Mickel Bohi cuts off journalism career to start Downtown salon

David Moye | Downtown News

During a 16-year career in TV news, Mickel Bohi had some hair-raising experiences trying to get scoops and deal with breaking news stories, so maybe it makes sense that hair would be involved when the 36-year-old former news producer decided to switch careers last year.

Bohi is the owner of the BlowPop Dry Bar in Horton Plaza, a salon where women can get a $30 blowout before a big evening in the Gaslamp District. The salon is only a few months old, but Bohi has big dreams for the business, including some that play on her former line of work.

“I definitely see a reality show,” she said.

Bohi has been into hair and fashion since her youth in Idaho Falls, Idaho, but the road to the Dry Bar wasn’t nearly as straight as the locks that have been through a flat iron.

“I was actually a live truck operator at a TV news station when I was 17,” she said. “I heard they were looking for employees and I kept calling the station asking for a chance. I told the producer, ‘You won’t be disappointed.’

“The producer was a big grouch. He was Ann Curry’s news director and told she’d never make it and she sent him a postcard at every station she went to after him.”

Bohi’s experience wasn’t as tough as Curry’s. She worked her way through Oregon State and Idaho State working in TV news, before working her way up through the ranks in Seattle, Denver and, finally, San Diego, where she moved in 2005 to work at KNSD.

Though San Diego’s TV news industry was the setting to the popular comedy, “Anchorman,” Bohi said it’s not a completely accurate depiction.

“[The film] is similar, but not as goofy,” she laughed.

While she was here, Bohi married Charles Davenport, the owner of Voyeur, and decided to change careers.

“I loved it, but decided to quit because it was draining and I wanted to take this idea in a different area,” Bohi said.

That idea was the BlowPop Dry Bar, which is both modern and timeless at the same time, providing shampoos and stylings in between cuts.

“Back in the day, women wouldn’t get their hair cut, they’d go get their hair styled,” she said. “We charge $30 and make women feel good — like a pedicure.”

BlowPop is working the affordable luxury angle by including amenities such as a private VIP area hidden from public view; a “to go” service that dispatches a stylist to any location within 20 miles; and free monthly classes to the public on how to achieve the perfect blow out at home.

She is also offering military discounts and is planning to offer visits to retirement homes as well.

It seems to be paying off for Bohi, who said business was especially good before New Year’s Eve. She expects a similar boost before Valentine’s Day.

“It’s becoming a new thing – guys buying their girl a blowout for Valentine’s Day,” she said.

Bohi is marketing the business to visitors through ads she did herself that air on hotel-only television channels, but she sees the growing number of Downtown residents as crucial to her success.

“The Gaslamp is growing, but there isn’t a business like this here,” she said. “People used to tell me they were scared of coming Downtown, but, to me, that’s even more of a reason to do it.”

BlowPop Dry Bar is located in Horton Plaza. For more information, call 619-241-2569 or visit blowpopdrybar.com.

San Diego native David Moye writes Weird News for the Huffington Post. You can learn more about him at huffingtonpost.com/David-Moye.