Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Jarrel.
Ashley, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
When I was in high school, I used to go get my hair done for homecomings & proms and then rush back to a friend’s house where we would style all of our friend’s hair… I guess you could say my love for styling hair started then. Fast forward to high school graduation; hair was a dream I left behind. I was headed to college at UNG for a degree in English and Mass Communications. About two years into my college career, I began working at a salon as an assistant in my little college town. My love for hair was immediately reignited. I started as an assistant, and that position developed into an apprenticeship. I have officially been working in the hair industry for 16 years, and have been an independent stylist behind the chair for 14 years. I am forever grateful for the salon where I got my start. They gave me an opportunity to learn and launch my career. Now, 16 years later, I am still incredibly passionate about hair, the beauty industry and people. I truly feel that God has given me and so many other hair artists a gift to make people feel beautiful. To add to that, in my life, He has created opportunities for growth in my career that I never saw coming.
Two years ago my husband, William Jarrel, a retired Army veteran, and I took a huge leap of faith and opened Ashley J Salon in Cumming, GA. Owning a salon was never a dream of mine, but God is the giver of dreams, and we haven’t looked back since the day we opened. Together my husband and I have developed an incredible salon and business. We could not have accomplished what we have without the help and prayers from our best friend Marcy Weatherford, and of course the prayers and support of our family. I (@ashleyj_hair) work alongside three beautiful and brilliant stylists: Stephane Goodman (@hairbystephga), Megan Powell (@hairbymeganpowell), and Sarah Hubbard (@hairbysarahhubbard). We, along with our salon coordinator Kayla Tuner, and our assistants, make up what I feel is the best salon in North Georgia. You might truly consider us a hidden gem because we are smaller, and our location is just north of Atlanta instead of in the heart of the city. I always tell our clients, “When you think of us ‘think Big’ even though we are a small team.” The talent in our building is amazing and undeniable.
Some people refer to me as a “blonde specialist” because I definitely color A LOT of blondes. Being a brunette, it’s obviously how I deal with my inner blonde lol. Truthfully, I would never turn down a good brunette balayage. I love to create and color hair. In the beauty industry, where so many are choosing to specialize in one area, I feel it’s important to remain versatile. Life moves, styles change, people change, & color techniques change. I prefer to stay on trend and do it all. I have also furthered my career and versatility by training under some of the most creative and precision haircutters in the industry. I am passionate about continuing my hair artistry education, as are all of the stylists at Ashley J Salon. We are all color and cut specialists and styling experts. We are certified in smoothing treatments and offer all types of extensions: fusions, tape-ins, and hand-tied wefts…. and we don’t forget about the fellas. We have taken advanced barbering classes and also offer men’s cuts and styles.
At Ashley J Salon, we love our clients. We are all about quality hair and building relationships. Let me just paint a picture for you… You step out of the city and into the cutest 1940’s white house with original shiplap and all the right feels. You aren’t greeted by stylists or receptionists, but rather your friends who just happen to be amazing at doing your hair, finding you’re the perfect hair care routine, and listening & sharing with you all the things going on in your life. For a couple of hours, you escape to a beautiful, peaceful, positive, friendly environment, and you leave with gorgeous hair and a smile on your face, knowing you found a true gem just north of the metro area.
Has it been a smooth road?
Again, I never dreamed of becoming a business owner, so when God presented my husband and I with this dream that was the first struggle I had to reconcile with. We found what we thought was the perfect place for a salon. We put an offer in, things were going great, all we needed was signatures on the paperwork and it was ours. On the very last day, the seller backed out. We questioned EVERYTHING. We decided maybe we were wrong and opening a salon wasn’t going to be for us after all. We drove around every weekend searching only to come up with more empty ideas. I was lamenting to a close friend and client about how things at my current salon were changing, people were changing, and I wasn’t sure those changes were going to be a good fit for me and my clientele. She knew of a business that was breaking their lease to go to a heavier foot traffic environment, and added that this space they were leaving could be the perfect place for a hair salon! Literally wasted no time. Met my husband, and we went to check it out. It was everything we had prayed for, and it is now Ashley J Salon. My point in telling this abbreviated part of our story is to say, to anyone out there opening a business, doors are going to shut, but get excited when they do. On the other side of the shut door is the place God has prepared for your dream to come true! Looking back, all of the other places we thought could be our new hair salon would have been so wrong. We are exactly where we are supposed to be.
Paperwork… no one warns you about the amount of paperwork and licenses you will need to open a hair salon. Maybe it wasn’t a struggle, but it was a pain lol.
Opening a business, specifically a hair salon… once you make a decision I think you have to be ok with having two full-time careers. The first career being your business, and then second being your career as a stylist. Trying to find the balance between the two, plus spending time as a family has maybe been our biggest struggle. Luckily my husband handles so much of the “business” side of things, it allows me to continue to be creative behind the chair, but it still comes with its struggles. Communication with each other, with our employees, and with the other artists working at Ashley J is key. I feel if you let communication go to the wayside you are bound to cause more bumps in your potentially smooth road.
I wouldn’t say we have struggled opening a business. We have overcome obstacles with an open mind. It’s been relatively smooth overall, and the bumps, well, they just mean growth!
Let’s talk about COVID-19 and hair salons. What a struggle for any nonessential business really. No one opens a business with the mindset of closing down for a pandemic. We qualified for the loans, but funds ran out, of we never heard back because systems were overwhelmed with requests. We stayed open two days a week through March receiving all kinds of scrutiny. We knew the shut down was coming, and we wanted to work as long as we could. We worked smart and safe. We began social distancing clients and sanitizing everything before it was even a mandate. It was weird to be shut down for a month. We have been blessed on the other side of reopening. Our clients have been so patient and so supportive. We have been able to keep hand sanitizer face masks, shields, and disinfectant cleaner at all times.
However, that’s not to say it hasn’t been a struggle to figure how, when, and where we can accommodate our clients, to keep up with the extra cleaning (worth it), to consult with our clients wearing masks, and to literally talk about this pandemic day in and day out as it’s all the whole world is talking about. Our orders have been off pace because some colors or items might not be available depending on where they’re being shipped from, and one of our brands can’t manufacture a brand of hairspray we sell because they can’t get alcohol as most of it is being used to make hand sanitizer. It’s just crazy how we have all been affected in so many ways. We are no doubt preserving, but 2020 has been a wild ride for small businesses, and more specifically hair salons.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Ashley J Salon is a full-service hair salon. We offer color, advanced color techniques, balayage, women’s cuts, men’s cuts, and children’s cuts. We are certified in hair smoothing and straightening systems, and we offer all types of extensions to include fusions, tape-ins, and hand-tied. We also offer formal hairstyling and makeup for weddings, or any other special occasion. We are most widely known for our color. We have women of all age groups who come to us and trust us to give them what they are looking for. We love to create beautiful balayage looks for our young-20’s clients, seamless lived-in looks with perfect color placement for our 30’s-40’s ladies in the middle of their career hustle and/or raising babies, and of course customized color and cuts suitable for our 50’s+ ladies. I LOVE that we are a team of versatile stylists.
I think our clients appreciate us for being a family salon too. It’s nice to know you can send your husband and bring your kids to the same place that you go. You don’t come to Ashley J Salon because you want the exact same hair you just saw on Instagram. You come to Ashley J because while you might have been inspired by a picture on Instagram, you want a hair artist that is going to give you hair allowing you to feel like the most beautiful version of you. As a company, I am so proud of what we have accomplished in 2 years. I think what sets us apart the most is our ability to work as a team. A week doesn’t go by without someone telling us how incredible it is the way we all work together. There is a positive, uplifting atmosphere at Ashley J, and I hope we can always keep it that way.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I love our location. We are in a quiet area that allows people to escape a little. I also feel like it’s centrally located to pull clientele from Atlanta, Alpharetta, Canton, Cumming, Gainesville, Dawsonville & Dahlonega.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3960 Browns Bridge Road
Cumming, GA 30041 - Website: ashleyjsalon.com
- Phone: 6788078743
- Email: hello@ashleyjsalon.com
- Instagram: @ashleyj_salon
- Facebook: @ashleyjsalon
Image Credit:
Loveleigh Co Photos, Abby Williams Photography
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