At Salon On First, a pairing that’s been years in the making has arrived. Dana Keenan, the newest stylist at Salon On First, has a connection to seasoned hair specialist Shelly Andrew, her grandmother.
Dana graduated from California Hair Design Academy in May, but the path to working beside Shelly felt like it was always supposed to happen. “I get my hair done a lot, and I feel like I’ve always had a really close relationship with my grandma,” Dana says. “This has always been talked about. I never had a big passion for school, and she’s always been there for me. I’ve always looked up to her.”
Dana shares that her enthusiasm for hair started in the fourth grade when she got her first set of highlights. Shelly laughs at the memory, “We did her highlights at about seven [years old]. It was very natural, as if there had been some sun in it.”
Choosing Salon On First
Shelly’s hair career has taken her all over the island, but Salon On First is her home. “I love the energy and the momentum that Marilyn [Klisser, Owner] has. She’s always got something new going on. There’s always new energy; it’s not stale. I love that I’m working by the window. I can see the water, I can see everybody coming by. We’re very centrally located. I was on the other side of town for a long time, and when I moved over here, I learned that most of my clients live over here. They can walk or bike to me.”
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Dana explains her decision to join the Salon On First team, “Knowing that I have somebody that would make me feel comfortable going into such a new thing, and starting my career – it’s a good start to work with my best friend.”
Shelly adds, “We’ve been talking about working together. All through high school, she knew she wanted to go to hair school, and we’ve always said we’ll work together. When it started getting close to graduating, we knew it was almost here. Marilyn had been following her on Instagram.”
Shelly and The Stylists’ Evolution
Whereas Dana knew her path and went straight for it, Shelly took some turns to get to the chair. “I came from a family of ten children,” Shelly explains. “I was doing everybody’s hair from about the age of about five or six years old.” Adding with a laugh, “whether they liked it or not! Honestly, I didn’t become a hairdresser until later in life. I have six kids myself, and my first three were girls. They were the beginning of my career. I had them in fancy hairstyles every single day of their lives.”
How Hair Makes a Difference
The hair industry has changed over the years. “It’s a lot more casual. Everything is moving towards a more lived-in look, like lived-in roots,” says Shelly. “Instead of everything being so precise, it’s more casual now. It’s the same amount of work, we just make it look effortless.”
Asked about her favorite services to offer, Shelly says that she enjoys extensions. “I’m 59, so I used to watch the Sally Jessy Raphael show. She would do these Sally makeovers, where someone would look completely different. I like to look at your eye color and skin tone, then suggest a great color that would look good on you. Then, I add to it with extensions, whether it be length or thickness. I like to change people’s lives so it’s a wow factor.”
On something that surprises clients, Shelly says that three times in the last week, a client received a comment asking if they had a facelift after she worked on their hair. “You get a reaction from your friends, where they say, ‘Oh my gosh, you look 20 years younger.’ They don’t really know why. They don’t say ‘all those layers that are framing your cheekbones, your wrinkles.’ I like to accentuate facial shapes with a haircut.”
For your best haircut, Shelly recommends ditching the photo of someone else and instead coming with a previous photo of yourself. “I’m not scared to say, well, you don’t have this girl’s hair, this girl’s eyes, you’re probably not going to get this blonde. I’m very realistic. I’ve been doing this long enough that I can tell you.”
On Working Together
“Dana and I are very close as far as grandmother and granddaughter go,” Shelly explains. “We get along like buddies. She’s always called me for advice, showing me colors, asking ‘what should I use?’ ‘What should I do?’ She listens and she’s very creative. She’s been doing hair since she was about five years old as well.”
Shelly shares how proud she is of Dana, “She’s a go-getter and she’s super confident. She doesn’t second-guess at all anymore. Maybe she did a little bit in school, but not anymore. She has a lot of confidence and ability, and that makes me proud, because the client is more comfortable with that.”
Dana attributes some of the qualities she has to Shelly: “My grandma taught me to feel very confident and not listen to anyone else.”
Now Accepting Clients
Dana and Shelly are both accepting new clients at Salon On First.
Shelly: Book your appointment with Shelly by calling 619-408-5219
Dana: Book your appointment with Dana by calling 619-996-3200 or online at Salon On First | Vagaro
Follow Dana at Hair By Dana Renay
SALON ON FIRST
1134 First Street
