Envy Salon & Boutique

Envy Salon & Boutique has been a fixture of Opelika’s beauty scene long enough to collect Reader’s Choice Awards in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, along with a top-rated local business badge, and the salon still operates from South Railroad Avenue in the middle of the city’s revitalized historic downtown. Owner Holly Surrency, a Level 9 stylist, built the business into one of the larger independent salons in the Auburn-Opelika area, with more than a dozen stylists on staff working across a tiered system that runs from Level 1 up through Level 9.

That leveling system is worth understanding as a visitor: every stylist at Envy goes through what the salon describes as an extensive training program before being promoted to Level 1, with several on-site and out-of-town educational events held every year. Surrency’s own certifications trace that ladder in miniature: Pureology Specialist in 2010, Redken Specialist in 2011, Redken Certified Colorist in 2013, and Redken Design Certified in 2016, on top of Keratin Complex certification in 2009. Level 8 colorist Crystal Young sits just below her, with Chandler Craft at Level 6 and a group of Level 4 stylists, including Sam Blankenship, Brantley Hill, and Olivia Cox, building toward the top of the ladder. A wider mid-tier group, including Catherine Embert, Krista McCord, Kate Dorsey, and Mary Formby, holds Level 5, Chapman Lewis holds Level 3, and Lucy Davis holds Level 2, while newer stylists such as Lindsay McLaughlin, Emma Buquoi, Mary Kathery Kyser, and Bekah Flowers are building their client base at Level 1. It is a structure that lets first-time clients choose their entry point rather than guessing, whether they are after a simple trim or a full blonding transformation.

Envy is an exclusive Redken salon, also carrying Pureology and L’Oreal, and its service menu leans heavily into color work: balayage, foil highlights, foilage, babylights, and teasy lights sit alongside toning, root work, keratin treatments, and Brazilian Blowout treatments for guests managing frizz or curl in Alabama’s humidity. The salon’s status as a Redken Elite location signals a level of ongoing color education among its staff, which shows up in the range of blonding options on offer, from subtle babylights to full-head transformations. A virtual tour of the space is even posted online, letting prospective clients see the salon floor before they book.

Booking works simply by design: clients call or text the salon directly rather than navigating an online scheduling portal, a small but telling choice for a business that still runs on direct relationships between stylist and client rather than app-based turnover. New clients are typically offered up to $20 off their first visit, an incentive that has helped the salon keep building its client base even as national chains have opened along the Tiger Town corridor outside the city core. A credit card is required to reserve an appointment, and the salon’s policies are specific about the cost of no-shows: a missed appointment is charged the full cost of the reserved service, while a cancellation with less than eight hours’ notice is charged at half the service cost.

Because Envy operates on that strict cancellation and no-show policy, appointments booked here are appointments the stylists are holding time for, not filler slots, which tends to translate into a more attentive, less rushed chair experience. Office manager Resi Heck and salon coordinator Erin Gray help keep that scheduling running behind the scenes. For visitors to downtown Opelika looking for a full-service salon within walking distance of the shops and restaurants along Railroad Avenue, Envy Salon & Boutique offers both the convenience of a large team and the accountability of an independently owned shop where the person who owns the business is often the person doing the cutting and coloring.