Kate Lee Boutique Salon is an owner-operated hair salon on Papanui Road in Merivale, Christchurch, where every appointment is with Kate Lee herself. Trained in South Korea through a five-year course in hair styling and design, and with nearly 25 years in the industry, Kate brings an international standard of cut and colour work to a relaxed neighbourhood salon.
The service list covers the full range of haircare: women's, men's and children's haircuts, colour, permanent waves, permanent straightening, treatments, blow drys, special occasion hair and hair extensions. Kate's client base is diverse but discerning — locals alongside clients of many nationalities, women and men, young and old — and many have been coming to her for years, knowing they will leave looking and feeling amazing.
The salon occupies Shop 3 at 184 Papanui Road, with free car parking at the rear off St Albans Street. It is open Tuesday to Friday, with a late night on Thursday, and appointments outside standard hours can be made by special arrangement. All major credit cards are accepted.
A boutique salon with an international apprenticeship
On Papanui Road in Merivale, a short distance from central Christchurch, Kate Lee Boutique Salon runs on a simple premise: when you book in, you see the owner. Kate Lee cuts, colours and styles every client herself, drawing on a career that began in Seoul and now spans nearly 25 years and four countries.
Kate's foundations were laid in her country of birth, South Korea. Straight out of college she commenced a five-year training course in hair styling and design — a programme regarded as one of the most comprehensive and demanding of its type in the world. It was a fitting education for a city like Seoul, widely acknowledged as a world leader in style and fashion and arguably as obsessed with personal image as any city on earth. Working in the commercial heart of that city, Kate dreamed of one day owning her own business in the industry she loved and excelled in.
Wanderlust came first. Still young and eager to broaden her horizons personally and professionally, Kate left Seoul on her OE, working first in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and then for a year in downtown Vancouver, Canada. She arrived in New Zealand in 2009 and soon realised this would be her adopted country, enrolling in English language classes to help her integration into a very different culture and lifestyle.
In 2014 the dream came true: Kate purchased the existing business of Pia Hair Studio from its retiring owner, Peter Baretta, and Kate Lee Boutique Salon was born. Those who know her testify to her strong work ethic, and through determination she has seen the business prosper and grow ever since.
The service menu is deliberately complete. There are women's, men's and children's haircuts; colour work; permanent waves and permanent straightening; conditioning treatments; blow drys; special occasion hair; and hair extensions. Whether a client wants a routine trim or a complete transformation, the same experienced hands do the work.
Clients frequently note Kate's depth of knowledge across all hair types — no small thing in a salon whose regulars include, as the website puts it, "an interesting mix of many nationalities". Women and men, young and old, all come for the same reason: they know that Kate Lee will make them look and feel amazing by the time they leave.
The salon's reputation is built less on advertising than on what clients say afterwards. Alison Wright calls her cut simply "the best haircut I have had, ... ever". Wendy McLay always leaves "feeling glamorous" — not to mention the frequent compliments on her hair. Jenna Thomson is "extremely happy" and wishes she had found Kate earlier; Margaret Huang has "never had so many compliments about my hair"; Phillip Lee marvels that "she's very clever, I can't believe what she's done for me".
Long-time client Linda Frampton perhaps sums it up best: "I have absolute faith and trust in Kate's ability to colour and style my hair. I have never left the salon ever feeling disappointed." She adds that Kate's international experience reassures her that the salon will keep up with current trends.
The salon is at Shop 3, 184 Papanui Road, Merivale, and opens Tuesday to Friday from 9am, closing at 5pm — except on Thursdays, when it stays open until 7pm for after-work appointments. It is closed Mondays, Saturdays and Sundays, though appointments outside these hours can be made by special arrangement. Bookings can be made by phone on 03 355 0375 or 021 240 8410.
Parking is easy: there is free car parking at the rear, accessed off St Albans Street — look for the signs displaying 184 Papanui Road or 7 St Albans Street. All major credit cards are accepted.
For anyone in Christchurch after a stylist who treats hair as a craft — with a Korean-trained eye, a quarter-century of practice and a genuinely personal touch — the chair at Kate Lee Boutique Salon is waiting.