by Camilla Faragalli
Shawville
Feb. 16, 2024
Ashley Strong separates a small section of her client’s hair, tucks a piece of tinfoil underneath and dabs at it gently with a plastic brush, covering it in a thick purple gel. Once the hair is fully saturated, she neatly folds the foil over itself before letting it drop atop a pile of identical pieces underneath.
The process takes less than 10 seconds, and she is on to the next piece.
The rhythm of dyeing a client’s hair has become second nature to Strong, who has been working as a hair stylist since she was 17 years old.
After almost two decades in the business, Strong is now the owner of Shawville’s newest salon, Lace & Lain Beauty, named after her twin daughters Lacey and Lainey.
With natural . . .
light flooding in through large front windows onto hardwood floors, and striking black and finished-wood accents against white walls, the newly renovated space on Centre Street opened to the public on Jan. 30.
According to Strong, business is booming.
“The response has been fabulous. People have just been popping in to check it out but they’re also booking appointments, which is really great,” she said, adding that she’s currently booking haircuts weeks in advance.
While her salon is new, Strong’s presence in Shawville is not. The hairdresser and stylist previously worked at the now closed Angles Coiffure salon for nearly 13 years before taking the entrepreneurial leap that is Lace & Lain Beauty.
“I just needed a change of scenery and I wanted to be able to bring some different services into Shawville that weren’t being offered,” she said, explaining that she is currently in the process of hiring specialists to offer teeth-whitening, botox and fillers, at the salon one day a month.
“There’s nothing like that in Shawville, so I’m really excited to be able to be the space that offers it,” she said.
Strong said she will be looking for another stylist at some point, but is just trying to get herself settled first. She added that her Angles coworker, Kim Woods, has rented a chair from her and will be working at Lace & Lain Beauty starting in March.
Strong says she’s confident her existing client-base in the area will help her new venture thrive despite the trying economic times for local businesses in the area.
“I’ve been really lucky to build a really good clientele, with some loyal customers. The retention’s been great,” she said. “I’m sticking my faith in that, I guess.”
