Hair salon brushes aside pandemic to celebrate 30 years in Mansfield
Hardy businesswoman Dallas Seamer opened the 2nd Generation salon on Bancroft Lane in 1991, the day after a holiday to mark her first wedding anniversary.
And she and faithful sidekick Kelly Moore, her only member of staff, are still going strong, despite the fraught lockdowns and restrictions of Covid-19.
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Hide Ad"It is only a back-street salon, and we are not making millions,” said Dallas, 50. “But it is like a little family here.
"A huge thankyou must go to our loyal, regular customers for putting up with us and sticking by us.
"We had to close for 16 weeks during the first lockdown. We also shut through November and then again from Boxing Day to May.
"But all our clients came back, and I am so grateful for that.”
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Hide AdIncredibly, those clients range in age from six months to 100!
The six-month-old baby is her grand-daughter Annabelle Rose, while the 100-year-old is family friend Bruna, who lives in Forest Town.
For 67 years, Bruna was a customer of Dallas’s mum, also Dallas, when she ran Dallas Hair Fashions on Clumber Street in Mansfield
"She was one of my mum’s original ladies,” said Dallas, who is from Edwinstowe. “In fact, mum was cutting her hair before I was even born, and was one of her customers for 67 years!”
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Hide AdIt is clear that hairdressing runs in Dallas’s blood. “And yet I was adamant in my younger days that I wasn’t going to follow suit,” she said.
"Everyone expected me to do it, but I was determined not to.
"Somehow I ended up doing it and called the salon 2nd Generation because that represented what I was. I have enjoyed it ever since.”
The first generation, Dallas’s mum, who is now 77, ran her salon until 1993 before going to work for her daughter.
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Hide AdShe retired just after Christmas, and the mini-salon she used at the back of the premises was converted into a nail salon, which is run by Kelly, 37, who lives in Clipstone.
"We both do hair as well, but the nail salon is really beginning to take off,” said Dallas. “They call us the terrible twosome! We make a really good team.”
Also making a good team are Dallas and husband Joe, who have been married for 31 years. They have a son, Ashley, 28, and a daughter, Georgia, 24.
All three are right behind her as she continues to make a success of the salon, which opens every Tuesday to Saturday.
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Hide AdShe received another boost when Mansfield District Council paid a visit for a Covid spot-check.
"They were amazed by the safety precautions, such as social distancing and cleaning, that we are making,” Dallas said. “They passed us with flying colours.”
Dallas freely admits that she relies heavily “on my ladies who come for blue rinses, perms and rollers”, but she gets plenty of younger trade too.
"I am so proud of myself and proud of Kelly, who has been with me now for 18 years,” she added.
"In any shop, it is hard. But for a business in Mansfield to have lasted 30 years is a bit of a bonus.”