A luxury hair extension salon known for two-hour, same-day installations is opening its first Ohio location at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst this November. Dakota London Hair Extensions will begin serving Ohio clients this fall, bringing a single-service beauty concept that has drawn national attention to the health and beauty district of the Eastside Cleveland lifestyle center.
The new salon will sit at Legacy Village, located at the northwest corner of Richmond and Cedar roads, according to Cleveland.com. Susan Windle, the general manager of Legacy Village, said the property will add Dakota London's hair extension concept to its health and beauty lineup. “Dakota London has built an entire luxury experience around an in-demand beauty service,” Windle said, per the same report.
Gia Paglia, a Mentor, Ohio native, will serve as the local owner and general manager of the new location. Cleveland.com reports Paglia summed up the brand's philosophy simply: “Hair is power.” The Lyndhurst salon will provide personalized service and expert craftsmanship, specializing in high-quality, ethically sourced extensions, and its stylists are trained in advanced extension techniques, the outlet's report notes.
A Compact Concept Built for Speed
Dakota London operates as a luxury hair extension-only salon, distinguishing itself from full-service salons that handle everything from cuts to color. According to Franchise FastLane, the brand runs out of a compact retail footprint of 1,200 to 1,600 square feet and keeps hair inventory in stock, allowing same-day installations in under two hours rather than the multi-week wait times common at traditional salons ordering custom hair. The Lyndhurst location will also come with a 120-day quality guarantee, per Cleveland.com's reporting, and the brand relies on maintenance visits every six to eight weeks to keep clients coming back.
The company aims to make beauty and self-expression accessible through premium extensions at fair prices, Cleveland.com reports. Before its Ohio debut, Dakota London operated three locations in Arizona, and the brand plans to launch 35 new locations across the country over the next two years.
From AZ Strands to a National Franchise Push
Dakota London traces its roots to husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Scott and Katy Cotten, who launched the concept in Arizona under the name AZ Strands before rebranding, according to a PR Newswire release. Katy Cotten drew on training from Manhattan's Long Island Beauty School to build the single-service extension model after previously owning and selling traditional salons, the release states. The company launched its national franchise program in 2025 and partnered with franchise developer Franchise FastLane in January, becoming, per the release, the first salon brand dedicated exclusively to hair extensions to offer franchise opportunities in the United States. Before franchising, the brand operated three corporate-owned salons in Chandler, Phoenix, and Scottsdale, Arizona.
Why Lyndhurst, Why Now
Legacy Village spans more than 600,000 square feet across 67 acres and draws over 4.3 million annual visitors, according to a LoopNet listing. The lifestyle center serves surrounding Eastside Cleveland suburbs, including Shaker Heights, Pepper Pike, and Beachwood, where average household incomes exceed $162,000, the listing notes. That demographic profile helps explain why a luxury beauty brand would choose the property for its Ohio launch.
Legacy Village opened in October 2003 as Northeast Ohio's first open-air lifestyle center, and roughly 60% of its initial retail tenants, including Ohio's first Apple Store and Crate & Barrel, chose the complex to make their statewide debut, Hoodline previously reported. Dakota London's arrival continues that pattern, following other 2026 openings at the center including Magnolia Bakery and the Greek restaurant EVOO.
A Growing Slice of the Beauty Industry
The timing lines up with a broader boom in the hair extension business. The U.S. hair extensions market was valued at $762.58 million in 2025 and is projected to reach $1.34 billion by 2034, growing at a compound annual rate of 6.65%, according to Fortune Business Insights. Social media tutorials and evolving hair fashion trends are cited as major drivers of that growth.
Globally, the hair extensions market reached $4.13 billion in 2025 and is expected to climb to $5.88 billion by 2030, according to a GlobeNewswire report, which frames the growth as part of a broader beauty industry shift toward hyper-specialized retail concepts similar to blowout bars and lash studios.
What Ohio Law Requires of Extension Stylists
Ohio holds hair extension work to a higher regulatory bar than some other beauty services. Professional extension techniques such as wefts, bonding, and fusion require a full cosmetology license from the Ohio State Cosmetology and Barber Board, which entails completing 1,500 hours of approved training and passing state practical and written exams, according to the Brown Aveda Institute. State curricula require 140 core hours focused specifically on hair styling, wigs, and hair additions.
Simple boutique service registrations in Ohio allow non-licensed individuals to perform hair braiding without hourly schooling, but the Ohio State Cosmetology and Barber Board's rules explicitly exclude weaving, bonding, and strand fusion from those boutique exemptions, mandating full cosmetology licensure for extension applications. Ohio also enacted the multistate Cosmetology Licensure Compact under Ohio Revised Code Section 4713.33, which allows licensed cosmetologists from compact member states, including Arizona, to practice in Ohio without completing separate state re-licensure — a detail that could smooth the way for a franchise like Dakota London to bring trained talent across state lines.
