By Miles Patrick Yohnke
© 2023 All Rights Reserved.
Getting a new haircut can substantially improve our mental health and well-being. A good hairstyle can make us look better, lift our spirits, and give us a boost of self-confidence. Taking care of our appearance also helps us to feel better about ourselves thus reducing our stress levels. When we look fantastic, we feel fantastic.
I had been in the beauty industry as a salon representative for just a short time, garnering trophies, and sales awards when my boss called me about a particular salon: 'Compliments Hair Design.' He'd called on the salon but told me: "I'm not really doing much with it. I think the owner and you will hit it off. You'll do better with him than me."
It was already hot that Friday summer morning of 1992. The door to the salon hadn't even closed behind me as I walked down the sidewalk back to my car thinking to myself: "This is good." What had transpired a few moments earlier was this: I'd heard in a very clear and stern military type voice: "You have five minutes!"
Award-winning hairdresser Ron Popadynetz, the salon owner of 'Compliments Hair Design' would only see beauty industry representatives at 9:45 a.m. and he gave them just five minutes of his time.
By the time I called on Ron, salon owners were giving me plenty of time. In some ways I felt like I owned the salons and that I could do anything with them. I'd garnered a false sense of self. Ron brought me back down to earth. I'd forgotten what I once knew. I had learned when I was five and my father was tragically killed that time is everything. I wasn't to waste anyone's time.
As I walked back to my car that hot Friday morning, I had a renewed fire within me. I quickly realized I was an unpaid employee of the salons I called on. My purpose was to help their bottom line which allowed their businesses to grow and succeed.
I didn't have a 5-minute presentation for Ron. I stumbled around with my words because I wasn't prepared, and I was in awe of Ron's eloquence and tone. He was direct and to the point. He spoke in that way to see what I was made of. Would I crumble? I did. I needed to be swifter and more succinct in my presentations. That morning, Ron taught me an essential life lesson that I would carry with me the balance of my life. He built me up and made me much stronger.
When I phoned Ron to set up a follow-up appointment, he gave me a day, and of course, at 9:45 a.m. I was thankful for the opportunity to call on him again, grateful for his time.
Because of Ron I now had a strong 5-minute presentation, but he taught me far more.
Ron's award-winning hair salon 'Compliments Hair Design' was much like Andy Warhol's 'Factory.' I often got to my appointment early just to see his 'factory.'
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Ron was candid and forthright with his employees and fellow hairdressers. That was his teaching method. He taught them. He complimented them. He inspired them. He had an unwavering commitment to them, and because of this, many of them became award-winning hairdressers.
On February 26, 1993, I presented "Fashion Artists for Somalia" - a hair show at our historic Broadway theatre here in Saskatoon. CTV Saskatoon made it into a show. Ron and his salon were a big part of the event. During the show, Ron came out wearing only a men's thong. He was covered in body paint from his neck to his feet.
Ron was always making cast-iron statements. Always pushing boundaries. Ron wasn't just thinking outside of the box, for in his wishful world no box was in sight of his insightful art. Ron was his own person, and because of this, he altered the hair industry in the province of Saskatchewan and beyond.
In the end my boss was right. The many products I represented became essential within Ron's 'factory.'
As the years passed, many of the hairdressers went on to start their own salons. Some left our province and would enrich other lives and those lives received compliments about their hair. Over the years, I continued to visit with hairdressers in their salons.
Ron always came up in our conversations. All of them had experienced a 5-minute moment with him. Some left his salon perhaps with indifferent ideas but came to realize Ron was right. They came to fully grasp his unwavering standard of excellence. They complimented him in my presence for without Ron there would have been no them.
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I was in the beauty industry for nearly a decade but the example that Ron put forth would remain within me throughout the next chapters of my life.
Ron was always present in my life. Not only did he cut my hair, but he also enriched my life.
In 2016, for my now departed mother's Christmas present I gifted her a haircut with Ron. I waited outside the salon in her car. When she returned, she said: "I didn't recognize Ron with clothes on!" The last time she'd seen him was in 1993 at the "Fashion Artists for Somalia" hair show.
My mother asked: "why didn't you tell me Ron asks so many questions as I would have gotten proper rest the night before?" She remarked that one really must be 'on' in his presence. Ron could be nicknamed "Rapid-fire Ron" for his ability to keep a conversation flowing.
Ron and his art aren't limited to just the salon. His home and backyard are whimsical like only a great dreamer could create, taking everything to staggering heights. Everything he does is of grand accomplishment.
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Ron's career in the Saskatoon hair industry started on June 30, 1977, at Hairstyle Inn in Wildwood Mall before moving to The Bay where he managed its salon from 1978 to 1984. His 'factory' - 'Compliments Hair Design' opened in 1984. Ron ended his career on June 29, 2022, one day short of 45 years. Throughout that time, he always was on the edge of tomorrow, pushing the boundaries of hair. Ron empowered many lives to receive compliments about their hair. He gave countless people the gift of feeling better about themselves.
Ron Popadynetz refashioned, redesigned, and revolutionized the hair industry in the province of Saskatchewan.
Not bad for a kid from Wishart, Saskatchewan.
I wish everyone came at life and their art with the passion of Ron Popadynetz.