East Coast Salon Services roots began in 1944 with Stanley H. Kletkewicz and his partners running a small distribution shop attached to Maison de Paris – the first beauty school in NJ. Garden State Beauty supply, as it was then called, had only two desks and one station wagon and serviced only NJ salons.

In 1944… Cassablanca won Best Film at the Oscars. FDR was president. And Allies invaded Normandy on D-Day, setting forth a major change in the momentum of World War 2.

Women’s hair styles favored rolls and waves with hair pulled back from the face. Many hair products and supplies like bobby pins were hard to come by due to war time restrictions. Only the wealthiest women could afford salon visits and services like perms. Since straight hair was extremely unfashionable, women made do with DIY tools at home, like scarves and rags, to set their curls and hide hair that was less than freshly washed.

After the war ended, hair products and cosmetics became much more readily available, and opened up the floodgates for more women to invest time and money in their beauty products and local salons. And for this, we could not be more grateful.

Through the countless changes in trends, technology, science, and fashion, we are so proud to still be in business 75 years later. While this industry and resources are constantly changing, we are proud to morph and grow with our customers, trying our best to provide quality products and services to our salons.

We are humbled and proud, and want to say a big thank you to all the employees, customers, and manufacturer partners who have been a part of our family over the past ¾ of a century!