Pursuits: Dream Colors

It’s all about precision and details for hairstylist Jamie Keiko, who owns the Mika Haus salon on South King Street. Clients like Chanel Shigeta-Engleman (below) turn to her to transform their locks with dramatic, head-turning colors. And what they’re asking for has changed a lot since Mika Haus first opened in the middle of the pandemic.

Photos: Aaron K. Yoshino

“During COVID, [clients wanted] natural colors—nothing really crazy,” Keiko says. “I was doing some really low-maintenance browns, and women that I hadn’t seen in a while wanted to become all gray and let it be all natural.”

But with the lockdowns behind us, her customers are now opting for vivid shades. It took six hours for Shigeta-Engleman’s hair to go from jet black to a brilliant fuchsia using techniques Keiko acquired in Japan.

“It’s a very intimate and rewarding experience. I see such a change in their posture and demeanor,” Keiko says, “a confidence that maybe wasn’t there from when they first came in. It’s the most rewarding and gratifying feeling.”