City salon has a style all its own

CUT ABOVE THE REST: Christiaan Salon and Day Spa has been a staple of Providence’s small-business community for nearly 30 years. Pictured above are owners Bill Oates and Sheri Petrarca, right, with co-manager Tasha Regine. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
CUT ABOVE THE REST: Christiaan Salon and Day Spa has been a staple of Providence’s small-business community for nearly 30 years. Pictured above are owners Bill Oates and Sheri Petrarca, right, with co-manager Tasha Regine. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Sure, being surrounded by beautiful women is nice, says Bill Oates, founder and co-owner of Christiaan Salon & Day Spa. But that’s not the only reason he became a dedicated hair-styling enthusiast.
He was first exposed to the industry in his mother’s former salon, the Powder Puff Beauty Shoppe, which was in operation in Wayland Square many years ago.
“I was almost born in the salon and that was my introduction to hairdressing,” said Oates, now 74. “It’s just a lot of fun to be around those women.”
He’s talking about the hair stylists he employs now at Christiaan, on Providence’s historic Benefit Street, where he relocated from his original Thayer Street location in 1994. He turned over most of the day-to-day operations to his daughter and business partner, Sheri Petrarca.
The whole thing really started – based on Oates’ early love for his mother’s shop – after he studied chemistry at Providence College and worked for a few years in that industry in the early 1960s.
“I can get bored and I didn’t really like it and thought maybe I could do hairdressing,” Oates said. “I was good with my hands and good with people.”
After studying hairdressing at the former Angelo’s Beauty Academy, he opened the House of Taber in East Greenwich in the late 1960s and ran it successfully for a few years before getting bored yet again and took off for New York City to work for Vidal Sassoon, the world-famous hair stylist who was at the time, Oates said, leading somewhat of a fashion and styling revolution.
Through his work there, he became friends with Christiaan Houtenbos, who already was making a name for himself freelancing as a stylist for photo shoots for such publications as Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. When Houtenbos, a Dutchman, said he wanted to return to Amsterdam and open up a salon there to be near family, Oates didn’t need much convincing.
Starting in 1971, the partners ran Christiaan’s as a small salon while Oates “fell in love with Amsterdam.” But about a year later he decided he would like another change and decided to return to Providence to settle down.
Opening his doors on Thayer Street was an easy decision. “Nobody was doing [cutting-edge] hair really in New England and up on Thayer was the only place you could do it because it was so new,” Oates said. “We needed to open there and it worked right away.”
Oates eventually opened satellite Christiaan locations in East Greenwich and in Newport, both of which he has since closed.
By the time the Providence business was ready to move, Petrarca had been working for her father for about eight years, starting as an assistant in the mid-1980s while she studied hairdressing at what at the time was Costin’s Hairdressing School.
Of course, she really had been at the salon much longer, getting nearly stranded there during the Blizzard of ’78 when Oates was living above the salon. When he reopened two days after the snow stopped, Petrarca started working the reception desk. She was 11 years old.
“[My father] didn’t train me. That was a little intimidating, but I learned everything I know from him, especially the business end of it,” Petrarca said. “My dad was very fun to watch. I envisioned us being a little different in terms of doing more things that just hair to keep up with the competition, so it was part of my idea to move and Bill and I made it happen together. We’re a very good team that way.”
Once on Benefit Street, the duo added an esthetician and nail technician to their staff, as well as a regular receptionist.
Petrarca’s daughter, Tasha Regine, who at the time was 12, also started working the desk on Saturdays. Regine, now 28, is now one of Christiaan’s estheticians.
The salon recently hired a massage therapist and Petrarca said the goal is to keep the reputation Christiaan’s has had for nearly 40 years while continuing to offer clients additional services as they become popular.
The focus day-to-day is to create a family-like atmosphere that makes clients feel at home, including offering coffee or tea as soon as they walk in the door.
Petrarca has had some clients coming to her for 20 years.
“We really focus on customer service and we really try to take care [of clients],” she said. “We’re sort of a family here. We have a loyal clientele.” •COMPANY PROFILE
Christiaan Salon and Day Spa
Owners: Bill Oates and Sheri Petrarca
Type of Business: Hair salon and day spa
Location: 4 Benefit St., Providence
Employees: 14
Year Established: 1973
Annual Sales: WND

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