Nestled in the heart of the Valleys is a thriving salon which has recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Claire Jones took a leap of faith in 1998 and opened Vogue Hair Salon on the busy high street of Tonyrefail.
The mum of two left school at 16 years old to pursue a career in hairdressing and still has a love for her profession decades later. She said the idea of owning a salon came from her husband, Anthony, after he saw that a shop was for sale four doors down from their then family home - which was almost fate.
The 53-year-old said: "He told me that I would be mad not to take it and I was a little bit nervous as I had an 18-month-old child to look after - but I’m so glad I did take the risk.” She added that it was the perfect location as she didn’t need to travel far away from her young family.
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Claire explained that, at times, it was hard running a business and spending enough time with her children, but her support network allowed her to find that balance. She said: “Five years after opening the salon, I had my second daughter - that was a hard one because I went back to work a lot quicker than I wanted to. But, I’m so lucky to have a family that supported me and helped me along the way.”
The salon is now a prominent business in the town, with a real sense of community as loyal customers continue to support Claire decades after opening the doors in February 1998. Vogue Hair Salon is known for its infamous blow drys and for keeping up-to-date on the latest trends, colour techniques and styles. Claire added that her customers have been crucial to her business surviving the financial crisis in 2008 and the Covid pandemic over a decade later.
She said: “I found Covid very stressful when lockdown came in and obviously when the government shut businesses down. I cried quite a lot with my mother when they shut the salon down. I did panic for myself, my business, for the members of the team, and I was thinking ‘are we ever going to get through it?'
“But we did, we came through and our clients supported us and waited for us to come back. I'm really grateful for that. We've got a lot of clients who have been coming to us for a long time, but we still get new clients constantly coming in as well.”
Claire says the salon’s success is a testament to her “brilliant salon staff” of four and her husband, who helps organise the paperwork. Claire has worked at six different salons over the years before opening her own and says she has “always wanted to be a hairdresser” and has never wanted to change career paths.
She added: “I love getting up in the morning and going to work because I love doing my job, I love working with my team and I can't imagine not ever doing it. There are not many people that could really say that they get up and love going to work."
Vogue Hair Salon is situated on Mill St, Tonyrefail, Porth, CF39 8AA and Claire hopes the business will continue for decades to come.
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