UC salon strives to be a cut above the rest

Wendy McGaughey’s haircutting expertise has involved everything from shaving Nike logos on the backs of heads to cutting nose and ear hair for an 84-year-old man.
McGaughey opened her hair salon, Shear Perfection, in the University of Montana’s University Center in 1989, designing and building the shop herself in the space of the UC’s old bowling alley. 

“I’ve been here so long I feel like Mom to everyone,” McGaughey said with a laugh. “I’ve seen a lot of changes. It’s not like the normal hair salon. We’re an alternative campus, and we’ve done some pretty crazy stuff.”
The fully licensed private salon is entering its 20th year on campus, and it is the only original business still open in the UC.
“When I started in ’89, guys had long hair, and I’ve watched us slowly go shorter and shorter,” McGaughey said, adding that she has dyed girls’ hair basically every color of the rainbow.
She said she remembered a Japanese foreign exchange student who came into the salon wanting “something crazy and funny” and had McGaughey sculpt a giant “unicorn-like horn” off of his forehead. She remembered another student who wanted half of his head shaved bald, while leaving the other side long.
“She loves being around university students,” said her son Everett McGaughey, a 25-year-old UM graduate student. He added that the inspiration behind her energy comes from students on campus.
“She’s kind of the life of that shop,” he said. “A lot of things have changed, but it’s her energy that has helped to keep it plugging along. You can have a good product or have a good service, but without the energy and excitement, a business can fail.”
Jo Jakupcak has been getting her hair cut by McGaughey for almost 30 years.
“She always makes me feel as if I look like a million bucks, even though I’m a 68-year-old woman,” Jakupcak said. She said she also admires McGaughey as a businesswoman who transformed a salon employing a few hairstylists into one that now offers massage, nail and tanning services, and many accessories and hair products for sale.
Her daughter Yvonne McGaughey, a senior at UM, described her mother as “always happy and optimistic,” and a very good listener. She added that McGaughey kept the salon going during her fight with cervical cancer four years ago, although she could not work in the shop and often had to go to Seattle for treatments.
McGaughey’s motivation to keep going has been the desire to make people feel good. She said one of the best feelings is when she sees a client “walk out, and they just feel pretty.” She said she sees hairstyling as a way to channel her artistic expression by working with her hands.
McGaughey’s salon also donates to the “Locks of Love” program, which creates wigs for cancer patients who have lost their hair during chemotherapy.
“She has a positive attitude towards life and doing good in the world,” Jakupcak said. “She makes sure people have positive experiences when they are around her and that extends beyond her beauty shop.”
carmen.george@umontana.edu