“2pm. It’s mine.” Maz Loder was only 19 when she scribbled those words into the diary of the Pontnewydd salon she’d just bought.
Thirty years later, Maz’s Hairloom in Pontnewydd is going strong and sits in a new location on Commercial Street- just around the corner from the shop on Chapel Street where she started as a “Saturday Girl.”
Maz and her team of six stylists are celebrating this special anniversary month. Team is a big part of this business, with Maz saying: “I’m always ‘my team’. Always. I never push myself forward, but the girls have really encouraged me to mark the occasion of 30 years.
“Maz’s Hairloom is what it is today because of my team. They do amazing. My longest stylist has been with me 29 years this year. Most of my staff have been with me over 20 years, so we have done life together. We are family.”
Six stylists
She now has six stylists working over the two-storey business, but how did her career start in the 1990s?
Maz said: “I was working for a lady called Nicola Jones and she was selling a salon.
“This was in Chapel Street and gave me the opportunity to take over. I was 19 at the time. I was like ‘well, I’m young enough to recover’ if it goes wrong, so I went for it, and I’ve never looked back. It’s been absolutely wonderful.
“I was in those premises for five years, 17 Chapel Street, then I moved up to 5 Chapel Street and I stayed there for 16 years and moved here, and we’ve been here for nine years.
“I absolutely love it. I feel like we are part of the community. Some of my clients remember me turning up as a ‘Saturday Girl’, so they’ve watched us grow.”
The former Fairwater Comprehensive School pupil, who calls herself a proud “Cwmbranian” explained why she loves being a hairdresser in her hometown.
“I think for me everyone has got a story”, she said. “Unless you have a conversation with someone, you’re not going to find that out. So every day is different.
‘Feel good’
“There’s nothing better than having someone in your chair not feeling great, and they chat to you and people really open up, they really do if you listen, if you take the time to listen.
“You can have someone in your chair for an hour, and you can completely turn their week around. You can change their day just by spending time and listening, making them feel good.
“For some people, they come in and you might be the only person they’re going to have a conversation with that week. I think it’s important to have places where people can come, just pop in any time.”
A large part of the salon’s welcoming feel comes from its location, with a large glass window looking onto the hustle and bustle of Pontnewydd.
Maz referred to her salon as a “community hub” saying: “We refer to it as a village, and even all the business owners, they all look out for each other. The community looks out for each other.”
The last 30 years have seen external factors like the credit crunch, a recession and Covid affect the hair and beauty sector, but Maz has no regrets since writing “It’s mine” in her diary on Monday 5 August 1996.
She said: “Opportunities don’t come your way every day. They don’t, and I don’t think you should live in a place of ‘what if ‘, so I think when opportunities come, you need to grab them and run with them.
‘Next 30 years’
“I never dreamed that I’d be here 30 years later, and now we’re talking about the next 30 years, so I would say absolutely, just go for it [if you’re thinking of starting a business].”
Her anniversary month has seen some clients share fond memories. She told how she enjoyed hearing them remember her mum, who was blind and had a guide dog, and worked front of house in her salon. The dog would lie down under the reception desk as Maz’s mum took calls and greeted clients.
Maz said: “It’s really special as I lost my mum a few years ago. It was nice to hear those things.”