MINSTER — It’s taken some time, but with the opening earlier this month of Danae’s 4th Street Salon in Minster, Danae Hoying has finally found her true calling.
The Minster native always “loved doing hair,” she said. But it was not what she was drawn to following her 2007 graduation from Minster High School.
“I did mission work for four years,” she said. She lived in Rhode Island, discerning whether or not to become a consecrated woman of Regnum Christi in the Catholic church. The consecrated women are a lay organization of women who take private vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
She was in Rhode Island for three years.
“After two years, I needed to discern deeper. I took the third year to figure that out,” she said. In the end, it wasn’t a good fit. She moved home to Minster and studied nursing and then physical therapy.
“I did a friend’s hair when I came home. It was a lightbulb moment: this is what I want to do,” she said. She attended the Ohio State Hair Academy in Lima, graduating in 2015, and worked as a stylist at the Village Salon in Anna for three years.
“I had great experience there. They were very supportive of me opening my own space,” Hoying said. “I always had in the back of my mind that I wanted my own place to offer people in the community a fresh, welcoming environment. I wanted to give them something different. I’ve incorporated my spirituality into the building.”
The building, at 234 E. 4th St., Minster, sports inspirational signs on the interior walls. The first one a customer sees is a quote by Mother Teresa: “Do something beautiful for God.”
“That’s what came to me when I was praying about doing this,” Hoying said. Other signs present the attributes of God: Truth, Beauty and Goodness.
Hoying has provided devotional books for clients to read while their hair is processing. And she and her staff of three stylists, Kyleigh Chaney, Amelia Slonkosky and Nikki Allen, take special pains to treat people with respect.
“Salons can be places where people gossip. They have that reputation. That’s now how it is here. We’re treating people with basic Christian charity,” Hoying said.
She and her husband, Isaac, own the business and had to turn the building into a beauty shop. It took eight months to complete the renovations.
“There were a few little bumps in the road, but nothing major. It seem like God just opened all the doors. I had a ton of help from my family. I couldn’t have done it without them,” Hoying said.
The salon offers cuts, shampoos, styling, balayage color technique, smoothing treatments, facial waxing, manicures with polish and gel polish, conditioning treatments and men’s cuts.
Hours are Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday, noon to 8 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments are recommended. To make an appointment, call-628-6010.
