We didn't open a salon. We opened a bar.
Before you learn our systems, services and standards, start with the idea that made SOAK different in the first place.
The beauty industry forgot the experience.
Somewhere along the way, salons became factories. You booked online. You arrived. You were processed. You left. The result was fine. The experience was forgotten the moment you walked out the door.
The industry optimised for throughput — more clients, faster turnover, less room. Appointments became errands. Nobody asked why.
“When did caring for yourself start feeling like another thing to get done?”
What if beauty felt more like your favourite bar?
Nobody was asking the question out loud, but a lot of people were feeling it. We didn't open a salon. We opened a bar.
The idea was simple: what if a beauty appointment felt more like going to your favourite bar? What if it was social? What if the space was somewhere you actually wanted to be? What if, for the time you were there, there was genuinely nowhere better to be?
That question became a business plan. The business plan required a liquor licence. And that licence would make SOAK something no beauty business in Victoria had ever been before.
From Chapel Street to Sydney.
Victoria's first licensed beauty bar.
SOAK Bar + Beauty opened at 657 Chapel Street with a full cocktail, wine and champagne menu, a 15-metre natural stone manicure counter, beauty rooms and a team from across the world. The fitout looked more like a glamorous bar than a beauty salon — deliberately. SOAK wasn't trying to fit into an existing category. The category didn't exist yet.
People understood it immediately.
Fridays and Saturdays booked out in weeks. Groups hired the space. Regulars had drink orders on file. They brought colleagues, returned on weekends and started calling it their place.
Same standard. Different light.
SOAK opened its second location at 5 Ormond Road. Elwood wasn't a copy of South Yarra. It was designed to feel like it had always belonged to the suburb — slower, coastal and more serene. Same bar. Same standard. Same considered welcome. An entirely different room.
The next chapter.
The concept is expanding because it works — and because the question that started SOAK in 2019 still has more answers left in it. Sydney brings the SOAK experience into the MYER Beauty Hall at Pitt Street and introduces the concept to a new city.
Two Melbourne locations. One standard.
South Yarra and Elwood are different in pace, light and personality — but both deliver the same considered beauty experience and fully licensed bar.
Our team spans more than 30 nationalities. Casual artists have grown into leaders and shareholders. People who were here on day one are still here, building what comes next.
Not values on a wall. Daily decisions.
Thoughtful choices.
We bulk order to reduce packaging and delivery emissions, operate as paperlessly as possible, and prioritise refillables, recycling and lower-waste options where we can.
People first.
Beauty is for every body. Our team represents more than 30 countries, with inclusive hiring, flexible schedules, tailored roles, ongoing development and genuine career progression.
Trust matters.
We believe in fair pay, accountability and privacy. The integrity behind the scenes should match the experience guests receive on the floor.
You're part of what's next.
SOAK was never meant to stay in one neighbourhood. It was always meant to become a category — a new way of thinking about beauty, hospitality and the time people spend on themselves.
If you're joining SOAK Sydney, you aren't stepping into a finished story. You're one of the people who will shape the next chapter.
Continue to Our Values →