It’s mid-day at The Gaudet Bros. salon’s new location at 4556 Government St.
Johnny Cash is playing over the speakers. A retired greyhound named Tavi is lying on a rug next to a small lounge area.
“We’re not a barber shop,” owner Micah Nickens says. “We’re a salon.”
In his six years in Baton Rouge, the former 225 Person to Watch has seen the dynamic of his shop change.
Nickens moved to this new location in early 2015 after a brief period in the showroom of Denicola’s Furniture & Upholstery. Before that, his shop was located at Perkins Road and Terrace Avenue for three years but had to close due to parking disputes with neighbors. Last year, he set up a second location in New Orleans’ Marigny district.
With each move, The Gaudet Bros. has grown more into a community-minded salon where customers can hang out and have a glass of whiskey.
“The main purpose is to make people feel comfortable,” Nickens says. “We’re not about offering crazy amenities. I don’t play dumb music. I don’t have celebrity magazines. I want people to sit down and relax.”
The no-frills, blue-collar attitude to hair styling was instilled in Nickens since childhood. The St. Amant native’s mother had a hair styling shop attached to her house.
“If you’ve ever seen the movie Steel Magnolias, I basically grew up in that movie,” he says.
After graduating the Aveda Institute 10 years ago, Nickens honed his focus to giving the customers what they want, rather than treating hair as a canvas.
“I think a lot of hairstylists go wrong by trying to be artists instead of knowing you’re a provider and doing what people want,” he says. “It’s not about being a rock ‘n’ roll artist. It’s a craft. It’s math and geometry. That’s what’s attractive to me.” gaudetbros.com
