On West 7th Street, in a brick building that blends quietly into the corridor, Tease Salon has become a steady fixture — not through splashy marketing, but through decades of relationships.
For more than 20 years, the salon has built a loyal following, with some clients driving from as far away as Lake Superior for appointments. Originally located near Shamrocks, Tease moved into its current space at 696 West 7th a decade-and-a-half ago when the original owners Carol Jasin and her husband John bought the current building.
Carol and John are now retired and their long-time employee Amber Mann is running the show, purchasing the business a little more than three years ago after working there for 14.
“I wanted to carry on the legacy of what they created and what our community has supported,” Mann said of the former owners, who remain connected to the salon. Carol still creates rotating art installations that hang above the shampoo bowls, changing with the seasons.
Mann’s path to ownership was unconventional. She enlisted in the Air Force at 17, serving on active duty and later in the Air National Guard, including deployments overseas. After leaving the military, she attended beauty school and took a job at Tease — her first salon position. When the opportunity arose to buy the business and the building, she leaned on weekly meetings with her banker and accountant to make the leap.
Today, Tease operates with eight stylists and two front desk staff in a hybrid model of employees and chair renters. The range of experience spans decades. Two stylists have worked together since the early 1980s and have been part of Tease longer than the salon has carried its current name. The newest stylist joined about a year and a half ago. The evening receptionist, 20, has been coming to Tease since she sat in a booster seat while her mother had her hair done.
“It’s like family,” said stylist Auri Mena, who is bilingual and serves Spanish-speaking clients in the community. “We’ve just gained family and friends.” Mena said what keeps her coming to work every day is the clientele and the neighborhood. “West 7th brings in a really great group of people.”
Despite being located in one of the city’s most competitive salon corridors, Tease has relied almost entirely on word of mouth. Clients often discover that friends or neighbors have been coming for years without realizing they share the same stylist.
“You get one person, then their mom, their whole family,” Mann said. “You’re doing weddings and first haircuts. It just keeps going.”
The salon’s atmosphere is intentionally relaxed but modern. There are no uniforms; stylists “pick your style and rock it,” Mann said. The space is filled with plants and rotating work by local artists. A current exhibit features a St. Paul photographer. Past installations have included handcrafted fish sculptures that sold out.
Since purchasing the salon, Mann has expanded its community engagement. Tease regularly serves as a collection site for donations — clothing, school supplies and pet items — which are distributed through partners along West 7th and the West Side.
Additionally, Tease hosts its own Makers Market twice a year, featuring about a dozen local artists and vendors, along with a food truck. Grants from the Fort Road Federation have helped offset staff wages when the salon closes early for those events, allowing employees to participate without losing income.
Mann hopes to further strengthen connections among neighboring businesses by hosting informal gatherings to identify specific community needs.
Continuing education is also a priority. This month, most of the team will travel to Chicago for America’s Beauty Show, combining professional training with team building. On Fridays, it is common for staff to linger after closing, talking over a glass of wine.
“How many jobs do you know where, at the end of the week, they don’t want to leave?” Mann said.
For her, the goal isn’t awards or billboards — though she wouldn’t mind a “Minnesota’s Best” nod someday. It’s simpler than that.
“I just want to exist happily with our incredible community,” she said, “and keep supporting in all the ways that we can.”
If you go:
Tease Salon
696 West 7th
651-292-0029
You can vote for Tease Salon at votemnbest.com now.
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