our roots
Chatter of must-make recipes to romantic advice and, of course, beauty tips and tricks fill the air in the small shop on the regular. Women walking in, catching up, sun up to sun down, and always leaving with a bit more of a spring in their step. This is a two-chair beauty salon in Small Town America.
Amidst the lively scene, among all the hustle and bustle, the figure of a small freckle-faced girl bounces from guest to guest. Not more than 5 or 6 years old, this little blonde in pigtails was probably the busiest of all. Sweeping up every fallen hair, ensuring everyone was received with the warmest of welcomes and anticipating every want for a carefully served, small Styrofoam cup of coffee… This was little Jenna working side-by-side with her mother and grandmother at the family’s St. Clair, MN Beauty Salon. From the moment you walked through the door to the second you walked out, you’d feel better and much of that could be attributed a young Jenna’s eagerness to serve.
If Jenna wasn’t in the salon, she could be found in town at her grandfather’s Barbershop. The scene was, no doubt, a bit different with some form of “how to” advice, dubious fishing stories and the occasional straight up lie echoes within the barbershop walls. One thing, however, remained the same: everyone that walked through that door knew Jenna for her .
Early on, it was clear, this was in Jenna’s blood.
Fast forward fifteen years. That little freckle-faced blonde girl in pigtails was now a young woman well on her way to setting the world on fire one head of hair at a time. She had developed her skills, her reputation and a noteworthy family of loyal clients that would faithfully follow Jenna to multiple venues in the St. Croix Valley. Jenna would do her best to provide them with more than just a new look, each visit was a unique experience tailored perfectly for whoever sat in her chair. Over the years, it became apparent that if she truly wanted to provide the experience she envisioned, she would have to create it from the ground up.
It was then that Jenna and her husband-to-be, Danny, decided to take the leap… and open a place of her own.
Jenna’s husband, Danny, was never much for fancy hair but he appreciated a barber’s clean clipper work as he too shared in the experience of having a grandfather in the business. Being the grandson of longtime Stillwater barber, Francis “Smitty” Schmitt, he shared the vision. Smitty gave the first haircut in Smitty’s Barber Shop of Stillwater in 1937. And 43 years later, Smitty’s grandson Danny had his first haircut in his barbershop chair. For the next 12 years, Smitty cut Danny’s hair exclusively. Danny learned early on that a visit to the Barbershop should be more than just a fresh hair cut. It was the hospitality, the conversations among friends and strangers, it was the coffee and dare say the occasional tall tales that made each visit significant. It was the culture and it was downtown Stillwater. Even as a boy, the art of the experience was not lost on him.
Yes, Jenna and her husband-to-be both understood that a barber shop or a beauty parlor is more than a space.
It’s a cultural hub that personifies classic Americana. There is a sense of tradition and richness that in too many cases has gone by the wayside. If they were to create a brand-new shop with latest techniques and designs, the old-school experience could not be sacrificed in the name of modernity.
That’s all well and good and it paints a pretty picture but this vision required a great deal of hard work to become reality. Both working full-time, Jenna and Danny worked on the shop late into the evenings, eating gas station dinners late-late at night on their way home and pouring blood, sweat and tears into the space. They tore down the corner of the old Isaac Staples sawmill to bare studs and did a full renovation for it to be what you now know today. Sleep was a rare luxury for months on end. The work seemed endless and unforgiving but in the fall of 2015, the Hair Tailor opened and since then it’s grown from being a beautiful space into a place for men and women to be tailored to individually. A destination in your day to connect and share and grow.