What are the best local places to advertise and best ways to build clientele/awareness?

I'm an independent stylist (Discounts for redditors!) trying to build regular clientele, and I'm trying to figure out the best places to pin up my cards, the best places to run ads, things along those lines.

My trouble with Groupon and similar services is twofold. First, they make you charge at least 50% off, then take half of the remainder. As someone who likes to keep prices reasonable, I could hardly cover cost of materials at that price. If I were to offer a hair cut at half off and take only half of that, I'd be taking home less than $10 per cut; if I wanted to work for Supercuts, I would. Second, most people who come in with an online coupon don't generally bring repeat business. I have a referral program and a first time client deal through my online booking site (styleseat.com/mindysea), but I'm pretty sure no one has heard of that but stylists and existing clients.

I do all kinds of cut and color, specializing in naturally textured curly hair and bright, unnatural colors. I've offered free/discounted services to people I know in service industry jobs in return for handing out business cards, but I haven't had a single client from those.

I've thought about mailers, but the kind of clientele I'd like to attract don't live all in one area. I've posted on craigslist but it tends to get lost in the shuffle.

I also don't have a lot of capital to work with, but printing flyers is easy, I have a million business cards, and I'm willing to do leg work.

Anyone have ideas? Sorry if I effed anything up, it's my first post.