Niki Ruscio

Cherry Creek, and everything after

Niki started her career in Cherry Creek at Blondies — a busy, color-heavy salon that taught her formulation the hard way: fast, in front of clients, with no room to fake it. She has been doing hair professionally for more than twenty years since.

Somewhere in the first few years, color took over. She liked the problem-solving of it: why one blonde goes brassy and another doesn't, how to make brunette look like glass, how to cover gray without turning someone's hair into a flat helmet. That curiosity is still the reason she's good at it.

How she works

Niki works one-on-one in her own suite at The Collective in Centennial. There's no front desk, no assistant finishing your color, and no one waiting for your chair. It's quiet, it's private, and your appointment is yours.

Every service starts with a conversation about your hair, your skin tone, your natural texture and — most importantly — how much upkeep you actually want. A look that needs a salon visit every five weeks is a great look for some people and a terrible fit for others. She'd rather find that out before she mixes color.

She's also honest when something isn't a one-appointment job. Going blonde from dark box color, undoing years of banding, planning extensions — those get a real plan and a real timeline instead of a hopeful afternoon.

What she specializes in

• Lived-in color with a soft grow-out
• Dimensional blondes — bright, creamy, or natural
• Dimensional brunettes with depth and shine
• Balayage and highlights and lowlights
• Gray coverage, root color, toners and glosses
• Corrective color and complete transformations
• Women's haircuts and tape-in extensions

Her clients

They range from about fifteen to seventy — high schoolers getting their first highlights, women in the middle of the busiest decade of their lives who need hair that takes ten minutes, and long-time clients who've been with Niki through several haircolor eras. A lot of them come from Centennial, Greenwood Village and the DTC, and plenty drive down from Denver or up from Lone Tree.