Lavender Lane opens for business

TIFFIN — Tracie Poulson recently opened Lavender Lane Studios, a hair salon on the second floor of the Laird Building downtown. Poulson, who is native to the area, said that it was several recent life events that gave her the courage to take a leap of faith to start the business on her own. Growing up, her family always encouraged her to be a stylist. She says that she has always had an interest in hair, makeup and fashion and even started her career by wanting to go into fashion marketing before leaving the fashion world entirely to work in the healthcare industry. But the thought of becoming a stylist never left her mind. By the time she was 26, she had her third child with her now ex-husband and realized it was time to do what she really wanted. "I'm going to do something that is just for me, that I want to do," she said. So she attended the Tiffin Academy of Hair Design before working at Ye Crimpers, a local salon that has since been permanently closed. After only six months of experience, she was contacted by the Academy and asked to be an instructor. Six months after that, she started teaching. But the decision was still not an easy one. Within her first year as a stylist, she says that she had gained a modest amount of clients and wasn't sure if she wanted to leave that. So she did both, working two full-time jobs and raising three boys. She states the most rewarding part of the job is being able to be a mentor to new hair-care professionals. "I'm just huge on that, encouraging other women to just believe in themselves and follow what they want to do and build each other up." She believes that a stereotype in the industry is that it's very competition-driven when, in reality, there's plenty of hair to go around. "You will attract the clientele for you by being you," she added. After six years and the closing of Ye Crimpers, she got a job at Market Street Salon. Four years after that, a former student offered her the opportunity to work at Wildflower Salon on the ground floor of the Laird Building. However, she wanted to expand her business and offer local businesses space to sell their items, so she currently partners with a local candle-making company. Working at Wildflower was her first opportunity to work for herself and paved the way for opening Lavender Lane. "Once I got past the nerves and I saw how things were going, I'm like, okay, I can do this. I can do this," she said. She decided to quit being scared and do the things she had always wanted. "If you fail, you tried." She says the name comes from her love of the lavender flower, both in color, smell and in meaning, citing resilience and beauty as inspirations. If she had a daughter, she says her name would have been Lane, after her mother, Elaine. After having only sons, she still wanted to name something after the "strong women" that had an impact on her life. In her free time, she spends a lot of time in her garden and grows a lot of her own produce. She is also the assistant director of the Tiffin Academy of Hair Design and hopes to be promoted further within the next few years. In both her teaching and business practices, she wants to make sure that people are heard and understood during their consultation and leave her chair feeling happy. She believes salons can sometimes be an assembly line, but that's not how she operates. Poulson makes it very clear that she could make more money if she took on more clients but would rather invest more time into each individual. She strives to achieve a comfortable environment with relationships with each of her clients in her day-to-day life. Moving forward she says her goal is to "slow down and smell the lavender." The studio is located at 116 S. Washington St., Suite 210. Poulson currently offers haircuts and color services to men and women of all ages by appointment and can be reached by phone at 419-765-0680 or by email at traciepoulson@gmail.com. Information can be found at https://www.facebook.com/FortheLoveofhairTraciePoulson.