All posts tagged: Mayline Manivong

Transforming beauty and identity: Mayline Manivong

Maybe it’s your hair, maybe it’s Mayline. Most likely it’s Mayline. As I rushed across a crowded Nicollet Mall to the cozy Studio 52 hair salon, the first thing Mayline Manivong wanted to do was my hair. “Why…do I look that bad?” I was embarrassed for the poor excuse of a hairdo which looked like a bird’s nest on top of my head. “Let me cut and style it. I need to warm up to you!”, she insists. I plop myself down in her chair and we chit chat. “I’ve never done an interview. I’m a little nervous”, she tells me. With each strand of my hair meeting the shears, I felt her nervousness shed. For over 20 years, Mayline has been passionate about hair. Some say her hands are like magic to their hair nightmares. “What I love about my job is I always make my clients look better than when they came in. Not just better, but transformed”. A true Lao at heart, Mayline is a lumvong (Lao dance) fanatic, who enjoys kicking …