Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Ivanka Trump Went To An Iowa Hair Salon. Now, Its Customers Are Outraged

At Salon Spa W in Des Moines, a gracious environment enhanced with blonde wood and chrome accents, a simple blow-out (a popular hair style that provides volumized hair,) costs $45. If you visit Spa W wishing to achieve a hairstyle like Ivanka Trump, who has (we suspect) double process-dyed hair, which is always immaculately blown out and perfectly trimmed, it will set you back about $224, plus tax and tip. Women who wish to keep up their look repeat this process every four-to-six weeks.

Compared to Manhattan pricing, full hair styling for that cost sounds like chump change. But for Salon Spa W, which has received a barrage of fury from female customers after posting on Facebook about styling Ivanka Trump and Iowa governor Kim Reynolds on Monday, losing customers who pay in the three figures for hair visits is no joke. Since posting an image of the president’s daughter with the comment, “We heart supporting women in politics!”, the spa has dealt with a backlash of criticism as well as support from customers, supposed customers, and bald men who live in other states.

On the Facebook posts, comments came from incensed women like Emmanuel Smith, who wrote, “Do you know how much money I spend at Salon Spa W? I get my nails and hair done there exclusively, and literally have my appointments booked till year’s end. THIS makes me not want to give you another penny, and makes me really REALLY angry for all your amazing LGBTQ staff whose lives these women threaten. Please take this down.”

However, plenty of the 3.4 thousand responses on the original post promise to give Spa W new business, and criticize boycotters. Commenter Jim Sullivan wrote, “All you liberal are a bunch off [sic] butt darts why dont you quit being a bunch of crybaby looser and grow up and act like adults I guarantee if obama walked in to your place you would have it on cnn, msnbc and all the other pathetic news liers showslet alone Facebook.”

And a third type of commenter urged the salon to simply ignore the “butt darts.”

A commenter by the name of Robert Sanford wisely noted, “Don’t get down about it. All the Trump haters posting are either political operatives, communists, Russian Intel, perverts, Elizabeth Warren, or just plain insane.”

The spa added an addendum to their post, which is closer to a defense than an apology. The salon’s owner, China Wong, noted that the spa serves “clients from all walks of life” and has styled former president Barack Obama. But, Wong wrote, “We recognize that impact matters more than intent.”

Whether you’re a liberal butt dart, a 2020 MAGA believer, a pervert, or Elizabeth Warren, you have to admit one thing: Ivanka Trump’s hair looks phenomenal.

And something else, too — the use of Ivanka Trump’s femininity to pit women against women, making excessive wealth appear relatable to the average American woman, is all intentional. And it is a secret weapon that the Trump campaign and administration has deployed many, many times.

But once again, her hair looks great.

Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.