Our Journey
Hello, I'm Kirstin.
President and founder of Kharma Salons. I had graduated from the Victoria Aveda institute in 2005. After just a few short years in the industry I decided to open my first salon working from a small shop in the basement of my home. As a busy single mom my focus was to be home with my son while providing high end hair services to my loyal clientele. This dream became the drive behind my brand and what started out as a humble idea became the four Kharma Salons you have come to know and love today!
Shortly after my home salon opened its doors, I met my husband Keith. The word of mouth about Kharma began to spread. Within a year of business, I found some amazing stylists to join my team to keep up with the growing demand. During this time, knowing I had a fabulous team to move my clientele over to, Keith and I decided to expand our family. We became so busy that the city of Victoria asked the quaint Kharma Studio in my basement to a move to a commercial space or scale back! Within weeks of this request- and with a newborn baby in tow- Keith and I found ourselves renovating our first shop on Oak Bay Ave. After only 4 months of openings our doors, we quickly outgrew the space and moved into a bigger one a few doors over. Seven months after that, we knocked down a dividing wall between spaces and expanded into the retail space next to us to gain even more space!
Kharma Salons was growing and expanding and by 2018 Keith was able to leave his job of 16 years and join the Kharma team full time to help take on all the background tasks between the salons. This has been an integral part of the growth of our business as he has freed up time for me to focus on mentoring all my co-workers and has helped me balance it all-making it possible for me to continue to provide the services that I love so much! You may even see him in our shops supporting the front end staff, making maintenance repairs and periodically the face and voice behind the phone and desk.
Two years and many highlights later, the demand and word of mouth led to opening a second location to serve in the Westshore. In April of 2018, our Oak Bay shop was moved into a larger more open space on the corner of Oak Bay and Foul Bay road. Seeing the need to bridge the gap between these locations, I teamed up with one of my very first Kharma stylists, Tressa. Together and with the help and support of our life partners, we had opened our third location located in Saanich 2019.
But that's not all! Most recently (and finally...phew), we have now opened our fourth location in the heart of Downtown Victoria. Watching our dreams and company flourish and grow has been the most incredible and humbling experience. It has been an amazing ride and we have our incredibly talented team -from the beginning to now- and YOU our supportive and loyal client's to honour each and every step of the way.
So thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for coming along with us on this incredible Journey. We can't wait to see what comes next!
We look forward to seeing you at your next visit!