Jeanie Hertz puts wrap on career as stylist

After 42 years on the job in La Conner, Jeanie Hertz ended her career Thursday the way it started – with style.

The buoyant and cheery cosmetologist, who began styling hair when shaggy bobs and wispy bangs were all the rage, has handed over the keys to La Conner Hair Design on Maple Avenue to Katrina Brumley, ending what has literally been a colorful four-decade tenure at the local salon.

The transition, as might be expected, has been bittersweet.

“I cried for three days when I made the decision,” Hertz, who had originally planned to retire in April, told the Weekly News. “I feel like I’m leaving all my friends. How am I going to keep up with everyone if I don’t see them?”

Brumley, who has been onboard for about a year, isn’t about to let those long-standing friendships go by the wayside. Her plan is to retain Hertz, if only on an unofficial basis, as a “consultant.”

That sounded good to those who greeted Hertz on her last day.

“For us,” said Janie Beasley, a client at the salon for more than 25 years, “she’s our therapist. Or, rather, our ‘hairapist.’”

Sally Starnes of Anacortes, who like Beasley had a Thursday appointment, felt the same way.

“I met Jeanie during COVID,” Starnes recalled. “She said she couldn’t take anyone then but that she would take me as soon as she could open again. I was afraid I’d be at the bottom of the list. I figured she had about 50 women ahead of me. So, I was excited when she called me to come in.”

Hertz said her new routine will involve some travel and paying more attention to her dogs, ages 13 and 15, respectively.

“My dogs are going to be very happy,” she said. “They’re needy.”

Other factors came into play as well.

“I just decided that it was time to play more instead of working more,” Hertz said.

As she worked through one last perm, Hertz reflected on her years as a stylist here. She started in 1981 working at a salon owned by the late Donna Blades in the Pier 7 Building on First Street. A year later Hertz and Loree Yonally christened La Conner Hair Design in the north half of a then-new building on Maple shared with Dick Holt’s La Conner Barber Shop.

“Dad really wanted them here,” recalled Holt’s son, Tony, who has followed his father into the family business.

The senior Holt’s clientele, at that point, had outgrown his former location at Maple and Morris. It seemed the ideal time to merge under one roof – a new one, at that – with a hair salon.

The arrangement has worked out handsomely.

“I don’t think Tony believes I’m leaving,” laughed Hertz, who trained in cosmetology at Bellingham Technical College, embarking on a career requiring mastery of math and chemistry – the latter becoming even more important as vivid hair coloring came into vogue.

“In a way,” quipped Brumley, “we’re like modern day alchemists.”

Hertz smiled as she figuratively climbed into the Way Back Machine to revisit when brightly colored hair appeared on the scene.

“I remember when they first started coming out with those colors,” Hertz said. “Loree and I decided we’d try them out.”

Their husbands gave the experiment mixed reviews.

“Loree went home and Larry said she kind of looked like a peacock,” chuckled Hertz. “I went home and Butch said: ‘We’re going to be having family pictures done soon. Do you really want purple hair?’”

It was a moment of levity in a profession that Hertz and Yonnally, who worked together for 36 years, took quite seriously. They logged countless continuing education hours to keep pace with new trends, ones often inspired by celebrities.

“You have to be willing to change or you’ll get lost in the shuffle,” Hertz explained. “We were always evolving, doing different things and learning new techniques.”

One change in the industry has involved the frequency of appointments.

“I really have no idea how many style sessions I’ve done,” said Hertz. “What I do know is we saw more people in the old days. People came in every week. Now, people don’t come in as often, but they have more done when they’re here.”

Hertz has been a stylist long enough to see trends burst on the scene, fall out of favor and then return to the forefront.

But regardless of what was in fashion at a given time, Hertz always strived to do her best to help La Conner Hair Design clients look their best.

Looking back, she wouldn’t have done it any other way.

“As the saying goes,” she posted on social media last Friday, “if you love what you do, you will never ‘work’ a day in your life. I’ve been blessed, that’s for sure.”