Considering notorious traffic jams in the morning, one may wonder how working women in the heart of the capital city can have edgy hair that stays wonderful all day long.

While some women take out their make up and do their hair right after their high heels land in the ladies’ room in their offices, others manage to have a quick touch from professional stylists before they reach their workplace.

One of them is Wina Firmansyah, an insurance consultant working in the Blok M area in South Jakarta. Although she can easily find many beauty salons near her workplace, she opted to become a regular customer of Love Laris salon in Bendungan Hilir in Central Jakarta.

“I come here around three times a week to get a hair wash and blowout before I go to the office. If I am in a rush, there will be two hair stylists who can finish the blow dry in just 10 minutes,” she told The Jakarta Post recently during her treatment.

She examined the big loose curls in her brunette hair in the mirror with satisfaction and quickly handed over her money to a stylist and gave a tip. Without losing a minute, she took out her mascara and eyebrow pencil and started to put makeup on her face. “I like to try different hairstyles with the blowout. What makes me happy is, my hairstyle can stay cool until the next day.”

The beauty salon that has been around for 38 years has built a reputation as an early bird business that caters for office workers around the business district in the morning. It opens as early as 6 a.m. and closes at 9 p.m. during working days and an hour earlier on Saturday and Sunday.

Newcomers may be puzzled when they enter the six-story building, as the first view will be of some humble stalls offering various snacks, food and magazines. The salon and the stairs to the upper floors are located behind the food stalls.

Some customers still looked sleepy when they started the treatment. They entered the salon wearing sandals and casual clothes, but later went out looking fabulous.

Evi Marlina, a legislative candidate, said she comes to the salon once a week, especially when she has a meeting with her political party in Senayan, Central Jakarta. “I have been a regular customer here since 2005,” she said.

A hair wash and blow drying services in the salon costs Rp 30,000 (US$3.09) in the morning and Rp 35,000 in the afternoon.

“We have some 80 employees here and serve around 100 customers every day,” said Isye Kurniawan, one of the owners of the family business.

While beauty salons that open in the morning give a professional touch to career women, salons that are located in the office buildings provide a sweet escape from the routine.

“There is a beauty salon located in my office building that is always packed by women workers who want to get a touch up or have a hair blowout service,” Evyorista Pratiwi, a banking officer on Jl. Sudirman, said.

Located on the second floor of Wisma BNI 46 in Central Jakarta, Jasmine Salon and Spa targets workers in the area around the office building.

“Our busy hours are during lunch time as some office workers want to have a massage service to get rid of their tiredness,” cashier Dian Rosdianty told the Post.

She said each of their services generally last for an hour, which suits the length of the lunch time.

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