Cutting up in Hanna

It has been several years since a hair salon has been in the town of Hanna. That has changed recently with the opening of Troublesome Tresses. Owner-operator Kinsey Hendricks realized there was a viable business opportunity that would allow her to work and still be able to raise her five children.

Hendricks was raised in Carbon County and came to Hanna because housing was affordable when they moved to the town 13 years ago.

"We knew we wanted to have a large family and the prices in Hanna were reasonable, so we came here," Hendricks said. "It was a good decision."

She met her husband, Michael, in Rock Springs while she was going to Western Wyoming Community College. He had already graduated when they met.

Although they were a young couple, the Hendricks' decided to start a family immediately. Hendricks put her education on hold because she was not exactly sure what she wanted to do, but her husband told her when she was ready to go back to school, he would support her.

"He said when you are ready to go back to school, we will send you to school," Hendricks said. "We wanted to have our children first before I went anywhere and I am so glad we had our children while we were young."

Hendricks put school on pause while she raised her family. Her oldest is Aravis, then Jericho, Haven, Gideon and youngest Brigham.

Following the birth of Brigham, Hendricks chose to return to school.

"I picked Jenny Lea (School of Cosmetology) because it was near where we were living," Hendricks said. "I wanted to moved down south and we picked Tennessee because it had low taxes."

"My husband is super supportive," Hendricks said. "While I went to school, he was the one who cooked and took care of the kids while he was working full time."

Her husband is a software developer. She said he and his brother own a website. The nature of his work allows him to work from home and help raise the children.

It was cutting her husband and children's hair that got her thinking about cutting hair professionally.

She said seeing two hairdressers have success in Hanna before they moved away made her think seriously about filling the void the town had once these stylists left.

"I knew I wanted to get in a business that would make sense in Hanna," Hendricks said. "You have to look at what businesses will actually work."

Before the family moved to Tennessee, she and her husband took the family on a six month travel journey throughout the world to give the kids exposure to other cultures.

Hendricks said exposing her children to different places has been important to both herself and husband.

"We started in Iceland and then we went to Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Jordan, Israel, Morocco and Hungary.

She said the family used AirBnB all along the way.

"We didn't want to do hotels, because that would require two rooms and we didn't want to do the hostel thing," Hendricks said. "It was amazing to stay in some of these houses where we could cook, which was part of the experience."

She said the family going to the market gave the family an idea of each culture.

"We learned what it was like to get groceries in the different countries we visited," Hendricks said.

They got around by using Google translator and she said a lot of people spoke English. Hendricks said they got around by train and plane.

Once the trip was over, the family settled in Tennessee for Hendricks to learn hair styling.

Hendricks said it took a year for her to get certified in Tennessee. She said the certification she received allowed her to become licensed in Wyoming.

The family came back to Hanna and she started her business in the summer.

"People have been really supportive," Hendricks said. "There has been a very positive response and business is getting steadier because of repeat business."

Hendricks said her kids are really pleased she is doing this business. She said they have all helped with doing chores and love the benefit of getting hair cuts in a salon.

"The boys are in here every three weeks getting their hair cut," Hendricks said. "They think it is great."

Hendricks does understand some in Hanna cannot get around easily, so she does house calls to make it easy on the customers for whom traveling is difficult.

Currently her days of work are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

"This way I can work and my husband can watch the children and in the early part of the week, he can work," Hendricks said. "It is very important to us that one parent is always at home."

Hendricks is happy her job is serving a need in the community and allows her to still be able to raise her children in a manner that is still very hands on.

Troublesome Tresses is located in the shopping center next to the post office in Hanna.