creative director of Salon Edjii, the answers of his own ‘What’s next?’ have revealed themselves organically. It’s been through natural conversation with peers and friends and sometimes complete strangers, as Moon has progressed and transitioned from an art student at Kutztown University to traveling the world as an artist and educator with TIGI, the world-renowned hair care brand and culture.
Moon first encountered TIGI years ago at the salon where he was working.
“I was really drawn to this brand by their imagery and what they were doing,” he explained, listing off the terms “new wave,” “punk” and “edgy” as his inspirations. “And I wanted to be a part of that.”
One day, Moon struck up a conversation with a TIGI sales representative who frequented the salon. A few weeks later, after he had caught the attention of more representatives at a training session, he received a phone call inviting him to a training program.
Almost a decade later, Moon travels nearly every week for TIGI. Some of these excursions may be local educating opportunities, but about half are “fly-aways” as Moon calls them—no pun intended. It’s these unique opportunities to travel that sets Salon Edjii—located on Derry Street in Paxtang—apart from other salons in the Susquehanna Valley.
“I love being able to bring everything I experience outside of Harrisburg back to central PA to share with my clients,” Moon explained. “Harrisburg has a reputation (and part of it is true) that we’re a little behind the times when it comes to fashion. We have a great restaurant, art and music scene here, but fashion is not quite there.”
Still, there are people who are hungry for the Harrisburg fashion scene to take off, he said.
“People will sit in my chair and ask what I’m seeing in this city or country and ask what’s new,” he said. “Because I get to travel, I’m able to have a good answer for what’s new, what’s current and what’s next, so people can be ahead of the curve.”
Taking Chances
Born in England to a military family, Moon moved around a lot as a child to locations as varied as Newfoundland, New Jersey, Colorado and Pennsylvania.
“I have that cool dual-citizenship thing going on. I have at home what I call my Jason Bourne drawer. There are multiple passports, guns and money—if it’s empty, I’m gone,” he teased, with an infectious laugh.
His initial fling with haircuts and color started with experiments using grocery-store-bought boxed color on high school classmates. In college, he even traded haircuts and color for beer, food and art supplies.
His experience mixing colors started during one of his first real salon jobs.
“There were times that I had free time at that salon, and I brought a friend in so [my employer] could see what I could do,” he said. “I got to go to the back room and mix real color—it was awesome! I was hooked. I loved it.”
For Moon, it was the 1980s that inspired him and sparked his initial love for new wave, punk and just plain cool edginess.
“A lot of people look back at the ‘80s with disdain right now,” he said. “Granted, there were a lot of things from that decade that were pretty terrible, but I appreciated that the ‘80s took a lot of chances. Since then, everything has been regurgitated from another decade. We look at something and say ‘Oh, this has a ‘40s feel.’”
Something Good
Today, Moon travels with TIGI, sharing his knowledge and experience with salons all over the world—then brings new concepts back to Harrisburg.
When opening Salon Edjii, Moon chose Paxtang due to its central location for his many urban and suburban clients. He also had the opportunity to build a salon based upon his own design ideas. Moon focused on an atmosphere that included distressed brick, high ceilings and other urban, industrial features.
“For my vision, I got to experience other workspaces and salon environments—what things I liked as far as décor, feel and atmosphere,” he said. “I figured out which of those things that I liked were a part of my personal brand and salon culture. The idea was to create a salon culture that I felt was missing from the Harrisburg area. Something that’s modern in a creative space.”
The result is what he calls a comfortable atmosphere that’s not too cool for his widely varied clientele.
“I remember being a student and having this idea that ‘I can’t wait to get out of here and I’m going to have all these cool clients that are new wave and punk and edgy. I’m going to make purple and pink hair on everyone, all the time,’” Moon said. “And, you might get to do some of that, but as I explain to students now, get good at brown and blonde.”
Although Harrisburg is not exactly the center of edginess that Moon dreamt of in the ‘80s, he remains a central PA cheerleader.
“One thing that’s great about Harrisburg—and I feel like everyone says this, but rarely takes advantage of it—we are conveniently located two hours away from everything cool. Not that Harrisburg isn’t cool, but if you want to go to Baltimore or DC—boom—down I-83, you’re there,” he said.
After his last salon job, he purposely stayed in Harrisburg because it’s where he wanted to be and because, he believed, he could contribute.
“Sometimes, people get this idea that they’re bigger than Harrisburg and that they should get out,” he said. “I turned that around and said I’m not too good for Harrisburg; I’m something good for Harrisburg.”
In light of the New Year, I asked Moon what mindset clients should have when they visit him for the first time. His answer: an open mind to truly have a new experience.
“Every city has a slightly different hair and fashion culture,” he said. “For example, you go to New York, and it can be very dark. The city’s atmosphere and how it bares down on people has an influence on their fashion. In Miami, everything is vibrant and colorful and free. San Francisco and Seattle embrace the outdoor culture.”
While Moon may visit these other places, he plans to stay right here.
“I like grass between my toes in the summer and sitting on my patio with a cocktail and a fire pit,” he said. “I think open fires are probably frowned upon in New York.”
Salon Edjii is located at 3401 Derry St., Harrisburg. For more information and to schedule an appointment, call 717-564-1089 or visit www.salonedjii.com.
