shopping in ottawa can be summed up in the following:
-ragtime: located off bank, but not quite to the glebe, it's a fantastic vintage shop. very small, but very organized, and prices are moderate and higher...great owner.
-holt renfrew: obvious stuff...they have tons of new bags they're carrying (like balenciagas finally) and their shoe department will be totally revamped in february to carry shoes like any high end store SHOULD carry. holts really isn't that high end, imho...their buying is way off sometimes.
-milk, trust fund, and a few other random boutiques: all mostly located near the national gallery. boring stuff, but okay for browsing and buying if ottawa is your only option for shopping...they're all basically aritzia, only smaller and stock slightly different versions of the same things. splendid, t-bags, all of the lame-o trendy jeans, juicy, etc.
as for salons, i got my hair blown out twice on my last trip there simply because i was too lazy to do my own hair at a place called loft or the loft near the museum of natural science? i don't think that's what it's called, but it's the new science museum (which btw, if you're a nerd like me, is AMAZING!!!!!!!11). anyway, i went in and made an appointment both times and returned a few hours later. they use kerastase, which was really surprising, and the girl did my hair just like i told her too (i'm from texas...so my hair and the majority of canadian girls' hair is very different in how we like it styled). i forget her name...something french that started with a M...she was a real sweetheart. she really knew how to make blowouts last too...love that!
geestring- i just noticed you're male...one thing about that salon, is that almost everyone there (it isn't a large place at all) as far as clients were male! i thought this was odd, but every guy that came in had really great hair (mostly long) and were getting haircuts. i've never been in a nice place with that many male clients at all (and i guess being from texas, that's easy to believe!)!