In Beverly Hills, the Salisbury native owned three salons and has been stylist for the likes of Michael Douglas, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Conrad and Richard Simmons.

When he came home about 10 years ago, he opened Gene Mitchell Hair Design on Fisher Street.

Now, he’s taken a leap of faith in a different direction, opening Carolina Image Center, a day spa, which is a business he says he knew little about at first.

“Salisbury’s coming of age … and a full-service salon is something Ithink Salisbury is ready for,” he explains.

When he decided to abandon his Fisher Street salon location, Mitchell left the styling business in favor of the beauty supply business for a while.

As a salesman, he “began to notice a lot of salons were wiping out part of their chair portion and going into the spa business. And spas have really taken off and they’re doing well. That’s when Idecided, ‘That’s what Iought to be doing.’”

Instead of opening the salon-spa then, though, he opened Gene Mitchell’s Hair Design and Hair Replacementnear Salisbury Mall.

“But my dad and I saw a need for a full-service salon,”says Dawn Georgy, Mitchell’s daughter and CIC’s office manager and hairstylist. “Ihad a lot of wedding clients who were telling me they were running everywhere to get all their services done and were going nuts.”

Mitchell admits that, although the idea for the salon-spa had been on his mind for about five years, his specialty was hairstyling.

A client of his wanted to buy the land next to the salon, and Mitchell asked that he build a spa for him in the process. A few months later, Mitchell was finally made an offer for space.

“It was a little bit too fast and Ireally didn’t know enough about the spa business yet,” he says. “Ididn’t have enough key people, but Iwent ahead and committed and Iput a billboard up in June.”

Mitchell put up the billboard in June because the spa was supposed to open in August, but more preparation delayed the opening. Faith in God, though, increased his determination.

“What made me really commit to this is a scripture where Jesus comes to the fishermen and tells them to go out into the deep water and cast their nets. And, in essence, Peter says to Him, ‘We’ve done our fishing, but we’ve failed so many times.’ And that’s how I felt. Like, ‘Lord, I feel like this is what you want me to do, but I’ve failed so many times,’ and Ikept getting the message that this is what I was supposed to do.”

The first message came after he asked Dawn to request a telephone number for the spa that had the word “spa”in it.

“I had to go somewhere and, when I came back, she told me that the number already had ‘spa’ in it. We didn’t even have to change the phone number. So Iknew that was the sign.”

The other sign was prompted by the billboard that Mitchell posted in the summer. That’s when Gayle Praechtl inquired about a job as an aesthetician.

Praechtl is originally from Ontario, Canada but “business was good here”for her husband, so she ended up looking for a job in Salisbury.

“I know that my name is associated with hairstyling and not the day spa business,”Mitchell says, “and Gayle knows so much about this business. I believe that God sent her because He knew I needed somebody.”

So, after the salon’s opening on Oct. 6, the spa opened Nov. 15 with Praechtl on board.

She studied the philosophy of art and beauty at the French School of Aesthetics and then learned the art of Swedish, shiatsu, reflexology and other massage techniques at the Rocky Mountain Healing Arts Institute.

“I studied and trained in Toronto, so my background is very European and I just felt that everything you can do for the face you can do for the body,”she explains. “And there was a real lack of knowledge on how to really treat the skin for the entire body. So I went to massage school and I mixed together the European technique … with a variety of different approaches to body healing.”

On the opposite side of the salon, Praechtl puts her subtle techniques to work.

Aromatherapy candles give a soft glow to a private room where she will give a stone therapy massage using heated stones radiating warmth for deep relaxation. Knowledge of herbology allows her to mix the right natural ingredients to help relieve a client’s congestion that has manifested itself on the face in the form of acne. Or she will predict neck and back problems with only her hands through reflexology while giving a pedicure.

“With my background, Iadd a holistic approach to the salon,” says Praechtl, whose own skin has obviously reaped the benefits of her expertise. “I try to customize according to the client’s needs, condition of their skin and health, and I’ll change the program to suit the client. And that’s what being holistic means: It’s taking a look at all aspects of your being and trying to balance it and maximize your health.”

Together, Mitchell and Praechtl have created a full-service salon and spa designed to cater to clients’ physical and metaphysical bodies. They employ Lisa Sloop, cosmetologist and aesthetician; and Laci Compton and Anatoliy Mayev, massage therapists.

“We use all-botanical products by Yonka, and we do touch on diet and nutrition and the importance of all those things,” Praechtl says. But she encourages clients to maintain their health and beauty instead of waiting to make visits to the spa — similar to the way Europeans are trained to take care of themselves.

“It’s a lifestyle approach,”explains the aesthetician. “I think in the United States, they’re very consumed with the quick fix, wanting to fix it overnight, waiting until you have a problem and then want to fix it instead of starting preventative medicine. I think that’s why all the plastic surgeons are doing so well and are busy here.”

Carolina Image Center’s services include everything from laser light therapy, manicures and pedicures to dermabrasion and detoxifying treatments. The salon/spa also offers gift certificates for services, such as the “Bed of Roses” massage, and special packages tailored for both men and women.

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