Hair by Chris Glas

Location: 609 W. Washington St., Ste. 15, Sequim

Phone: 683-0991

Hours: By appointment Monday-Saturday

For a business to have 30 years under its belt is a worthy accomplishment but when you’re a one-woman operation, it’s even more impressive.

Port Angeles native Chris Glas marks three decades in the hairstyling business as an owner/operator this month and says it’s been a great career.

“I have worked full time, except for two surgeries, five days a week for 30 years,” the gregarious Glas said. “I didn’t even have a phone when I first started in 1985 in Sequim. People just started walking in.”

Glas, 64, said she always knew she wanted to be a beautician — from age 6 she’d set the hair of her aunt and grandmother, fascinated by the techniques and artistry involved.

In 1969, she attended the first beauty school in Port Angeles and graduated from Ballard Beauty School in 1970, which she still recalls as “an amazing experience.”

Over the decades, Glas has seen hairstyle fads come and go — from late 1960s bouffants and long, straight hair, to the Farrah Fawcett feathered look and Dorothy Hamill wedge cuts in the 1970s, to the “big hair” 1980s. She even remembers it was a “big deal” to learn how to use portable hair dryers, newly introduced around 1968.

“Everything goes around but with new terminology, the language has changed in the business,” Glas said. “We used to frost but now it’s called foiling. We used to have Dippity-do — now it’s mousse. But it’s all the same. I still perm, do body waves, highlighting and I still even put big brush rollers in, although they are hard to find.”

Hair dying remains a staple because, as Glas noted, “everybody still wants to look young.”

Her clientele ranges from babies getting their first haircut to some 90-year-olds who still want to look great. Glas said she also does hairstyling for a lot of teens and young adults and that styles have gotten more casual.

“The short haircuts now are just darling. I still do pixies but with color and gel, they don’t look like the pixies of the 1950s-1960s,” Glas said.

“I love doing hair because I like people and I’m really interested in what people do and where they’re from. I’ve done people from all over the world. The best part is getting the person done and seeing the difference,” Glas said.

In her newly redecorated shop, next to the former Sequim Police station, Glas works with friends and colleagues Kristen Eshom and Eula Cook, who are independent stylists with many years of experience. She’s been in the same location for two decades and said she has no plans to retire.

“We are a friendly shop and the three of us have more than 20 years of experience each. I’ve kept prices down by taking only cash and checks,” Glas said. “People have been really friendly and I can’t thank enough the clients I’ve had — they’re wonderful people.”