When Celia Smith started out as a beautician 28 years ago, it wasn’t in the iconic A-frame near the fire station in downtown Odell where she’s worked more than two decades.
It was right across the street, in what is now the Mid Valley Apartments.
In those days, the building also housed apartments (long before the video store and coffee shop were located at that site) and she rented a one-bedroom for her shop.
“My job keeps me really going,” she said. “I love it, I love people, I love what I do. It doesn’t even feel like working, really. I love coming every day. And it pays the bills! I’m very fortunate and very grateful for my clients.”
She and husband Steven, who works in the State of Oregon’s Parkdale office, purchased the A-frame in 1989, about two years after she started her business.
And it wouldn’t have happened without Steven’s encouragement — the couple was also buying a house, and Smith wasn’t sure she wanted to take on more debt when then owner Carrie Weathers, who also ran a salon in the space, put the A-frame up for sale.
But Steven encouraged her to look at it, and later, to talk to the bank.
Her first thought at seeing the salon? “I thought, ‘That’s huge!’” Smith said, noting that her apartment space was “one tiny room with a little bathroom.”
Eventually, the couple did purchase the building, and on Jan. 2, 2015, Smith will celebrate 26 years in that location.
Smith has been in business so long that she has customers who were in high school or college when she opened shop who not only still come in, but bring their families. She even has customers who have moved out of the area; they make appointments for when they’re in town visiting family.
Actually, that’s what Smith enjoys most about her work: Her clients feel like family.
“I’m very grateful,” she said. “I see clients all the time; it feels like they’re a part of the family.”
The Smiths raised two daughters, Christina and Marilyn, in Odell, and that connection has also fostered the feeling of family.
“It’s like a big family,” she said of the Middle Valley. “Most of the time, it’s great. You know people for years and years and they become part of your family. I love that.”
Donna Kinne of Pine Grove is one such “family member.” Kinne has been coming to Smith’s salon for the past 10 years. What keeps her coming back, she said, is Smith’s “professionalism, the way she cuts my hair. It’s the way I like it, not how they like it — I’ve been to too many of those,” she said. “Plus, she’s a good friend.
“She’s cool because of her honesty, too — you pick a hairstyle and if she doesn’t think it’ll look good, she’ll tell you. She won’t let you out the door looking freaky,” added Kinne.
Smith was born and raised in Colima, Mexico, with five brothers and two sisters, all of whom now live in the Hood River valley. She knew at a young age she was either going to be a nurse or a beautician. What tipped the scales towards hair was simple: Blood made her sick.
“I found out I wasn’t too tough with blood, so I thought, ‘Okay! You almost pass out with blood, that’s not a good deal,’” she said.
She came to Oregon — and Odell — after she graduated from high school. Her brother, Jovil Galvez, had moved to Hood River and became a United States citizen, helping Smith and her siblings obtain their visas. She went to the University of Oregon for six months as part of a high school program before moving to Hood River and attending beauty school in The Dalles.
Her first six months of classes involved “books, books, books,” she said. Her English was “really bad,” and she had to hire a tutor three times a week “for quite a while” for help with the language.
“I was so fresh from Mexico, I thought I was so smart, and I had to go back to school!” she said of her tutor experience.
After six months of book learning, students went “on the floor” with a different instructor, who showed them how to cut and style hair — but they didn’t touch the scissors themselves until later, Smith said.
When she graduated, she was able to do hair, nails and facials, but these days, she sticks to hair: Cuts, color and perms, for men, women and children, Tuesday through Saturday. She often styles hair for events such as proms or weddings.
One of the hallmarks of Smith’s salon is how fast she can get someone in for an appointment. She has a lot of drop-ins, too, she said, many of whom are happy to sit and wait for their turn in the chair.
“They like to sit and talk if they have to wait,” she said. “Most people, you don’t want to wait a week or two (for an appointment). The excitement is over by then.”
She rarely advertises. Her business is entirely word-of-mouth and returning clients.
“I’m so grateful to be over here and to do what I really love to do,” she said.
She thanks clients for “trusting me to do your hair,” she said. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be a beauty salon. I am very grateful for my clients.”
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