SOAP LAKE — Sina Long said she just kept coming to work after her late boss passed away and ended up taking on the shop owner role at Hair Masters in downtown Soap Lake.

“I’ve been working here since ’94,” Long said. “The gal that used to have The Hair Master, Carol Rutherford, this was her shop and I just kept coming to work after she passed away from cancer. She was not only a coworker but a good friend, and I still think about her to this day. Her family still contacts me, and we stay in touch.”

Keeping personal connections a part of her work is important, she said. Having regular clients that come in not just to get their hair done or other beauty services, but to talk and connect and find a sense of community is important too.

As she talks, Long is taking care of a pedicure for 96-year-old Jane Klasen, a longtime Soap Lake resident. Pedicures aren’t on the list of services for everyone, Long said, but she and Long have been visiting — both admit that sometimes “gossiping” may be a more accurate word — for years. Klasen’s daughter brings her in once a week for a hair touch-up and other services and a bit of conversation.

“Don’t take that wrong,” Long said. “Once it’s said in here, it stays locked in the vault.”

Long said she and her coworker, Riley McMillan, work well together taking care of a range of clients. McMillan tends to provide services for the younger clients while Long takes care of the older folks like Kalsen. She compared the shop to one in a popular movie.

“It’s a little bit like … ‘Steel Magnolias’,” Long said. “She does a lot of hair extensions and young girls and I do a lot of older women. So, it’s a little ‘Steel Magnolias’ in here.”

Having those relationships and the personal background with her clients, whom she considers as much friends as customers, is important. She and Klasen have been in touch with one another for years and Klasen remembers Long as a little girl.

“Your aunt was my best friend,” Klasen reminds Long.

The pair walked down memory lane for a bit, with Klasen saying that at 96, she’s almost a century old, and since she’s got memories going back to the age of three, her memories are almost a century old as well.

Caring about people has always been important to Long, she said. The friendships deepen along the way as you operate a business like Hair Masters, notable for its Wonder Woman-esque signage and corner location. However, for Long, she said it's also about being drawn to just caring for others and being creative. She had been a nursing aid at McKay Healthcare and Rehab Center after leaving college, but eventually left because she wanted to do something that involved being creative in addition to caring for others. She’d majored in fine arts in school at Central Washington University, and she wanted to look at something creative. She eventually realized she could go back to school to become a beautician and it wouldn’t take as long as a full degree plan.

“This is an art, doing people’s hair, coloring people’s hair. It’s an art, and I didn’t see it. … At the same time, God knew where I needed to be. I needed to be working at McKay, caring for people, and I needed to be here caring for people,” Long said. “I was kind of ornery when I was young … but God had his hands on me. That’s the bottom line.”

R. Hans “Rob” Miller may be reached at editor@columbiabasinherald.com.

Hair Masters Salon & Spa

11 Main Ave. E.

Soap Lake, WA 98851

509-246-1392

facebook.com/thehairmastersoaplake

Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m.