Lani Johnson has been styling hair in Whitefish for 50 years.

Her career began simply enough when she did a friends hair for prom during high school and thought it was fun. Today, she is the owner of the Hair Hut.

“I didn’t want to go to college,” she said. “I got a scholarship for $100 to go to the Clairol school.”

She started out in Great Falls, but eventually finished beauty school in Kalispell. After graduating she went to work at Shirley’s Salon at Sandra’s Dress Shop on Central Avenue. The salon became the Hair Hut moving into its current location on Third Street in 1972 and eventually Johnson became the sole owner marking five decades cutting and styling hair in Whitefish.

“I certainly didn’t set out to do that,” she said.

She always thought she could go back to school, but has enjoyed her work so never saw a reason to.

“I still love all the people that you get to know,” she said. “I’ve grown up with some doing their hair. They adopt you and you adopt them. I’m still getting to know new people.”

Johnson remembers the first two friends she made as a sophomore in high school when her family moved to Whitefish.

“We moved from Anaconda to Whitefish,” she said. “My dad called Harlow Chevy because they needed a parts man. I had never heard of Whitefish.”

She was less than excited to be here, but she met two of the “nicest” girls at school and that changed her mind. Johnson shared a locker with Lynn Duff and in gym class she met Connie Mitchell, who Johnson says told her she looked like “a deer in headlights” because she was nervous.

“I’m still doing their hair to this day,” she said. “I still remember that day [when we met].”

During her days off, Johnson enjoys gardening, but says she may just be raising food for the deer.

She also has volunteered as a Penguin for the Whitefish Winter Carnival for at least 20 years.

“They needed a fill-in and it was fun,” she said of how she got started.

At one time she was an avid skier, but now continues to help with the annual Big Mountain Ski Club ski swap.

Johnson has watched hair styles come and go and technology change the hair industry. Much as when she first styled her friend’s hair in high school in an updo — which is more common now for prom and weddings rather than as an every day style — in beauty school she enjoyed styling hair for women who would come back every week to have their updo all taken out and redone.

Today, she said there’s a focus on using less chemicals and more women wear their hair straight. Still there’s a few women who still come to the Hair Hut every week to get their hair shampooed and set — before curling irons women curled their wet hair using rollers and then letting their hair dry to style it.

“Things come back if you wait long enough,” she said. “It’s fun to watch things evolve and still stay the same.”