Woman with a cropped platinum cut wearing a rainbow pride flag over her shoulder against a dark wall

Chapter 01 — Kern Place, El Paso, TX

LGBTQ+ salon · Kern Place, El Paso

The door's open. Come in.

Cuts, color and rainbow fringes for every gender and every age, in a pink adobe house at the foot of the Franklin Mountains.

How it started

It began on a front porch with one pair of scissors.

In 2014 Inés started cutting hair for friends on her porch in Kern Place, mostly queer kids from UTEP who didn't feel safe in the shops downtown. Word travelled along both sides of the border.

Ten years later the porch is a three-chair salon, bilingual and open to everyone. It's still the kind of place where your chosen name goes on the booking and your abuela is welcome to wait on the couch.

— Inés Calderón (she/ella), founder

Woman with a short blonde bob holding a small rainbow heart

Signature services

What we're known for

Rainbow-dyed fringe and long hair against a pink wall
01

Transformation cut

Long to short, or your first affirming cut, with time to talk it through.

$85
Joyful crowd member in a huge rainbow wig
02

Rainbow fringe

Our most-requested: six shades in the front.

$95
Smiling man with a fresh taper holding a rainbow fan
03

Pride-weekend glitter roots

Only in June. Washes out by Tuesday.

$25

The team

Three chairs, three artists

Inés Calderón, Founder · Cut & color

Inés Calderón

Founder · Cut & color

Inés learned to cut on her tías in Juárez and trained in Austin before coming home to start Open Door. She does the transformation cuts and anything that needs a long conversation first.

  • Transformation cuts
  • Bilingual consults
  • Highlights
Marco Ruelas, Barber & texture

Marco Ruelas

Barber & texture

Marco runs the clipper chair: sharp fades, beard work and curly crops. He's the reason the Saturday line goes out the door.

  • Skin fades
  • Beards
  • Curly crops
Sky Nakamura, Vivid colorist

Sky Nakamura

Vivid colorist

Sky built our rainbow fringe and paints every shade by hand. They are patient with bleach and very strict about aftercare.

  • Rainbow fringe
  • Vivids
  • Bleach & tone

Sample client reviews

Words from the couch

Placeholder reviews for this design — your real Google reviews appear here.

My son got his first rainbow fringe here before his Pride walk. Sky made it a whole celebration. He talks about it every week.
Rosa G.Rainbow fringe
Inés gave me my first short haircut since transitioning and walked me through how to style it. I felt like myself in the mirror for the first time.
Eli V.Transformation cut
Best fade in El Paso, and nobody misgenders anybody. Marco is a craftsman.
Dre M.Short cut
Bilingual, kind and fast. My grandmother and I booked back-to-back and she now refuses to go anywhere else.
Lucía P.Long cut

Visit

The pink house on Stanton

Hours

  • Tue – Fri10a – 7p
  • Sat9a – 5p
  • Sun11a – 4p
  • MonClosed

Sunday afternoons are kept for first-timers, kids and anyone who'd like a quieter salon.

There's a chair with your name on it.

Book online, call, or send a WhatsApp in English or Spanish.