Families welcome at Kingston Hair Company

Kathleen Lichstein is a hairdresser at Kingston Hair Company in south Fort Myers. She is pictured giving Mindy Kasten, of south Fort Myers, a precision haircut. Lichstein specializes in coloring and razoring.

Kingston Hair Company is a full service shop for men, women and children.

The former Valenti's Barber Shop has moved, been renamed and opened in south Fort Myers on McGregor Boulevard in mid-October.

"We are pretty much a full salon service as well as a barber shop so the whole family can come here at once," said Barb Valenti, the part-owner of the shop and former owner of Valenti's Barber Shop. "We do all age groups and wanted to stay close to the area we had been working."

Valenti's partner at the company is Kathleen Lichstein, a women's hair dresser who specializes in coloring and highlighting.

"We kind of all do our own thing and it's a lot more relaxed and everybody comes for different reasons but it's very much a family," said Lichstein, while giving a customer a hair cut. She has been in the hair business for more than 30 years. "We basically put two services together and offer even more."

The shop not only offers haircuts and styling but also manicures, pedicures and permanent make-up application.

"I wouldn't go anywhere else! The atmosphere is relaxed and I get the best haircut here," said Mindy Kasten, of south Fort Myers. She was recently getting her haircut with Lichstein and raved that it's a comfortable place for her three year old, Haddon, to come. "It's hard to find somebody to do a precision haircut."

The unique quality of services the Kingston Hair Company offers is what keeps customers coming back.

"My men are mostly walk-in and it's busy ... sometimes I have six men waiting but the cut is worth it," said Valenti, who is a fourth generation hair cutter. "This is my third salon but I do love being independent and having a good time with the customers."

And, the customers appreciate it especially because most know how Valenti and Lichstein became business partners.

Both women used to work across the street from each other and met as Lichstein bought coffee next to Valenti's shop.

"We had a lot in common and are both from Connecticut. We decided to open up shop because we both wanted something new at the same time," said Lichstein, who met Valenti four years ago. "It all works because we know each others work and quality and we can refer clients to each other.

"We want customers to feel like they are coming to our home not our place of business," Valenti said.