Hovering above the 18th and L Street corridor like a radiant crystal amulet is an oasis of beauty, style and art. Amithyst Salon, located at 1124 18th St., serves as a haven of sorts, offering its clientele a respite from split ends, graying locks, and even bare walls.

While the fledgling salon has been in operation for only three and a half months; it already has two Second Saturdays under its belt and legions of loyal clients jockeying for position in the schedule book, its young proprietor, Amithyst Bailey, 28, of El Dorado Hills, looks poised for success.

"On an average day I have four to six clients a day," Bailey says. "The money is good, but I don't do it for the money."

Thanks, in part, to a massive picture widow that looks out onto the street below, the salon is a bright, sunny, slice of lime green with splashes of eggplant. The walls, adorned with canvases displaying art work for sale and photographs of glamorous women bearing Bailey's artistic hair creations, reveal Bailey's interest in all things creative.

With the local economy slowly rebounding and some clients going longer between appointments, Bailey remains optimistic about succeeding in her new venture.

"Today I just got a message from a lady that I haven't seen in like probably a year and she wants to come back and get her hair cut," Bailey says. "They always come back."

This is an investment the self-professed hair architect was seemingly destined to make.

"I always did people's hair,” Bailey says. "Since I was little I would brush my mom's hair and my grandmother's hair and they'd pay me. Then [I did] friends' hair through high school and then I finally just decided to go to cosmetology school."

While a formal education wasn't in the cards, her instruction in hair didn't suffer; in 1999 she left school to accept an apprenticeship at Rowena & Takashi in her home town.

"Rowena was a Vidal Sassoon instructor so I wanted to learn from her," Bailey says. "To get paid and to have that kind of training is like unheard of."

After Rowena & Takashi, Bailey moved on to Tripoli in Carmichael before heading on to midtown's Lush and Spanish Fly Hair Garage salons respectively, where she ultimately became the creative art director for the latter.

"I did all of their events and fashion shows and photo shoots," Bailey says.

Carefully flat ironing a client’s long, curly locks, Bailey’s porcelain skin glistens as sunlight pours in from the large window next to her station. She is in her element as steam billows from between the client’s fiery red mane and the apparatus employed to remove all its curl.

With professional accomplishments ranging from styling hair for professional photo shoots and fashion shows, to catering to a devout clientele, Bailey also looks forward to rebuilding her professional portfolio.

"I just don't want to go on a photo shoot and do hair,” Bailey says. "I want to be in charge of helping choose the models, helping choose the stylists and the actual wardrobe."

While she had much of this creative freedom at her previous place of employment, Bailey decided to go out on her own after five years with the Lush-Spanish Fly salon group.

"It wasn't planned," Bailey says. "It just kind of happened because it was time I guess. I was getting bored [and] I was waiting for the next thing to happen."

With the assistance of her architect-cum-contractor father, and her always-supportive mother, the salon was up and running within two and a half weeks of its inception.

"All of my clients are excited for me," Bailey says. "People are rebooking, people are sending in their friends. Everybody's excited for me."

The flame-haired client ultimately emerges from the steamy confines of the flatiron, departing with a hug and a smile she runs her fingers through her silky, freshly straightened locks.

“Clients love it here,” Bailey says. "It's just personal and more exclusive. That's the good part about having your own place; you have more control over pampering your clients in a better way."

While Bailey revels in the new space, managing the daily business of a salon has taken time, patience and the addition of another pair of hands in the form of her first employee, and fellow hair architect, Karli.

"I took laundry for granted, I took dishes for granted," Bailey says. "Even maintaining the cleanliness [of the salon], taking out the trash, having product there to sell, it isn't easy."

While she is currently in the process of building a team that incorporates hair design, make-up; she's still on the hunt for an artist, and photography by boyfriend Ryan Brett Puckett, Bailey also looks to the future.

"I'm starting my whole [portfolio] book over," Bailey says. "I am going to start brand new, build my book then get an agent and hopefully that will connect me to better jobs in print."

While she aspires to work with those in the editorial and fashion worlds, Bailey's primary focus is the salon and building its reputation.

"I want people to know that they should come in and get their hair done, have some chocolate and sip some champagne," Bailey says. "And spy on people [on the street] from my window."