Mikko Väisänen
Founder and master barber
Opened the shop in 2014. Best with classic scissor work and anything involving a side part. Will tell you honestly when a style will not suit your hairline.
Espoo · Karakaari 7
Blanelo Barbershop: A Chair, a Razor and a Decade of Practice
Blanelo is a barbershop in Espoo where sharp fades, classic scissor cuts and hot towel shaves are done by hand, without any rush and never a long queue. We opened on Karakaari in 2014 with one chair, a borrowed mirror and a simple idea: give a man a haircut he does not have to think about again for three weeks. Today there are three barbers working the floor, and the idea has not really changed.
Our story
It started with one chair and a lot of patience
Blanelo began because our founder got tired of waiting. He had been cutting hair in Helsinki for years, watching clients sit in a queue for an hour to get a fifteen-minute trim, and he thought there had to be a better arrangement. So he rented a small space on Karakaari in Espoo, put up a sign, and started taking bookings by phone. The first winter was quiet. He spent most of it learning how to sharpen his own razors, because a dull blade is the fastest way to lose a customer forever.
Word travels fast in a neighbourhood like ours. A guy from the office block next door came in for a beard trim, liked it, told his brother-in-law, and by the spring of 2016 we were fully booked on Saturdays. That is when we hired our second barber and bought the second chair. Nothing about the place was planned in a spreadsheet. It grew the way a good local shop grows, on repeat visits and referrals, and we are fine with that.
- Walk-ins welcome whenever a chair is free
- Fixed prices, quoted before we start cutting
- Straight razor finish on every neckline
- Zero rush. If it takes forty minutes, it takes forty minutes
2014
One chair, one barber, a phone number written on the window. First customer was a taxi driver who came back every three weeks for six years.
2016
Second chair arrives. We start taking bookings online so people stop calling while we are holding clippers.
2019
Third barber joins and we add the hot towel setup. The shave quickly becomes half of our Saturday work.
2024
Ten years on the same street. Same door, same mirrors, better scissors and a small army of regulars who book months ahead.
By the numbers
Ten years of standing on our feet
We are not a franchise and we do not measure success in follower counts. We measure it in people who come back, and in how many of them bring a friend along the second time.
10
Years on Karakaari in Espoo
31 400
Cuts and shaves since opening
4.9
Average rating from regulars
38 min
Typical time we spend per client
The team
The three people holding the scissors
Every barber here learned on real heads, not on mannequins. Between us we have worked in Helsinki, Tampere and one very cold winter in Oulu. Ask for whoever you like when you book.
Aleksi Korhonen
Barber and fade specialist
Joined in 2016. Runs skin fades and hard parts all day long, and holds the shop record for the cleanest neckline three years running.
Emilia Rantanen
Barber and shave specialist
Came to us in 2019 from a salon in Tampere. Handles the hot towel shaves and beard sculpting, and has a very steady hand with a straight razor.
Our work
What walks out of the door
Most of what we do is ordinary and that is the point. A man comes in with three weeks of growth and a vague idea, and leaves with something he can actually maintain at home. Below is a sample of the kind of work the chairs see on a normal week.
If you want to see more before booking, drop by the shop on Karakaari and look at the wall. We keep printed photos near the till, and the barbers are happy to talk through what would work for your hair type and how much time you are willing to spend on it in the morning.
Find us on the map
What we cut
Two things we do better than anyone nearby
We keep the menu short on purpose. Doing a handful of services properly beats doing twenty of them badly, and it means our barbers get better at the same cuts every single week.
Most booked
Signature Men's Haircut
A full consultation, a wash, the cut itself and a hot towel finish on the neck. Scissor work, clippers or both, depending on what your hair actually does in the morning.
from €39
See the full service
Saturday favourite
Hot Towel Shave and Beard Sculpt
Steam, oil, a fresh blade and about forty minutes in the chair. We shape the beard line first, then shave, then finish with a cooling balm so you do not walk out red.
from €45
See the full service
How we think
Good haircuts come from listening first
A barber who starts cutting before he asks a question is just guessing. We spend the first two minutes of every appointment finding out what you do for a living, how often you are willing to come back, and whether you own a hair dryer. That conversation decides more about the final result than any product on the shelf ever will.
The other half of it is honesty. If you bring us a photo of a style that will not sit on your hair, we will say so and offer something close that will. It is easier to have that conversation before the clippers come out than three weeks later.
- We tell you what a cut will look like after two weeks, not just on day one
- We write down your clipper numbers so the next visit matches
- We finish every service with a straight razor on the neckline
I have been going to Mikko for seven years and I have never once had to explain what I want. He just remembers, and that is worth more than a cheaper price somewhere else.
Jukka Nieminen
Regular since 2017
Booked the hot towel shave before my wedding and it was the calmest half hour of that whole week. Emilia took her time and the beard line was perfect in the photos.
Tomas Lindqvist
Hot towel shave, summer 2024
My son hates haircuts and Aleksi somehow got him to sit still for twenty minutes. We have not been anywhere else since, and that is saying something.
Pekka Salo
Family visits, Espoo
Straightforward pricing, no upsell nonsense and they actually run on time. The shop is small so book ahead if you want a Saturday slot.
Ville Aho
Skin fade regular
Come and sit in one of our chairs
We are on Karakaari 7 in Espoo, a short walk from the Leppävaara side and easy to reach by bus or car. Ring us to book, or send a message through the contact page and we will come back to you the same day.