It’s a sunny weekday morning in May, and regular customers are breezing into and out of Diana’s Epiphany Hair Studio with serene looks on their faces, whether their hair is done — or about to be done.
For both stylists and clients, building rapport is crucial to a good relationship. Diana Cooper says she and her staff have worked hard since opening five years ago to develop relationships with the customers they serve.
Cooper also says there is a great sense of family in her in her hair salon, and while she is talking about the cozy and familiar atmosphere, she might also be talking about the important roles her children and her husband have played at Diana’s Epiphany, which celebrated five years in business in March.
Back in 2009, she might have been wishing for slightly better economic conditions in which to start a new enterprise. But five years on she has a growing business, a thriving salon, and a success story that owes much of its success to strong family roots: daughters Jackie and Samantha have worked there since the start, while husband Jim and son Ryan designed and built the Pennington shop.
Cooper owned a salon in Pennington in the early 1980s. After she had three kids in three years, she sold that business to take care of her family. It was 10 years before she returned to the world of hairstyling, in 1998.
Over the next decade, she worked at several salons in the area, re-establishing her reputation. Around 2008, she decided the time was right to own her own shop again.
She looked at several possible sites before settling on one in Cornerstone Court that had become available. And though the Coopers designed and built their own salon, it’s anything but a DIY special.
Cooper says husband Jim, who is an electrician by trade, just kept coming up with ideas for the look and feel of Diana’s Epiphany.
“It was like a little bird would feed him information,” she says with a laugh. “He designed the (glass-block reception) desk, the (backlit) mirrors, everything.”
The salon feels somehow both intimate and cool, with light blue walls and sustainable cork flooring. There is a small waiting area where you can get a cup of coffee, as well as shampoo and hairdryer stations. In the heart of the salon are six chairs where a staff of nine take care of their clients five days a week. The word “Epiphany” is engraved in the shelving at each station.
While staff often work by appointment, some have times throughout the day when they can take walk-ins. Regular customers frequently book upcoming appointments as they are concluding their current ones. Jackie says those strong relationships contribute to the comfortable atmosphere they’ve worked to create in the salon.
“If you’re coming in every four weeks, say on a Thursday night, you’re seeing the same people,” she said. “Some people have become friends through the hair studio.”
Cooper says while many customers have an affinity for their regular stylist, some are so trusting of the staff at Diana’s Epiphany that they’re willing to do a session with another stylist when theirs is busy.
“That’s something we’ve worked on here, to build that confidence and that trust in us,” Cooper says. “Of course, some people really only want to go to one stylist, but the option is there, and some people use it.”
Customers range in age from 2 to 98. Blowouts are popular right now, with some people going in once or twice a week to maintain that look, but the Coopers say they are equally at home working with every style — and every type of customer.
Some clients have a style they know they like, and put their trust in Diana’s Epiphany to maintain their look. Others are open to minor changes — “different but not different,” Jackie calls it, smiling — and still others are willing to try something completely new every time.
“Whether it’s a new cut, or a different color, it’s really our job to guide them and to know what will look good on them,” she says.
Another important aspect of the stylist’s job today is to know and understand the many hair products on the market today and how they can be of use to each customers. Moroccan Oil, Redken and Organic Colour Systems are among the brands they sell at the salon, and each stylist works to match up their clients with just the right products.
The ecofriendly approach they took to building the shop goes beyond the materials they used in construction. One example is the organic coloring they offer for clients who want to dye their hair.
“It’s totally safe for pregnant women, and it’s OK for women who’ve had chemotherapy, for instance,” Jackie said.
Diana and Jackie actually learned hairstyling from the same teacher, some years apart. Samantha originally helped out at the shop after school or on weekends, but eventually decided to go to beauty school like her mother and sister. Now she is a full-fledged stylist, working alongside her family members.
The somewhat unusual name for the shop has also been of interest to many clients over the years. Cooper says she struggled to come up with a great name for the place, until one day Jackie had an idea.
“I was watching the Home Shopping Network on TV one day, and there was this jewelry they were selling called Epiphany,” Jackie says. “It had nothing to do with the jewelry, but I thought, Epiphany, it had a ring to it, and the ring of truth to it. Like, we’d had the idea to start this business — Epiphany.”
And while Cooper had originally intended not to use her given name in the name of the salon, she decided to do so to honor her father, who had named her and who had recently passed away. “So, Diana’s Epiphany,” she says.
Diana’s Epiphany Hair Studio is located in Cornerstone Court, 1 Tree Farm Road in Pennington, just off State Route 31. Hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. A website is under development, but the studio is on Facebook (search for Diana’s Epiphany). Phone: (609) 737-4247.
Jackie Cooper, Diana Cooper and Samantha Cooper, daughters and mother at family-owned and operated Diana’s Epiphany Hair Studio. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
