Making IT personal for 25 years
A new standard in electric refuse and recycling collection
April 18, 2024
OCONTO – For much of her life, Jaelyn Dequaine said she has loved all things hair and makeup – the different styles, colors and textures and how they could work together to create different, but beautiful looks for someone.
So it was no surprise she would pursue cosmetology as her career.
After graduating from cosmetology school and obtaining her license, Deqauine said she went to work at a salon in Green Bay.
It was there, she said, that she gained the knowledge and expertise needed to run a salon – good practice for when she opened her salon spa in her hometown of Oconto.
“They didn’t call us managers (at the Green Bay salon I worked at), instead we were called coaches,” she said. “I wasn’t titled as manager, but I did a lot of management-related duties. That’s how I learned the ins and outs of the business.”
That’s also when Dequaine said she started setting goals of her own and thinking about the things she wanted to do in the salon industry.
“(Thinking about) how (I could) bring in new, fresh, different ideas,” she said.
After five years at that salon, Dequaine said Lady Luck came into her life – and in a big way.
“There were two salons in Oconto looking to sell and both of them had reached out to me, wondering if I would be willing to come meet with them and (see) if I had any interest (in taking over),” she said.
Dequaine said though she always imagined she would someday own her own salon, she didn’t think it would come at age 25.
“Honestly, I wasn’t ready to start looking at buying something at that time,” she said. “The opportunity came to me.”
Tossing caution to the wind and wishing upon every start, Dequaine said she decided to take the leap and purchase the business located at 584 Brazeau Ave. and opened FEYRE Salon Spa, welcoming her first clients Jan. 1, 2022.
What’s in a name?
Finding the right name for a business can sometimes be challenging – that wasn’t the case,Dequaine said, for her.
“I was trying to think of something different that goes along with beauty and that had a certain meaning,” she said. “When (FEYRE) came up, I thought it was something cool and different and fit what I was going for.”
Dequaine said though it’s unclear exactly where the word FEYRE – pronounced FEY-ruh – comes from, the definition is clear: beautiful.
The word feyre, Jaelyn Dequaine said, means beautiful, which makes it a great name for the salon spa. Submitted Photo
Regardless of the word’s origin, Dequaine said its meaning fits her vision of a salon spa perfectly.
“I wanted to bring in a different, new age salon spa feel to people in my salon,” she said, adding she’s turning it into her dream salon and spa. “I’m revamping it and making it more salon spa-like and trying to bring in a lot of things that aren’t from our area and aren’t around us anywhere.”
Offerings
FEYRE, Dequaine said, offers it all – from the simplest of haircuts to the most elegant of hair, makeup and nail transformations.
Stylists specialize in haircuts, tinting, full or partial color, perms and extensions, as well as stylings for special occasions, such as weddings, homecoming and proms.
“We have an esthetician, an eyelash artist and someone who does laser hair removal and electrolysis,” she said.
The salon also offers pedicures and manicures with regular polish, gel and acrylics.
Dequaine said the salon spa will welcome a new nail tech in July after she graduates.
“She’s going to be doing more in-depth nails with the acrylics, a lot of designs and a lot of the newer trends coming out,” she said. “That’s going to be new and exciting.”
A newer service offered at FEYRE, Dequaine said, is a Japanese Head Spa – a specialized treatment for improving scalp and hair health that is relatively new in the U.S.
FEYRE’s, she said, is the first in the Northeast Wisconsin area to offer the service.
Rooted in Ayurvedic traditions, Dequaine said it combines the use of personalized hair products, deep scalp massages to enhance blood flow to the area and relaxation techniques, which can provide relief from stress.
The improved blood circulation, she said, can also help reduce muscle stiffness, ultimately relaxing the whole body.
“It’s a hair service that’s done in a luxurious, relaxing way with a lot of scalp massage,” she said. “I’ve only been doing hair for seven or eight years, but everybody always says the shampoo and scalp massage during the hair washing process is the best part of having their hair done. So, when I saw this, I knew people would love it.”
After learning about Japanese Head Spa, Dequaine said she immediately thought it could be something clients would like – prompting her to obtain the necessary equipment to offer the service.
“It was so new here you couldn’t even buy it in the (United) States,” she said. “I had to have it shipped overseas from Japan on one of those big cargo ships.”
When she started offering head spa services, Dequaine said she only found two other salons in the country offering them – one in California and one in Milwaukee.
“There may be a few more now, but I’ve even had four businesses reach out to me saying they could not find one anywhere and were wondering if I’d be willing to tell them where I got mine,” she said. “I was happy to share it with them. I’m already booked out for the next six months for this, so there’s more than enough business to go around.”
In terms of services offered, FEYRE, Dequaine said, is a full-service salon and spa – except for massages.
“The only thing we don’t have yet is a massage therapist,” she said. “I would love to find one, but as of right now, we have none.”
A collaborative effort
Prom season and wedding season are fast approaching – two of FEYRE’s busiest times of the year.
Dequaine said she has been specializing in doing hair, makeup and nails for these kinds of occasions practically since graduating from cosmetology school.
When she was working at the salon in Green Bay, she said she put together a bridal team that would travel to different locations in the area to do makeup and hair for bridal parties – something she still does today.
“A bunch of us girls who went to cosmetology school all stayed together, and we do bridal parties,” she said. “That’s where a lot of the makeup and the hair updos come from. We do anywhere from 15-20 weddings a year. We also do proms, homecomings and things like that. We travel all around (the area). Some of us live within an hour of each other, so it makes it easy to do. But we can do bridal parties and so forth in the salon, too.”
A charitable focus
In addition to helping make clients look and feel beautiful, Dequaine said that focus extends to Mother Earth as well.
FEYRE’s mission, she said, is “to be as vegan, cruelty-free and eco-friendly as possible” – featuring a full line of hair and body products offering that.
Owner Jaelyn Dequaine, standing, opened FEYRE Salon Spa in Oconto in early 2022. Submitted Photo
Through the brands, products and services FEYRE offers, Dequaine said the team seeks to make a difference in the country, the world and on the planet.
More than 90% of the products sold at the salon spa, she said, come from charitable contributors – companies that give back to causes, whether that’s around the block or the world.
“I work a lot with distributors who do a lot of charity work within their brand,” she said. “Aveda, for instance, has a mission of bringing clean water around the world. A lot of the companies I work with (have similar important missions.)”
A bright future
Dequaine said she is shocked by the rapid growth FEYRE has had since opening its doors.
“Gaining the traction I did so quickly and having so much volume coming in (right off the bat) was a bit of a shock,” she said. “I figured it would be slow, and I could take some time building the business.”
Dequaine said the catapult-like start, however, quickly taught her how to pivot when needed.
“I’m working well to meet the demands of what everybody is wanting within the salon industry and what they would love,” she said. “I will say that purchasing a business, not only being so young but also so soon after COVID-19 (pandemic), was nerve-racking and risky, especially going from such a big community (Green Bay) to a small one.”
But so far, Dequaine said, the leap was worth it.
“The business has been growing like crazy,” she said. “I’ve also gotten at least 30 resumes for hair stylists, at least five for private renters in the back – so, it’s nice I’m not only growing with clientele but with the number of people wanting to work for me. That’s huge and a nice surprise.”
FEYRE is currently undergoing some renovations, and in the future, Dequaine said, she may open a second store.
Though it’s not currently front and center on her radar, she said it could be with continued success and growth.
Visit feyresalonspa.com for more details on Dequaine and FEYRE Salon Spa.
