Swedish Olympians follow Naslund’s lead

Thanks to Markus Naslund, Sweden’s Olympic athletes know where to go in Vancouver for “the ultimate luxury” haircut.

Members of the Swedish women’s hockey team had their hair cut and coloured at Yaletown’s Pink Lime Salon & Spa after watching a TV documentary on Naslund that chronicled the former Canucks superstar’s life in Vancouver.

The camera followed Naslund to his favourite Vancouver spots, including restaurants and hair salon, and featured his two favourite hair stylists – the Pink Lime’s Joseph Jawhari and Joni Abou Jaoude.

“The documentary showed that [Naslund] came here to cut his hair,” says Abou Jaoude.

“Joseph or myself took care of Markus Naslund’s hair. So the Swedish girl recognized me, because she saw me on TV in Sweden.”

Naslund got his hair cut every week to 10 days during the more than a decade he played here, the salon says.

Since the first influx of Swedish hockey players, word has spread at the Olympic Village and “lots” of other male and female Swedes, Italians, Norwegians and Canadian Olympians have been in, he says.

“We made the Swedish women look as sexy as possible,” says Jawhari, who owns the salon.

Many of the current Canuck players, including Alex Burrows, Ryan Kessler and Ryan Johnson, get their hair cut at the Pink Lime. Their autographed jerseys hang along with Naslund’s in the salon.

And there’s more, Jawhari says. He did the hair styling at both Wayne Gretzky’s and Kevin Lowe’s weddings.

Vancouver publicist Laura Ballance is also a big fan.

“Joni does my hair,” said Ballance. “He’s great. He’s the best hairdresser I’ve ever had. He’s an incredible hairdresser.”

And how much does it cost to look like an athlete? A woman’s haircut is $75 (cut, wash and blow dry), colour $125 to $175. A men’s haircut is $42, colour $60.