Ep # 179 - How A Lodi Hair Salon Stays Relevant After 35 Years

A great haircut looks effortless, but the work behind it is anything but. We’re joined by Chris Marino and Annie Mees of Headhunters Salon in Lodi, New Jersey, a 35-year mainstay that’s still busy in an industry where trends, products, and client expectations change fast. They share how Chris went from a stylist with a line out the door to building a salon that has lasted in the same location for decades, and why staying “good” is never enough if you stop learning.

We dig into the reality of modern hair trends and how they echo the past: big 80s styles, grunge straight hair, the return of perms, and today’s shags and wolf cuts. Annie explains why continuing education matters, from mastering color with Goldwell to brand education with GK Hair, and how a stylist’s job is part technique and part translation. A client might ask for a trend name, but their hair type, face shape, and daily routine decide what will actually work.

Then we get practical about what keeps a local service business healthy: clear consultation, honest communication during the cut or color, and a plan for busy seasons like weddings, graduations, communions, and prom. Chris and Annie also talk staffing challenges after COVID and how salon marketing shifted from pure word of mouth to a real social media presence on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, plus community involvement and online booking.

If you care about finding a trusted Lodi NJ hair salon, or you’re a business owner trying to stay relevant for the long haul, this conversation is packed with grounded advice. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s due for a cut, and leave a review so more neighbors can find the show.

Headhunters Salon
Chris Marino & Annie Mees
100 Church st, Lodi, NJ 07644
(973) 916-1636
headhunterssalon100@verizon.net
Website

Transcript

Welcome And Meet Headhunters

Intro/Close 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Doug Drohan.

Doug Drohan 0:12

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast brought to you by the Bergen Neighbors Media Group. I am your host, Doug Drohan. Today we are we're joined by an owner and manager of a hair salon in Lodi, New Jersey. It's Chris Marino and Annie Mees. Welcome to the show.

Chris Marino 0:27

Hi. Annie just walked away. Customer just popped in. I'm sorry.

Doug Drohan 0:31

Oh okay. All right, Chris. So Headhunters Salon is is uh you know it's been around for what'd you say, 30 years?

Annie Mees 0:41

35 this year.

Doug Drohan 0:43

35 years in the same location?

Annie Mees 0:45

In the same location.

Doug Drohan 0:47

Wow.

Annie Mees 0:47

We think we might be the oldest, one of the oldest running businesses in Lodeye to be to date at this point.

From Stylist To Owner

Doug Drohan 0:54

Wow, that's amazing. So, how did you get started in the business, Chris?

Chris Marino 0:57

Um, I used to work actually in Lode. I still live in Lorite, and I worked in Lodeye like blocks away from here for nine years in one place, and then I decided to go on my own.

Doug Drohan 1:08

So you were a stylist? Yeah.

Chris Marino 1:11

I got out of school and started cutting right away in the place I was at, the first place I worked at.

Annie Mees 1:16

He was a very popular stylist. He used to have a uh a line of people waiting for him back in the day because they didn't take appointments.

Chris Marino 1:23

So there's a lot of pressure.

Annie Mees 1:24

He he rose to the occasion and then uh encouraged him to open up his own business.

Doug Drohan 1:30

So we're talking like the 90s, early 90s, 80s, right?

Chris Marino 1:34

When he's from I opened in 91 here, but yeah, I was working since 82 before yeah.

Doug Drohan 1:41

Okay, so you know, back in the 80s, I used to get a body wave because uh I'm from Long Island and you know, straight hair, straight hair in in the uh 80s was you know, no one knew how to cut straight hair. And I had golly uh you know, a guy who cut my hair used to say, you know, this is you know, this is Dayton, this is like 1982. He's like, you know, you have you have like a well, I had hair like somebody who's from Asia, put it that way. Oh yeah, yeah. So he said, uh you should get a body wave. And I was like, okay. So I got a body wave, and I went to college, and you know, I never forget when I walked into high school the next day. People are like, What the you know made life easier because back then there was no hair product like you have today, it was basically mousse and brill cream and aqua net, you know, that's stuff. That stuff didn't go.

Annie Mees 2:34

Yes, definitely say the products have evolved in this interest in this industry.

Hair Trends From 80s To Now

Doug Drohan 2:39

Yeah, we didn't have any came along and and all of a sudden, you know, grunge came out and and straight hair was in. And I was like, Oh, yeah, hey, you're back. I didn't need to look trying to look like John Travolta. I didn't have to try to be John Travolta anymore. I could be I could be uh Eddie Vetter, you know. So um that's great. So so what's changed in you know, have how have you managed to stay in business when you know let's let's be honest, there's a hair salon in every corner in every town, you know, like what's different about headhunters?

Chris Marino 3:12

Well, I I mean I started I had a big clientele from when I started, when I moved from the other place from the place I started working at, and then I hired Annie, she was assistant first, and then she I taught her pretty much she watched me cut to me and uh yeah, she was doing nails for a while, but we stopped kind of doing nails now.

Annie Mees 3:32

So I I started with Chris when I was about 20. Um, and you know, in this business it's like it's always evolving and there's always new stuff coming out. So, you know, I I became a master colorist with the brand Goldwell, and um I also do work with the uh company GK Hair, so I do brand education for them as well. So we bring both of that in as well because we we try to update with haircutting classes and you know, constantly it's constantly reinventing, so you you have to basically try to keep up with it. And for your clients, they come in and they ask for new things that are being shown, so you really don't have to keep up with that.

Doug Drohan 4:13

I get it, like women's hairstyles have evolved a lot, but um, you know, men's haircuts, you know, I say like you know, I I always say when people want to just shave, you know, cut my hair really short. I was like, I don't want the jersey, the jersey fade. I don't want to have you know my hair just shaving.

Speaker 4 4:31

Everybody looks the same.

Doug Drohan 4:32

Yeah, it's like I have hair, you know. Um I'm uh I'm not a young guy in you know, in I like doing regular men's haircuts a lot. And I have hair, man. Like I want to keep my hair, you know.

Annie Mees 4:44

Well, and then after COVID, everything got longer, right? So yeah, it was and then we had the long stuff going on. So yeah, it kind of evolved in two different directions, but yeah.

Doug Drohan 4:55

So who do you so did you mostly cut women's hair back in the day and then still mostly women's hair?

Chris Marino 5:00

I did I did a mix of both, but yeah, a lot of women, a lot of 80s hairstyles when I was working at the other place. Yeah, Jersey, big hair, you know.

Doug Drohan 5:10

No, yeah. I play guitar and I was I was going to school in the city, and I used to hang out with these girls who were from uh from uh Bay Ridge in in Long Island. They used to go to Belle Boulevard, they used to go to Belle Boulevard on Friday nights and Saturday nights, and you know, tell me on Mondays the guys that they met, you know, and I and uh I wrote a song called Chewing Gum and Shooting Hairspray. Yeah, the great, yeah, I met this guy, he's really cute, you know. And uh had the big hair and it was it was kind of funny, but um yeah, that so so what like what's changed in terms of like what do you guys attribute to staying in business, you know, for three decades?

Annie Mees 5:54

Uh really I think I would say um evolving, right? You know, just keeping up with friends and you know, honing your craft. This is the type of business where it's a skill, so you need to really keep practicing and and learning new techniques because as much as things you know, you your foundation is the same, it's just that techniques get a little different, like everything gets tweaked, so you do need to keep up with that, and history repeat itself because those 80s haircuts come back in a different style, different way, tweak a little bit. Perms are back, we're doing a lot of perms again, which we didn't do for a long time. Um yeah, yeah.

Doug Drohan 6:33

No, as long as the mullet doesn't come back.

Speaker 2 6:35

Oh, it's fine.

Doug Drohan 6:38

Yeah, I I call it the reverse mullet, like teenage boys today have like all this hair in the front.

Speaker 4 6:42

Yeah, yeah.

Doug Drohan 6:43

I'm like, what the hell? I hope my son never does. I was like, what the hell is that?

Speaker 4 6:46

It's it's the mullet evolved, yeah.

Doug Drohan 6:49

It switched sides, you know. Now it's uh party in the front and business in the back, whatever they call it. Um yeah, and uh Jennifer Aniston's haircut, that's not uh yeah, that was important.

Annie Mees 7:01

That was a big trend there for a while. Yeah, those shags always come back, right? Shags are back, the wolf, the wolf now, yeah.

Staying Relevant With Education

Doug Drohan 7:09

Okay. So what do you what's like the biggest satisfaction you get from uh from being a stylist?

Chris Marino 7:15

And for me, make people happy really about it, like liking their hair, you know.

Annie Mees 7:25

And we're we're creative, Chris and I, you know, and uh yeah, I I play bass actually.

Doug Drohan 7:32

Um oh nice.

Chris Marino 7:33

Um I was in a punk band in the 80s, and we just got back to well, we got back together like five years ago.

Doug Drohan 7:39

Wow. Well, behind me that's a autograph poster of Carl Santana's live at the Fillmore.

Speaker 4 7:44

Oh, cool.

Doug Drohan 7:44

And then next to that is an autograph Dave Brubeck timeout album cover poster. Yeah. Um but yeah, I I play uh I have a I have a Ron Wood. That's my gold ride. I have a Ron Wood custom uh it's like a it's like a telly, but it's an ESP. Um I just play around though. I'm not a uh I don't play the band. But anyway, I wanted to get I wanted to ask you a question, like I've have you ever said to somebody, don't worry, it'll grow back. You know, I've I've had those, I've had those in my life. I've had so many bad haircuts in my life, starting when my mom used to sit me down at the kitchen table and you know put a towel around my neck and cut my brother's hair in my hair, and I was like, Oh god, yeah, brother used to do that, but you know, that that's the worst thing you get over here. Don't worry, it'll grow back. Like, yeah, I gotta live with this for six weeks.

Speaker 2 8:35

Yeah, well, I I try, I try to uh you avoid getting to that point where they would say that. I checked really before, you know, and while I'm cut, you know, like you want it shorter, right?

Doug Drohan 8:48

Because once you go short, that's it.

Speaker 2 8:51

Once you're short, you're done.

Consultation That Prevents Regret

Annie Mees 8:52

So yeah, consultation and communication is very, very important in this business because if we're not on the same page, mistakes can happen, and also as you're cutting or coloring, sometimes you can't take somebody to the to where they need to be, and you need to be explaining that like why is that happening? And maybe your hair can get there in one visit, so right.

Doug Drohan 9:16

So like somebody comes in and says, I want this look. Do you ever say to them your hair isn't, you know, built that low? Or I don't know if this would be the best cut for your facial structure, or like does somebody come in and say, I don't know what I want, give me something like where do you guys feel like you can influence the the direction, or is it mostly you're doing exactly what the client wants, they show you a picture, this is what I want.

Chris Marino 9:44

It depends pictures are good to have because when they try to explain it, it's sometimes not what they're explaining, you know. It's not the right thing. So I'd rather it's good to see pictures a lot.

Annie Mees 9:55

I would also say too, like, um, you know, as time goes on, they use different terms. And you know, we might people might be saying like a a certain, I'm trying to think of a specific term, like I want the wolf cut, but maybe their version of the wolf cut is not what we think the wolf cut is. So that would be why we would have to communicate a little bit better on that, so we don't fall into those of what what the haircuts are, and also what the individual is going to put into it, you know, like you may have really, really curly hair and want to wear a straight style, but if you're not going to blow dry that every day, it's not gonna look like that.

Doug Drohan 10:35

So I have another another question. So you have how many clients do you say you see a month?

Annie Mees 10:43

A month?

Doug Drohan 10:44

How many heads do you cut in a week? So I'll I'll tell you why I'm asking this question. So you have somebody come in, they love they love the haircut that you gave them. Now they don't come back for six weeks, seven weeks, depending on who it is, right? How do you remember what you did to give them that success? Like to I never see anybody make notes. So, like for me, like I've had I've had instances where this guy did a great or this woman had a did a great job with me. Two or three cuts in a row, they're great, and all of a sudden it starts to fall off. Like, what happened? Like, why am I not getting the same cut I got the last time or two times ago? Like, I feel like you forget, you know, and and or whatever.

Chris Marino 11:27

I don't know, like what do you guys have to three times really she shouldn't remember? Right, right.

Annie Mees 11:33

And maybe try to, but and maybe the communication, like when the person is initially sitting in the chair to say what's going on with your hair, is there anything different that you wanted to do? Is there any issues that are going on? And at that point, you might say, Well, you know, I'm having problems with this backlang the way it did the first time. And maybe we go back and discuss that and yeah, figure out where we could tweak it.

Doug Drohan 11:56

Yeah. So we're coming into um, you know, the spring, believe it or not, it will be spring someday soon. Uh, you're getting into um, I mean, I'm already like with in my business, I work two months in advance, so we're working on May uh publications for the magazines that I publish. So we're getting into graduation, we're getting into the you know communion season. So, what do you guys have different type times of the year that are busier than others? Weddings and things like that. Yeah, yeah.

Annie Mees 12:25

This actually is the busiest time coming up, was usually spring for me, especially. People a lot of events go on, and plus people start to like wake up from the winter and maybe want to go in and lighten their hair or do some different techniques to it. Like you said, communions, weddings, graduations, prom, it's all becomes big, vacations. Then it'll get a little lower towards the midsummer, and they'll pick back up in the fall.

Doug Drohan 12:51

Okay, okay.

Chris Marino 12:52

School, we do a lot of teachers too.

Doug Drohan 12:54

So oh wow, okay. Nice. Yeah. So 35 years. Um, you know, you've probably seen a lot when it comes to running a business and owning a business. Would you say like staffing is your biggest challenge, like keeping people or finding people, you know, talented? And then once they're talented, they go off on their own, right? Because they built up a clientele and they want to start their own business, and now people can go to like uh you know one of these studios basically. The suites like salons by JC or Sola, or yeah. So is that like what do you what were your biggest challenges? Are they that you know have they evolved as a business owner over the years?

Chris Marino 13:35

Uh really it I mean, staff is it's it's hard, it's difficult because yeah, we have I'm I only have a three chair, it's three chair salon. I had somebody that I used to work with that was here for 30 years probably. And she retired. And then she retired.

Speaker 4 13:51

So okay.

Chris Marino 13:52

And we put ads out. I mean, we had assistants, they leave. It's it's it's difficult.

Annie Mees 14:00

And I would say too, after COVID, after COVID things changed, and like you said, right, right. You know, um, it's hard, I think, for people to get in the suite. You need definitely need to be established with your own clientele. Yeah, but yeah, I definitely say the challenge has been to find help, has been it's been up and down.

Doug Drohan 14:22

And then what about do what do you do for marketing? Like uh I'm asking these questions because I like you know, other business owners might listen in and and hear or try to get advice. So the way businesses market has changed dramatically since you know the early 90s. Um, you have an Instagram page, which I, you know, I always find that interesting when I go on a a stylist or salon's Instagram and it's just pictures of women's hair. Like, I don't know, is that I mean, I guess if I see a good haircut, I'm gonna give them a call because I like that haircut. But if I go on 15 Instagram sites with salons, they're all kind of gonna look the same. That's coming from a guy who is outside the industry. Like, so what do you what do you do from a marketing standpoint that's like helped you in 35 years? Uh word of mouth, I'm sure, is something you know.

Chris Marino 15:11

Word of mouth has always been great. That's the biggest thing for me was yeah.

Annie Mees 15:15

Always has been. I would say now that really um uh during COVID and after COVID, we really became um put more of a presence on social media, and I think that it became apparent that that was the best way to advertise because most people are on social media, so you know, and we were you know a little dinosaur with that, you know, because we were we had a Facebook page, but we didn't really have a big presence on it. And I ended up taking social media courses to really learn how to promote and hashtag and and tag people and do all those things because it didn't really know, and then it was also what social media does is it it gives um people on the outside to really not just see your work but also to see your personality. So you try to be as authentic as you can be and also to focus on the areas where you strive in, you know. So, like I said, I do more coloring, so I would say that mine is based more on a color level where Chris is a bit more versatile with haircuts, so but that's you know, we're veterans in the business. Somebody young starting out, we would probably showcase them a little bit more broad, you know, because they would need to pick up more different types of people. But I would say that um advertising-wise, it really is Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok at this point.

Chris Marino 16:42

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I do advertisers in like local, like for turkey trays they have for schools, yeah, yeah, sure.

Doug Drohan 16:49

Okay.

Chris Marino 16:50

And I do that because it's more local, because right, right, it makes sense.

How To Book And Visit

Annie Mees 16:54

Yeah, and also some like we did uh we did a a pantry this year. So you know, try to get involved a little bit in the community so that people see you, you know, and are want to know who your business is and you know what you do and who you are, you know. It's you know, we're uh we're definitely big with the communication because we're hands-on type of service, right?

Doug Drohan 17:16

Right. Where are you being local? Uh where are you located? Like where what's your address and how do people find you and and book a so we're we're located on uh 100 Church Street in Lodi.

Annie Mees 17:29

Um, we you could call us, right? Or you can we do also have online booking as well, which is a newer service that we're offering now.

Chris Marino 17:38

Okay, and it's um I'm still learning.

Annie Mees 17:42

Your website is um our website is uh the good hairroom.glostgenius.com.

Doug Drohan 17:51

Oh, so it's not just headhunters, it's no hairroom. Okay, so the goodhairroom.glostgenius.com. So that's where they would go. There's a book now button at the top. You can see a portfolio about the services. Boys' haircuts are inexpensive, which is nice. Uh, you know, where I live, they charge you 30 bucks for a boys' haircut, it's kind of nuts. Um, so uh, and then you're open on Tuesday through Saturday.

Annie Mees 18:20

Tuesday through Saturday, yes. Yes.

Doug Drohan 18:22

Right. Okay, this is great. No, I you know, I think it's it's uh a testament to obviously your talents and perseverance to be in business since the early 90s and to follow your dream. You know, one of the things I heard Mark Cuban say to somebody in a it wasn't Shark Tank, it was some interview, and he talks about um always getting yourself out there because you could fail 99 times, but that hundredth time you might find the thing that you're good at or passionate about, and you hit it out of the park. Could be dating, it could be you're running a business, it could be working for somebody else, but you just keep trying and trying. And eventually, you know, hopefully in most cases, you you succeed. Um Thomas Edison said the the difference between uh success and failure is just trying one more time. Seems like you didn't have to try, seems like you hit it right away. You kind of knew what you wanted to do, went out on your own, but but you've stuck with it and it and it's great. And you know, I uh I don't live near Lodi, but I wish I did. I don't have to come down and uh and visit us.

Speaker 4 19:24

Yeah, you're I'm in Harrington Park, so I'm all the way up towards the New York border.

Doug Drohan 19:29

If you go up uh Palisades Parkway, I'm you know, up that way. So but uh well this was great, you know. Chris, Annie, I really appreciate you joining the show today. I really had a lot of fun with this.

Chris Marino 19:41

Thank you.

Doug Drohan 19:42

Yeah, we're gonna have Chuck just say a few words, and you and I will be right back.

Chris Marino 19:46

Okay. Okay.

Intro/Close 19:48

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpbergen.com. That's gnpbergen.com or call 201 298 8325.