By Kate Miller,Record Managing Editor
Jeanette Tunison takes the OATS bus to Warrenton Unisex Salon every Wednesday to have her hair shampooed and roller set by Karen Mora.“She’s good and I don’t want to go anywhere else,” Tunison said. “I don’t have to tell her every week what I want her to do, she just does it.”The salon is located at 107 E. Booneslick Road in Warrenton.Tunison, 93, is so relaxed in Mora’s care and her salon she often takes a nap under the blow dryer.Tunison is one of a large group of women who Mora caters to and whom she calls “my ladies.” Her ladies are women about 60 years of age or older who have appointments each week to have their hair shampooed and set with rollers. Hair teasing is involved. Maybe a cut or a permanent and time spent under the blower, too.It’s a hairstyling regiment that younger people have rejected, but their mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers continue to embrace in various forms.Not a lot of salons do the weekly shampoo and set, but it is Mora’s speciality, and a large group of Warren County women have found her. On a busy day, Mora’s ladies may be waiting their turn at the door. They will come in early and stay late just to visit with each other.“I’ve never been to a shop where everybody hugs,” Mora said. “I love my job.”Warrenton is Mora’s hometown. She went to beauty school in 1981 in Wentzville and has had a steady career since she graduated. She’s been on her own at this location for more than a decade.She also spends time doing hair for the residents at Warrenton Manor and Harbor Place. She travels to them.Her ladies sometimes require extra attention. A walk to their cars or the OATS bus. A guide between the shampoo station and the styling chair. A ride to the salon. Someone to do their laundry.“We’re family here. I take care of them and they take care of me,” Mora said.“But I get attached, and when I lose a client, it’s really hard on me,” she added.Mora has always felt a connection with older people, starting with her grandmother. She knew all along that her career path would include serving older people. Doing hair and having a large older clientele made sense.Warrenton Unisex Salon is far from trendy. There’s no hip music, stage lighting or highfalutin hair gel. It has the essentials. Its decor is dated but the atmosphere is clean, comfortable and, most of all, friendly.There’s a reason for keeping things simple.“I’m old school because that’s what my people like. I don’t have a fancy shop. It’s in an old building. My costs are low,” Mora said. “I don’t push products. I don’t buy expensive products. If they want products, I’ll buy them for them.”She passes what she saves onto her customers with $12 sets and $12 cuts. That’s important to customers who are living on fixed incomes.When Tunison finished at the blower, she sat in Mora’s chair. Mora removed the rollers and styled her hair to perfection.At the very end of the visit, Tunison looked in the mirror and enthusiastically proclaimed, “I’m beautiful!”Karen Mora, owner of Warrenton Unisex Salon, with client Jeanette Tunison, Mora serves men and women of all ages but has built a large clientele of older women looking for a particular style. Record Photo, Kate Miller.
