M & A Hair Studio is a small boutique salon in the heart of Hokowhitu, Palmerston North, serving hair from its Albert Street address since 2019. The four-person team transforms clients with creative cuts and advanced colouring techniques, with specialities in balayage, colour corrections and bright colours — alongside bridal hair and tape-in extensions for any type of occasion.
The service menu goes well beyond a standard trim. Alongside barber-style clipper cuts, designer haircuts and full restyle transformations, the salon offers toner and gloss services, K18 bond-repair treatments, keratin smoothing blowouts, Wella Smooth Filler de-frizzing treatments, perms, permanent straightening, lash and brow tinting and occasion styling. There are dedicated services for seniors, students and even pre-schoolers, so the whole family is covered.
Director and master stylist Molika Chao is the salon's go-to blonde specialist, known for dimensional, seamless balayage and for taking on tricky colour corrections. Senior stylists Soala Wilson and Katie Hutchinson bring classic expertise and fresh, on-trend techniques respectively, while salon assistant Olivia Smith supports the team as she trains toward becoming a stylist.
The salon is open Tuesday through Saturday, with late nights on Wednesday and Thursday, and appointments can be booked online — where you can also choose your stylist — or by phone. As the team puts it: hair lies within the passion of art and creativity, and they would love to meet you.
Tucked into the Hokowhitu side of Palmerston North, M & A Hair Studio is a small boutique salon that has been transforming hair at 346 Albert Street since 2019. Don't let the size fool you: in a few short years this four-person team has built its name on creative cutting and advanced colouring, with balayage, colour corrections and bright colours among the services it's known for.
On the surface it's a neighbourhood salon — the kind of place where senior citizens come in for their regular maintenance cut and pre-schoolers get their first trim — but the service list reads more like a colour studio's. Alongside the haircutting menu you'll find toner and gloss appointments, K18 bond-repair treatments, keratin smoothing blowouts, Wella Smooth Filler de-frizzing services, perms, permanent straightening and tape-in hair extensions. Bridal hair and occasion styling round out the offer, so the salon can take you from an everyday refresh all the way to a full event look.
M & A's heart is in colour. The team specialises in balayage — soft, hand-painted dimension — and takes on colour corrections, the careful multi-step process of rescuing colour that has gone wrong at home or elsewhere. Molika Chao, the salon's director and master stylist, is the go-to blonde specialist and thrives on creating dimensional, seamless balayage. "I enjoy a good sense of humour and with that I am also detail oriented, and don't stop working with your colour until it's perfect," she says.
Every new service starts with a complimentary 15-minute consultation, where a stylist walks you through your inspirations and everything you need to know before any colour is mixed. Once your colour is done, maintenance options keep it looking fresh: a 30-minute toner or gloss to correct tones and boost shine, or the longer Advanced Tone Zone appointment for customised brightness and better longevity between visits. Over-processed hair gets its own rescue plan in the K18 Deluxe treatment, designed to strengthen hair and reverse damage in as little as four minutes.
There are four people in the M & A team. Molika Chao leads as director and master stylist, bringing an artistic, technical eye — and the tape-in extension services she introduced to the salon. Senior stylist Soala Wilson is the classicist of the group: with many years of experience she specialises in classic hairstyles and colours, and is known for detail-oriented care along with practical advice on maintenance and at-home hair care. Katie Hutchinson, also a senior stylist, made the move from Whanganui with eight years of experience and a wealth of fresh, on-trend techniques; her bubbly personality helps set the salon's warm, welcoming tone. Olivia Smith, the salon assistant, supports the senior stylists while she works toward becoming a stylist in her own right — and the emerging stylist menu lets clients book a wash, blow-wave and style with her at an accessible level.
The cutting menu is unusually broad for a small salon. There are barber-style short haircuts and clipper cuts; Designer and Master Designer haircuts that add layers, texture and movement; and full Master Restyle transformations with the director for anyone ready for a major change. Seniors have their own dedicated barber and style cuts on a 4-6 week rhythm, and students are covered from pre-school (ages 1-4) and primary and intermediate years through to high school maintenance cuts.
Frizz-fighting gets serious attention too. Choose from keratin blowout smoothing treatments sized for medium or long hair, a shorter keratin service designed to be done alongside colour without compromising your curls, or Wella Smooth Filler — a demi-permanent smoothing service that tames unruly hair for up to three months and is especially kind to hair that battles humidity. Perms and permanent straightening complete the texture menu, and for balls, weddings and events there's simple and complex up-styling plus bridal hair.
M & A Hair Studio is open Tuesdays from 9am to 5pm, with late nights on Wednesdays and Thursdays until 8pm, Fridays until 6:30pm and Saturdays from 9am to 3pm. The salon is closed Sundays and Mondays. Appointments can be booked online through the salon's Timely booking page — where you can also choose your stylist — or by calling the salon directly, and you can follow their latest work on Instagram and Facebook.
Whether you're after a subtle refresh, a full colour correction, a ball-ready up-do or simply a reliable neighbourhood cut, M & A's blend of boutique attention and advanced colour craft has made it a fixture of Hokowhitu hair since 2019 — and a team that, in its own words, would love to meet you.