A Cut Above the Rest

from Ojai Magazine. Summer 2022

Four Far-Flung Adventures

The hair salon on Signal Street with a history and a future

A CUT ABOVE THE REST

by JESSICA CIENCIN HENRIQUEZ

In a town as rapidly changing as Ojai, some things remain the same. the post office bell tolls on the hour, the sunsets stay divine, and 312 north signal street has always been a hair salon.

The building was completed in 1968 by Tom and Agnes Montgomery, a husband and wife team who wanted to work together, have lunch together, but still have enough room to maintain their sanity. The front half of the building became Montgomery’s Barber Shop, and the building’s side entrance led into the beauty salon. Their son, Duane, worked as a cosmetologist in the salon until his father’s death, at which point he took over as a barber. In the years since, Duane has retired, and the keys have changed hands to several stylists, but its newest storefront, Bohéme, looks like it’s here to stay. In the summer of 2020, Bohéme was enthusiastically welcomed into the neighborhood, earning the spot of Ojai’s Best Salon in its first year of business. Bohéme’s owner and Ojai native, Jen Keeler, confessed she’d been eyeing the space for

years before it finally became available. “There’s history in those walls and hair in the floorboards — to me, that makes this place incredibly unique.” History is important to Keeler, not only Ojai’s history but her own. She grew up in Ojai and graduated from Oak Grove School. In her 20s she had her sights set on the stage and thought she might pursue acting, a profession not hard to imagine with Keeler’s ocean-blue eyes, flawless smile, and bubbly energy. “I loved theater; I met my husband doing a play together. But, I had an acting teacher who said, ‘If you ever find anything else in the world you love, that fills your cup, do that instead,’ and that’s what I’m doing now.” After Keeler made a name for herself in the Los Angeles beauty scene, securing a steady list of high-profile clientele on Melrose, she returned to her hometown to give her daughters the same roots that helped shape her. “I had the most magical childhood here, and I wanted to recreate it for my girls. It’s a total dream come true to watch them grow up where I did, play in the same parks, walk down the same school path my friends and I used to run down when we were kids.”

Though Keeler’s plan for Bohéme was years in the making, the opening came with its share of unexpected snags. As COVID-19 swept through the country and California residents entered lockdown, Keeler locked in the lease, unsure when it would be safe to open. “We were told a couple of weeks, but none of us knew back then how long this would last. I decided to use that time to renovate the space and make it our own.” Keeler brought her childhood friend and interior-design powerhouse Lilly Walton on board to help execute her vision. “Jen’s always dreamt of having her own salon, so it was always in the back of our minds that when the time came I’d be right there to help her bring it to life.” Though the pair had been friends since they were 4 years old, there were details of Keeler’s vision Walton couldn’t have known until they stood in the stripped space together. “It was important for Jen to have one big open room for the stylists to work side-by-side, feeding off of each other’s energy. She wanted to be able to kick open the doors with her foot if her hands were full or if her gloves were covered in color. These were things only Jen knew, so I took notes on the details and demands of her job and worked them into the design.” The remodel took six weeks, and Keeler was there with her team every step of the way. “This project gave me purpose during the pandemic. It got me out of the house and gave me something to do every day. My

**Founder, Jen Keeler**
Photo by Emma Larkin

husband was homeschooling the kids, and if I didn’t have the salon, we both would have been at home spiraling out.” Keeler put the pressure on, knowing they had to be ready to open the second the state gave the green light. “Every day we were closed meant time and money lost. So, I made construction my full-time job, taking trips to Home Depot like a madwoman because I wanted us to be ready.”Between all the mandates and changing COVID-19 precautions, Bohéme opened and closed its doors multiple times over the first year of business, shutting down for a total of seven months. “It was so stressful and extremely unsettling because orders were always effective immediately. ‘Closed, effective immediately.’ ‘Open, effective immediately.’ There was no warning for us or our clients; it was such a roller coaster for everyone.” Once the vaccine was approved and COVID-19 cases slowly began to taper off , Bohéme opened its doors for good. “It’s been an intense experience, and there are things we couldn’t prepare for, that we had to learn as we went, like how to hold the elastic of someone’s mask with my pinky while I cut around their ears — they don’t teach that in hair school.”

Keeler has managed to face these unexpected hurdles head-on, seemingly unfazed, not an ounce of optimism lost. “But that’s Jen, she is the kind of person who can just roll with whatever comes her way, and not many people can do that,” says Stevi Cervantes, Keeler’s assistant, who is currently building up her own client book to fill her chair. “I worked with Jen at her old salon, and she brought me over with her. It wasn’t a hard decision at all. She’s an amazing boss; I’d follow her wherever.” There’s a strong sense of loyalty with every person in Keeler’s circle, a trust that has been earned and reciprocated. Her clients and colleagues use the same words to describe the energy, grace, and confidence Keeler exudes in every sentence and gesture. It’s no wonder why she has been voted Ojai’s Best Stylist eight years

in a row. Keeler, ever humble, manages to wrangle the humor out of what has been a heartbreaking couple of years for this community. “It’s been a ride, for sure. Someone will come in, masked, and ask me to cut their hair to their jawline, but I can’t see any jawline because we’re covered up. So, I’ll bring them outside and ask them to fl ash me their face. Let me show you my smile and you show me yours, and then we’ll get started,” Keeler says, laughing at the absurdity of this new shared reality. The welcome mat out front says, “come as you are,” and the invitation is not only for the clients but also for the Bohéme team. “Normal bosses have their boundaries up, but with Jen, I could go to her with anything happening in my life, and she o ers a listening ear without judgment,” says Cervantes.

**The women of La Boheme Ojai**
Photo: Emma Larkin

This salon feels like a sisterhood reminiscent of Steel Magnolias. Stylists hug each other hello and their clients goodbye; they pick up conversations where they left o on the last trim or the last shift. “It feels like she hand-picked us all,” says Ashleigh Zannon, veteran stylist and Keeler’s longtime friend. “We all come from different walks of life, we’re in different stages of life, but Jen is a master networker, a real plugger-inner. She puts people in the room who move together seamlessly.” Keeler was intentional about choosing a team of women she respects. “I don’t have anyone working here that I wouldn’t trust with my own hair,” says Keeler, “All of my stylists have a different area where they shine, but whoever has three minutes to spare cuts mine.” The familiarity and ease they share are evident the moment you step through that front door; there’s a genuine intimacy that’s hard to capture. “Jen has been wanting this space for years, and it feels like the space wanted her, too,” says Sue Kiel, an Ojai local and Bohéme regular. “She’s created magic here, and you feel it. I trust Jen completely, not only with my hair but with the stories I’ve shared with her — I know her life, and she knows mine.”

Many Bohéme clients describe their visits to the salon as “hairapy”, a time to sit down, unload, and leave feeling lighter in every way. “It’s true,” says Keeler, clients share with us more than they share with their therapists.” Each stylist brings connection, openness, and an immediate extension of trust to their clients. “I’m not in the hair business to do hair; I like to make people feel good and bring people joy — I think it’s one of the reasons people open up to me,” says Keeler. “I think it’s also because when they sit down, and they look in the mirror, it’s very self-confronting. Almost always, the first thing out of a woman’s mouth is self-critical. They notice the bags under their eyes or the lines on their neck. They’ll say, ‘oh, I look so tired,’ and that propels them into talking about what’s going on in their lives, why they’re not sleeping, what’s wearing them down.”

If shears could speak, they’d know the stories of every client who has ever sat in these swivel chairs. They’d tell of the carefully curled beach waves and settled nerves before weddings, post-breakup bangs, blowouts meant to embolden women before interviews, and the soft buzzed scalps following a diagnosis. Instead, Keeler is the keeper of those secrets. “Watching Jen build this place has been amazing,” says Zannon. “She’s worked for every penny she’s ever made, she’s earned all of this herself, and her fingerprints are everywhere.” It’s not only Keeler’s fingerprints but the fingerprints of those who have carried her along the way. The Bohéme logo, displayed in the window, is the slanted script of her mother’s handwriting. The music playing on the speaker is from the playlist Keeler’s husband made. The jewelry displayed on floating driftwood comes from designers that Keeler adores and wears herself. Behind the reception desk is a print shot by Keeler’s childhood friend and Ojai-based photographer, Jessie Webster: a simple capture of yellow flowers from a familiar fi eld in Ojai. That framed picture brings together the energy of Bohéme, energy that sends a clear message: Welcome home.

www.bohemeojai.com