BY JENNIFER AMATO
Staff Writer
JENNIFER AMATO Beauty Spa Nails & Hair, located in the Maple Meade Plaza on Route 130, is expanding its services to include a full nail salon and a barber with over 50 years of experience. NORTH BRUNSWICK – For those looking to escape for a day of beauty, a hair and nail salon in the township is now under new management.
Beauty Spa Nails & Hair, located in the Maple Meade Plaza by Scala Bakery, has been taken over by Jane Yu, a former nail technician for 18 years. The former Escape salon owner decided to move out of town, so Yu took it as the perfect opportunity to remain local while purchasing her own business.
“We already have a lot of traffic for hair but they didn’t have somebody here for nails,” she said.
As a result, she brought her personal experience to the salon and offers regular manicures, along with French manicures, acrylics, wraps and tips. However, a highlight is the green tea spa manicure or pedicure, which softens the skin with a soak, exfoliates with a baking soda scrub, rehydrates with a mud mask, stimulates cells with a massage cream and therapeutic essential oils and finishes with a lotion of bay laurel and mint.
“Drinking tea is great but when you get a green tea pedicure it is unbelievable. Green tea has healing power,” Yu said. “Pedicure massage helps blood stimulation so pedicures are not just for beauty anymore these days. You get a lot of benefit out of it.”
Another new addition to the salon is Matteo Scimone, a 56-year veteran of the business, who has come on board as a barber. After owning Rocco’s Barber Shop in Milltown for 17 years, the business closed down and he is now working part time at another shop in Milltown and part time at Beauty Spa.
The North Brunswick resident originally came from Italy in 1956 and worked in Rego Park, N.Y., before moving to the Brunswick area. He accepted a part-time job for three years while working for Bristol-Myers Squibb and then opened his own barbershop with three other barbers.
“This is my place,” he said of the area. “I’ve been cutting the hair for 56 years, I don’t know how to do nothing else.”
The 70-year-old, nicknamed “Barber Pole,” has a regular clientele base he serves in both Milltown and North Brunswick. He works by appointment at Beauty Spa on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Five of the current employees have remained at the salon as well: Barbara Bushman, Loretta Fama, Yenni Maas, Daureen Kurkowski and Dina Parracho. They share the responsibilities of cutting, blow drying, perming, frosting and dying hair as well as up-dos.
The salon also offers eyebrow, chin, lip, bikini, underarm, arm and leg waxing and appointments for makeup application. There are wedding specials as well.
“It’s like one stop for hair, nails, toes and waxing,” Yu said. “It’s convenient. Who’s got enough time for beauty? With one stop here, you don’t have to go place to place.”
Beauty Spa is located at 1884 Route 130 north. The hours of operation are Monday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Thursday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Saturday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The shop is closed on Sunday.
Call (732) 297-4755 to schedule an appointment. Scimone can be reached on his personal line at (732) 616-0552. Walk-ins are welcome as well.