Beauty With Grace is a hair and beauty salon on Westminster Street in St Albans, Christchurch, opened in 2022 as part of a two-salon family that also includes a sister location in Rolleston. The St Albans salon covers the full spectrum — hair cuts, colour and smoothing treatments, facials and skin care, waxing and threading, brows and lashes, nails, massage, men's services, and occasion makeup and hair styling — all under the one mission the owners describe as enhancing natural beauty with grace and sophistication.
The salon works with professional product lines including Schwarzkopf Professional, L'Oréal Professionnel and Kérastase for hair, and Dermalogica for skin. A defining feature is the free 15-minute hair consultation offered before any colour or smoothing treatment, where the team assesses your hair, gives honest advice on what will and won't work, and quotes before you commit. Smoothing is a particular specialty, with Hair Botox, keratin treatments and nanoplasty on offer, plus a published guide comparing the three.
The salon's reputation rests on verified bookings rather than open forms: a 4.9 rating across more than 2,132 Fresha bookings and 275 Google reviews, recognised with three Fresha awards — Highly Recommended in 2023 and 2025, and Best in Class in 2026. It is open seven days a week with late nights to 8pm Wednesday to Friday, offers free parking, and accepts Afterpay in-salon.
Beauty With Grace opened in 2022 with a simple idea: one friendly salon where Christchurch locals could look after their hair, skin, nails and beauty without any hard sell. The team now works across two locations — this salon at 2/95 Westminster Street in St Albans, and a sister salon on Tibbotts Drive in Rolleston — but the founding mission hasn't changed: enhancing natural beauty with grace and sophistication, and tailoring every service to the individual sitting in the chair.
The practical details are thought through. The St Albans salon is open seven days a week, keeps late nights to 8pm from Wednesday to Friday, and has free parking at the door. Inside, the tone is warm rather than clinical — reviewers describe appointments that "felt like chatting to a friend" in a "clean, professional" space with a friendly atmosphere.
Colour work is a genuine strength. Balayage clients repeatedly describe consultations where a stylist talked through the shades, asked the right questions and steered them away from the wrong choice. "She helped me pick the perfect shade… honestly the best colour and experience I have had so far," one client wrote after a balayage with stylist Pia.
That consult-first approach is formalised at the salon: before any colour or smoothing treatment, you can book a free 15-minute hair consultation, where the team looks at your hair, tells you honestly what will and won't work, and quotes the job before you commit to anything. Products are professional-grade throughout — Schwarzkopf Professional and L'Oréal Professionnel for colour, Kérastase for premium haircare, and Dermalogica for skin.
Smoothing and repair treatments are a specialty in their own right, and the salon is unusually upfront about the differences. Hair Botox leans towards deep repair for tired, damaged hair; keratin treatments tame frizz; nanoplasty is the modern route to long-lasting sleekness. A dedicated comparison guide on the website — and the free consultation alongside it — means the choice is made on your hair's condition rather than a sales pitch. Clients who have had treatments report hair that "looks and feels so much healthier, shinier, and refreshed".
The beauty side is broad. Facials span HydraFacial and Korean-style facials, facial massage therapies, and brightening and lightening treatments, with Dermalogica as the professional skincare line. Hair removal covers waxing and threading, while the brows and lashes menu includes eyelash extensions and lash lift and tint — a service one reviewer praised, noting with approval that the salon has private treatment rooms. Nail services, massage, and makeup and hair styling for occasions round out the menu: clients have booked the team for school formals and fortieth birthdays alike, and reviewers mention massage-and-facial combinations that left them relaxed and glowing. The signature Beauty With Grace Package bundles hair and beauty into a single visit, and there is a dedicated men's services menu too.
Awards can be vague things, but this salon's are unusually verifiable. Its three Fresha awards — Highly Recommended in 2023, Highly Recommended in 2025 and Best in Class in 2026 — are based on reviews, ratings and reliability from completed appointments on the Fresha booking platform, not open feedback forms. The 4.9 rating behind them comes from 2,132 verified Fresha bookings, alongside a 4.9 average from 275 Google reviews. The same names recur in what clients write — Pia for colour, treatments, massage and facials, Pam for formal hair and makeup, Sandy for nails — alongside words like "professional", "friendly" and "relaxing".
The St Albans salon sits at 2/95 Westminster Street with free parking outside, and opens seven days a week — the Wednesday-to-Friday late nights to 8pm are handy for anyone who can't make a daytime appointment. Afterpay is available in-salon, interest-free across four payments. Appointments can be booked online through Fresha or by calling 03 420 0481. If you are based south of the city, the sister Rolleston salon at 7 Tibbotts Drive covers the beauty, skin and nails side of the menu.