“Marysville’s best kept secret,” that’s the way Tina Evans, director of the cosmetology program described it and she was right.  The building is discretely tucked away just to the left of the Marysville Goodwill.  If I hadn’t been told to pull into the Goodwill parking lot I would have missed it completely and that would have been a shame.   

It was Wednesday or as the cosmetology students call it, “Value menu Wednesday,” Because everything is half priced.   Haircuts and manicures are just five dollars.  I wanted to find out how good a five dollar manicure really is.  The answer was not what I was expecting.

When I walked in I was greeted by a smiling face and a warm welcome.  I took a seat on the black leather couches while I waited.  It wasn’t long before another smiling face greeted me and walked me back to the nail spa. Channel Jones started to work on my nails. She filed and polished while we chatted. What they lacked in nail polish selections she made up for in skill.  She helped me choose the best nail shape for my hands which turned out to be squoval , a rounded square shape.  Channel is almost ready to graduate from beauty school and plans to work for a Salon like Ulta when she completes the program.  She was careful, polite and friendly.  It was easy to tell she had done this before and she was good at it.

My secret shopper friend Gina Lopez however had a different experience.  The student working on her nails had never before worked with shellac and had to be given instructions by the customer on what to do.  Shellac is a kind of gel nail polish that cannot be removed with nail polish remover alone.  She was a new student earning her hours in the salon.  They have to complete 1,730 hours before completing the program.  Gina changed her mind about getting a pedicure and was on her way.

After my manicure was finished it was time for my pedicure.  My feet were soaked and rubbed.  My toes were trimmed then filed.  Dead skin was removed, lotion was put on and after I chose a periwinkle color to finish.

I was walked back to the front of the building where I got Channel’s business card and paid my bill of 17 dollars.  I had a good experience for a good deal, but the student who did my nails had almost two years of experience.  She really did know what she was doing.  I asked Channel about what it was like starting out and if she had ever had a hard time like the student next to us she said, “The first time I did color I bleached a woman’s hair and the foils were too close to the roots.  She looked like she had a bald spot and I had to correct it.  I felt so bad, it wasn’t what she wanted at all.” I asked her about the customer’s reaction; smiling she said, “She gave me a fifteen dollar tip.  I couldn’t believe it, but that’s how a lot of the customers here are.  They understand that it’s a school and that sometimes mistakes happen.”

Tina Evans says that most of their customers are from the Marysville community.  “About a third of our cosmetology students come from the SnoIsle high school program and most of our customers are right here in Marysville.” You might get a great five dollar manicure or you might get a new student who is still learning, but I think the five dollars is worth the risk.