If a customer is in the mood for a perm, style or coloring job, a salon is probably more suitable. Hair salons highlight the Square, including About Hair, Gino, Diego at the Loft and Salon Gaia.

For a little extra money, a salon will offer a complete scalping experience which can involve a consultation, a massage, a shampoo, the cut and a finishing rinse.

The key difference, the stylists say, is the consultation. At About Hair, hidden on Arrow Street, Weston says the consultation involves a thorough examination of the clients life.

"We ask 'How do you like to wear your hair? What do you do? How much time do you spend on your hair?'" Weston says.

This probing into the personal habits of a customer has become increasingly common at salons. In fact, Salon Gaia, located on Mt. Auburn Street, even has a stylist who doubles as a card reader to foretell the futures of interested customers.

Yvonne Bonaccorso and her sister, Dolores, established Salon Gaia more than three years ago. The salon is staffed by four stylists, including Elena Mukhaelyan who reads the future from regular playing cards in what is described as a Russian Gypsy style. Yvonne Bonaccorso says that the readings are remarkably accurate.

"She is always right," she says. "But, you have to be open minded and not expect miracles."

Customers wishing for a more Euro style frequent the hair salon Gino on Holyoke Street. Each customer is handed a gray smock and then treated to the hair essentials by the Gino's stylists.

Prices at Gino fluctuate between $20 to $40, but Ruotolo, the owner, will design a customer's hair for $60--commonly recognized as the highest price in the Square.

Diego at the Loft is one of the largest salons in the area, with 17 stylists on the second floor of the Galleria.

Although stylists working in Diego at the Loft design the hair of Cambridge resident Susan R. Weld, wife of Governor William F. Weld '66, and allegedly Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstein, members of the staff claim that they are accessible to students.

"Students are about 25 percent of our clientele," says David Orlando, a stylist at Diego. "They are very good customers. Always classic business cuts, nothing too wild."