The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Tim and Ronnica Westcott have thought about opening a hair salon in Sisters for a long time.

The owners of Salon Renaissance in Redmond have been coming out to the Sisters Folk Festival for years, and each weekend they spent in Sisters reinforced the idea. It all came together recently when a client tipped them to a prime salon spot on Cascade Avenue becoming available, and they took the plunge.

Renaissance Salon offers "beauty and barber" services; men are as welcome as women, and the location on Cascade Avenue is convenient for walk-ins as well as appointments. Wedding hair and makeup is a specialty, and Ronnica offers makeup consulting. Jenny is also a makeup artist.

It's all about "making people look good; making people feel good," Ronnica says. "It's not a chop shop; we spend a lot of time with our clients. For the hour that they're here, we try to make them feel special, like they've never felt before at any other salon."

The salon is staffed primarily by Jenny Duey, Mary Morgan and Matt Teague on Mondays and some Saturdays. Ronnica and Tim continue to serve their Redmond clients and head up to Sisters once a week. Ronnica is on hand on Thursdays and Tim is in the salon every other Saturday.

Tim has been cutting hair since he was 17 years old. He fell into the trade by accident, but it's proved to be a true calling - one that has taken him to unexpected places.

It all started with the need for a hair cut. Tim had long hair that had to be shorn for a job at a restaurant.

"So I got a cheap haircut at a beauty school," he recalled.

The stylist noted that there weren't a lot of guys in the trade and encouraged Tim to give it a try. He did - and quickly found he had a knack. He won a school contest right off the bat, and his course was set.

Tim built a clientele in Fremont, California, but by 1991 he was looking for a change. Rising crime rates and traffic were wearing on him and after a kind of epiphany on the concrete tunnel of a California freeway, he decided he'd had enough and headed north.

He "walked away from a 14-year clientele booked three months in advance and said good-bye."

He operated Salon Renaissance in Bend for 17 years before pulling back to just the Redmond salon - and now he's got a new operation in Sisters.

He and Ronnica have a blended family with four children each from previous marriages.

Over the past two years, the Westcotts, Teague and nail tech Jeff Haken of Sisters have gone to Nicaragua to teach hair styling to women living in poverty, some of whom had been sold by their families into prostitution.

The program is an exceptional effort to infuse practical skills and hope for a future into a struggling community. Yet the folks at Renaissance Salon bring that same spirit of giving to their everyday work.

"It's nice to do something you look forward to going in to do," says Ronnica.

Salon Renaissance is located at 220 W. Cascade Ave. in Sisters. For more information call 541-588-6611.