Man Cave a salon for guys

By Polly Keary, Editor

As spas go, the decor is a bit unusual.

There are hub caps, license plates, sports memorabilia and pinup girls on the walls. The coffee table is made of truck tires, and there’s a pool table in the center of it all.

It’s the Man Cave, Monroe’s first “man spa,” and it offers guys a place to get everything from a buzz cut to a back wax in an environment that’s all boy.

The business is the old Sports Cuts, and when that business closed last September, stylist Jan Woolery took it over and reopened it under its new name.

“I was still here when it closed, and I had clientele, and my clients said, ‘you need to buy it,’” said Woolery, who still has a trace of her native Scottish accent. “And I duded the heck out of it.”

Her clients enthusiastically pitched in, gathering items such as an electric guitar, taxidermy animals and oversized beer bottles to put up around the place.

But in amongst the manly objets d’art, there are amenities not found in old-fashioned barber shops. In a small room off the main room is a row of shampoo stations. And another small room is a place to get a shave or an above-the-belt-only wax.

That’s the point, says Woolery. It’s a place where guys can get modern and comfortable services in a place that is strictly guys-only.

It’s a great option, said client Kyle Nowadnick of Snohomish, who came in Friday for a quick cut.

“They specialize in guys’ haircuts and I can walk in and not have to worry about like, the smell of perms or anything like that,” he said. “There’s sports memorabilia on the walls, and a friendly atmosphere, too.”

And there are processes that are uniquely for-men; for example, the stylists at the Man Cave can get rid of grey with a quick five-minute hair treatment.

“You don’t have to sit there for half an hour with a cap on,” said Woolery.

The stylists are also all specialists in men’s styles.

The Justin Beiber long bowl cut is on the way out, they said, and faux-hawks and caesar cuts (short on the sides with the front pushed up with a bit of product) are in, they said.

And they do all the traditional male cuts, as well, meaning they have clientele of all generations.

“Dads come in with sons, and we have grandpas coming in, too,” said Woolery.

It’s worth planning a trip around a cut, said Nowadnick. He lives in Snohomish but when he’s coming to Monroe, he makes sure he gets in to the Man Cave.

“I had some meetings in Monroe today, so I got two things done and out of my way,” he said, checking out his new sharp cut.

And then he went back for a shampoo.

The Man Cave is located in Monroe on U.S. Highway 2, next to J. R. Phinickey’s at 18960 U.S. 2, Suite 130.