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After 40 years as a hair stylist, Jane Hayes will retire
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
“I’ve had some very loyal customers for the entire time I’ve worked in Caledonia. Some of them, I did their hair and later on did their children’s hair,” noted Jane Hayes, owner of New Image Hairstyling of Caledonia.
Hayes, who has been a hair stylist for 40 years, including 38 years in Caledonia, will be closing her shop up Feb. 5. She’s not closing her doors because business has slacked off, or for health reasons. She just decided after being in the hair styling business for 40 years, it was time to stop and smell the flowers. And that’s just what she’s going to do.
“I love to be outside and in the garden,” Hayes said. “And I love to quilt. This will give me much more time for those hobbies and also to be able to spend more time with my grandchildren. I’m really looking forward to that!”
Hayes, who grew up in Caledonia used to comb out the neighbor lady’s hair.
“I guess I knew how to do it right, because pretty soon I was combing out several other ladies’ hair. That’s back when I was in high school. I decided I might as well go to school and get certified.”
After graduating from Caledonia High School in 1968, Hayes enrolled in the Madison Academy of Beauty Culture in Madison, Wis.
Part of the curriculum at the school in Madison was that each student had to complete 40 perms before they could graduate. Long, straight hair was in vogue back then, and with Madison being a big college town, it was difficult finding women who wanted perms.
“My mother and Marge Birkland drove all the way from Caledonia to Madison, so I could give them perms. I graduated two weeks late, because it took me that long to find enough women to do 40 perms. But I was the first one in my class to graduate,” Hayes recalled.
Hayes landed a job in La Crosse, where she worked for two years. She then returned to Caledonia and spent the next 13 years working for Joanne Buege at Joanne’s Beauty Salon.
Hayes wanted her own business and decided to open up her own shop in the mid-1980s. She fixed up a beauty salon in the basement of a home at 204 West Main and spent the next 19 years doing hair there.
About seven years ago Jane and her husband Joe decided to purchase a building on Old Highway Drive. Jane’s mother Phyllis Klinski owned the steel-sided commercial building and leased it out to the phone company. The company decided to do some downsizing and moved into a smaller building.
Joe and Jane felt the building would be a perfect fit for Jane’s hair styling business and Joe’s Matco Tool business.
“Many of my customers were getting older and both the stairs and parking were getting to be issues with my shop on West Main,” Hayes said. “This building has worked out very well,” she said gazing around the bright, airy salon. “And because I do the books for Joe’s business, I’m right here.
“I did four perms the other day and three of the ladies used walkers. It would have been tough for them to get into my other shop. But with the great access and parking here, it was no problem.”
Hayes said she has seen the industry change over the years. When she first got into the business, long, straight hair was all the rage. The only women getting perms back then were a little older. But when the 1980s rolled around and “big hair” was the coveted look for the younger set, everyone wanted perms.
Now days it’s perms and short cuts for the more mature ladies and long, straight hair with highlights for the younger set.
“Highlighting has become very popular and is really keeping stylists busy,” she pointed out.
While her hairstyling business has been quite successful, Hayes said she always tried to put her family first. She was never open on Saturdays and tried to keep her schedule at 30 hours per week.
“It was important for me to be able to attend the events our three daughters were in when they were in school. For the most part, I was able to do that with the schedule I set.”
“This is something I’ve thought about for a couple of years,” she continued. “I wanted to retire while I could still enjoy being outside in my gardens and also spending a lot of time with my grandkids.”
Hayes said she plans to get a long-armed quilting machine and turn her salon into a quilting room. When asked if that might evolve into some type of quilt-shop business, she responded with a very firm “No! It’s just a hobby and that’s the way it will stay. I love the creativity of quilting and I do it all myself.”
Hayes said a number of persons said they were surprised when they heard she was closing up her shop.
“I’m retiring now so I can enjoy my retirement years. I’m still going to help Joe with the bookkeeping chores for his business. I know I won’t get bored. This is something I’ve been looking forward to.”
While Hayes is really looking forward to retirement, she knows she’s going to miss her clients and the socializing that is part of the business.
“When you’ve had some customers as long as I have, you really get to know them. They share things about their families with you and you do the same with them. I know I’m going to miss that.”
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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