Salon on Savannah owner Karen Smith finds her calling

Karen Smith recalls, “Someone once told me that I didn’t have what it takes to open my own salon, and I have never forgotten that.”

Karen grew up in Cherry Hill, N.J., and moved to Delaware in 1995 to be closer to her mom. Her first job here was doing nails at Tan Delights in Rehoboth. She worked at other salons in the area until she met Drexel Davison and worked at Bad Hair Day for 15 years. She moved to Lewes when he opened a second location and worked there for several years until she opened her own business, The Salon on Savannah, in 2021. Her salon continues to grow and do well, and she has plans to expand with a health spa sometime this summer. 

Growing up, Karen had an interest in hair and fashion for as long as she can remember.

“I was artistic and creative as a child, and academics just didn’t interest me,” she said.

Karen remembers doing Jill Biden’s nails at a makeup bar in Wilmington. Jill told her that she should stop what she was doing and go back to school. She told Jill that she was doing what she was truly meant to be doing.

“Because of my creativity, I think I see things differently than other people,” she said. 

When asked what she likes best about running a salon, she gave several reasons.

“I love what I’m doing because I get to meet new people all the time, and I love helping and training young people to do something that I’ve been fortunate to do as a career,” she said.

Every day is different for Karen, and she particularly enjoys the problem solving that comes with being a stylist. She enjoys working with people who come in unhappy with their hair and consequently not feeling so good about themselves. Her creativity allows her to work with that person and come up with something new for their appearance. They walk out of the salon feeling so much better about their appearance. 

Karen made it a focus of her salon to build a sense of teamwork where everyone supports each other. She believes that has helped her find the best people, who in turn are looking for the same things and want to work in a nurturing environment. Karen feels there is a culture of continuous learning and growth within the salon, where everyone learns from each other. The more experienced stylists freely share their knowledge with the younger stylists, who in turn have been in school more recently and can share their knowledge of the latest techniques and products. 

What Karen enjoys most is working with women who have been diagnosed with cancer and have lost all or most of their hair. She works with these women until their hair grows back or they decide to wear a wig, and provides all her services to them free of charge.

“These ladies have been dealt a real blow, and I enjoy doing what I can to help them feel better about their situation and themselves,” she said.

Karen acknowledges this is one of the important things she learned from Drexel Davison, who she says was a great mentor. It’s also hard, she said, because she develops relationships with the women who are going through a challenging health issue and, unfortunately, some of them lose their battle with cancer. 

One of the biggest changes Karen has seen in the salon industry is that more and more people want to end up working for themselves. She helps the people in her salon realize that dream by allowing them to rent chairs instead of being employed. This enables the stylists to essentially run their own business. Once they pay their rent, all the revenue they generate from their work is theirs to keep; the harder they work, the more money they earn. She thinks this concept will continue to grow and be adopted by more salons. 

If Karen could go back in time and give advice to her 18-year-old self, she would tell her not to be afraid to start her own business. With age and experience comes confidence, and she wishes she would have had the self-confidence to start her own business when she was much younger.

As she looks into her crystal ball, Karen looks forward to being a grandmother and spending more time with her daughter, who lives in Charleston, S.C. She will continue to work for as long as she can, and in the meantime, she hopes to build one of the most successful salons in the area. Although it didn’t feel good at the time, being told she could never be successful running a salon was what she needed to do just that.