WILLIAMSBURG — Savannah Colon always knew she wanted to own a hair salon. She grew up in Easthampton watching her mother’s journey as a hairdresser, and as a kid Colon would secretly snip her cat’s fur and cut all the hair off her Bratz dolls.
One photograph on her website pictures a 3-year-old Savannah sitting at a play vanity, wearing a teal Little Mermaid jumpsuit, pink star-shaped glasses, and plastic feathery high-heels, her legs crossed while she holds a fake blow dryer.
Now, Colon is the owner of Williamsburg Hair, a new salon in the Hilltowns that offers haircuts, hair coloring, perms, facial waxing and pedicures.
“It’s my dream come true,” she said.
Colon’s whole life has involved hair, in one way or another. Her mother has been a hairdresser for over 25 years and currently works at Lynn Wiles & Co. in Florence. When she was a kid, Colon would spend time at the salon sweeping the floors and getting to know her mom’s clients, many of whom even came to her graduation party.
Colon attended Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School, where she accumulated 1,000 hours of work to obtain her cosmetology license. At Smith Vocational, Colon fell in love with her now-fiancé, Jeffrey Haskell, who was in the plumbing program. She also participated in the Skills USA competition, where she ended up placing ninth in the nation.
“I just love hair,” she said. “It’s not just work; it’s a hobby. Any haircut, it’s super satisfying to see the ends fall off. I just love it.”
After graduating in 2015, Colon worked as a receptionist at Madison Avenue Salon and then rented a booth at Lisa’s Hair Shop in Easthampton, where she began slowly building up her clientele and refining her skills.
Now at age 26, Colon and Haskell have a 6-year-old daughter, a 4-year-old son and an 18-month-old daughter. And in January, the whole family worked together to get Williamsburg Hair up and running at its 45A Main St. location.
“It was just me, him and the kids. We did this all ourselves,” said Colon.
While Haskell helped with building and plumbing, Colon painted and designed, and the kids helped water the plants.
“I want (the kids) to see that if you work hard and you have a dream, you can make it come true… And now, having my kids be able to stop by and see me work, it’s just a really special feeling to me,” she said, harkening back to her own childhood memories growing up at her mom’s hair salon and forming relationships with her mom’s clients.
After a few months of hard work and a couple of wintertime stomach viruses, the salon opened in April.
“I’ve always wanted to help people and make people feel good about themselves. There’s not a lot of salons in the Hilltowns here, and I wanted to offer a variety of different services and accommodate people,” she said.
Williamsburg Hair includes a coffee/snack bar, a television, kids toys, and a cozy couch near the window. Colon also accepts special request appointments, like for children or adults who have sensory sensitivities — “whatever people need to make themselves feel comfortable,” she said, adding that the salon also has flexible hours to make room for clients’ own schedules.
“I really care about everyone who sits in my seat. I just feel like it’s more than cutting hair. You get to know the person and kind of form that relationship, and that’s important to me too,” she said.
The first few weeks of business have been a success. Colon has over 100 clients, many of whom have followed her since 2015 when she first began to cut hair. And while Colon generally encourages clients to make appointments, the one time that she did put out a “walk-in” sign, a customer came in for a haircut within two minutes.
The biggest challenge since opening, she said, was that the vinyl lettering on the sign outside was too dark, making it difficult for people to find the salon. The problem didn’t last for long though, as she called up the man who built the sign and he quickly fixed it with brighter letters.
“Everything just kind of came together,” she said. “There really haven’t been very many challenges.”
Colon’s ultimate goal is simple: make people feel good about themselves.
“Hair is a big part of people; when your hair doesn’t feel good, you don’t feel good… A good haircut goes a long way,” she said. “Whatever you want, I will make it happen and it will look good… I just want people to be themselves.”