What do you get when you combine a hair salon with an art gallery? D-Zine, an alternative place on the Loop, has answered this very question with its unique atmosphere and services.

While it functions primarily as a hair salon, D-Zine, which offers services starting at $24, doesn’t just limit its focus on aesthetics to hair. D-Zine also serves as an art gallery that shows contemporary work by artists around St. Louis.

When owner Denise Edgar opened D-Zine, she was concerned with the scarcity of venues in St. Louis for contemporary artists to have their work shown. She used D-Zine to create a space where local contemporary artists could potentially sell their work.

When she first started the gallery, Edgar invited Washington University undergraduates and professors to show their work in the space. While her selection process has since become more rigid, many of the works displayed in D-Zine still come from people associated with Wash. U. In fact, two Wash. U. graduates, Carol Carter and Bonnie Murray, currently have work being shown at D-Zine.

Although St. Louis has developed more spaces for contemporary art since the conception of D-Zine, the salon still offers the unique opportunity to have one’s work seen and potentially bought by an audience that otherwise wouldn’t walk into a gallery. Some people do go to D-Zine specifically to see the work shown there, but most of the customers at the salon are there for hair-related services.

Edgar sees the salon as an opportunity to educate and inform people about contemporary art. People come into the salon for their hair appointment and end up asking questions about the art on the walls. After all, unlike the corporate art in other businesses, the work at D-Zine is unique and demands attention. Even when customers express their dislike for the work, Edgar sees it as an opportunity to spread acceptance of contemporary art, if only by mere exposure.

So what is the process of getting your work shown at D-Zine? Give the salon a call, ask to speak to Denise Edgar, and set up an interview. Edgar typically looks for artists who have a developed body of work and who have shown their work before. Showing at D-Zine is a good deal: unlike other galleries, which typically charge 50 percent commission (or more) on any works sold, D-Zine only takes 30 percent.

In fact, Edgar mentioned that she had recently been at the house of a customer of the salon, and she noticed that every piece of artwork on the walls of the home had at some point been shown at D-Zine. It was real evidence that she had succeeded: She had opened at least one woman’s eyes to a world which she would otherwise probably not have seen or known about.

Even if you aren’t interested in buying or viewing art but just want a decent haircut, you won’t be disappointed by D-Zine. In fitting with the artistic side of the salon, Edgar makes it a priority to have stylists who, in addition to all the necessary skills, have an extra creative flair and a modern sensibility. So whether you come for the haircuts or for the artwork, check out the creative mixture that is D-Zine.