When Becky Donaldson and her husband, Gary, first opened Absolute Hair in 1990, she was pregnant with her third son and said she worried the salon would fail.
“I used to have dreams that we were going to lose the business, and I’d be wrapping a perm and rocking a baby seat with my foot,” she said.
She was wrong.
It will be 20 years July 1 since the two East Peoria natives opened Absolute Hair.
Donaldson attributes the salon’s longevity to great clients and good luck.
“Everybody works hard in life, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to come out right,” she said. “It isn’t that we work harder than anybody else, it’s just that we’ve been really lucky and we’ve had some great clients.”
Running a “mom and pop shop,” she added, has not always been easy.
“Sometimes it might not look like it’s going to work out on paper, but the bills have always been paid, all three boys went to college and they never had to not be on a team or miss a camp,” she said. “I can’t really explain to you how it works, it just works.”
With their home next door to the business, the Donaldson’s three boys Alyx, 24; Kory, 22; and Bryce 19, were always close by. Donaldson said she and her husband were able to be involved in school events because of the flexibility that owning the salon gave them.
“That’s one of the things that’s been nice,” she said. “The kids have always played baseball and basketball on all of the travel teams and the high school teams. We’ve never missed a game. You might be doing a perm at midnight, but you were at the game at 4.”
The salon offers facial waxing, nails and “everything that can be done with hair,” Donaldson said.
The Absolute Hair family is made up of the Donaldsons; Deb Lucas, who has been with the salon for about 15 years; Erica Richardson and Micki Lester, who each joined the salon four years ago.
“It’s been a wonderful place to work,” said Lucas. “We’re very family oriented.”
“I think we have a lot in common with our clients,” Becky Donaldson added.
She said the family-friendly atmosphere allows clients to come to an appointment without having to find a babysitter.
“We’ve always had toys and little things for the kids to do,” she said. “I think the last thing we ever wanted was for our clients to feel like was that it’s a fancy place and you couldn’t bring your kids.”
