Faith and fresh starts: Crown & Co. opens under new ownership

WASHINGTON — Jacylyn Zieglowsky has spent years watching people arrive in a salon chair carrying more than split ends and seen them change, in small ways beyond their hair, even before spinning them to face the mirror.

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A client’s shoulders loosen as the shampoo water warms. A tense jaw softens as conversation turns from errands to real life. A deep breath lands when the cape snaps into place and someone finally sits still long enough to feel taken care of.

Zieglowsky has built nearly a decade in the beauty industry around those moments — the quiet reset that comes with being seen and listened to while your hair takes shape. In the new year, she decided to build a business around them.

She took ownership of the salon at 125 North Iowa Ave. after working under the leadership of former owner Kelsey Billups at The Avenue Salon & Spa. Zieglowsky renamed the business Crown & Co. Salon, a title she chose to showcase what she says matters most: faith, confidence, warmth and the belief that people carry more than a haircut when they walk out the door.

“It’s really cool to be able to create an environment that is for everybody, more of a community kind of thing, focused on making people feel welcome,” Zieglowsky said.

The shift from stylist to owner happened quickly on paper. In real life, it grew out of timing and years of steady work.

Zieglowsky said Billups shared plans to begin working from home as her family grew, and Zieglowsky recognized an opening she had prayed over for a long time. She felt ready to take the leap because she didn’t just learn the craft behind the chair; she learned how to manage the work of building something people return to.

“I’ve always been an independent booth rental,” she said. “So I already had to manage my stuff. I already had to take care of my clientele and, you know, advertising and getting referrals.”

Many stylists who rent a chair function like small business owners long before they hold a deed or sign a purchase agreement. They handle scheduling, marketing and client retention on their own, then build careers one appointment at a time. Zieglowsky said the experience gave her the confidence to move forward when the opportunity came.

Still, ownership has already stretched her in the few weeks since taking over at the beginning of the year.

“It’s a lot more than I expected,” she said.

Zieglowsky didn’t step into a stranger’s dream. She stepped deeper into a place she had already helped grow. She worked in the salon when it operated from another location and worked alongside the former owner, Kelsey Billups, as they settled into the current building. That history gave her a sense of continuity even as she began shaping a new identity.

“I kind of feel like it — I’ve been a part of the growth of it,” Zieglowsky said. “And then now, I am able to call [it] mine.”

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Zieglowsky chose Crown & Co. because she wanted the name to carry what she believes quietly guides her life: purpose, timing and a steady kind of confidence. She didn’t want branding that shouted her faith, but definitely still kept it front and center.

“I believe in God, and I believe that everything comes in His perfect timing,” she said.

The name also builds on language for what she hopes clients walk out wearing — not just styled hair, but a lighter sense of self filled with confidence. Zieglowsky said she kept returning to a phrase she has seen and shared for years.

“There’s been a lot of sayings that your hair is the crown that you never take off,” she said.

In Zieglowsky’s mind, the “crown” says two things at once. It nods to beauty and self-worth, and it reminds her that confidence doesn’t always come from a perfect day. Sometimes it comes from a small moment of care.

That belief started long before she held the title of owner. Zieglowsky said she fell in love with the feeling of leaving a haircut renewed.

“I’ve always loved, like when I was growing up, going to get your hair cut, and it makes you feel like a million bucks,” she said. “It gives you that confidence. It gives you that great feeling of feeling new and fresh.”

She wanted to give that feeling back to others, like clients who arrive stuck, discouraged or tired of fighting with hair that won’t cooperate.

“That way I could make them have their dream hair,” Zieglowsky said, “and help them fix the problems that they are having with their hair, and make them feel really confident and beautiful.”

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Under Crown & Co., Zieglowsky wants the confidence to come from more than a finished style. She wants it to rise from the way the space feels, the way clients get welcomed, and the way the people inside it treat them.

“When people come in here, I want them to feel welcome, excited and loved,” she said. “I want them to feel like it’s a safe space no matter what.”

She talks about that safety because she sees what clients bring through the door. Some come for a trim. Others come for a reset. Many come because they trust the chair as a place where real life can land without judgment.

“We all have life, and we have hard things and sad things and big things that we go through life,” Zieglowsky said. “The different mountain tops and valleys.”

She said she wants that comfort to feel intentional, not accidental.

“A lot of people already feel comfortable talking to their cosmetologist,” she said, “but I want it to be something even set more aside.”

In Zieglowsky’s view, the care doesn’t stop when the cape comes off. She said she carries those conversations with her long after the salon closes.

“We think about this stuff after hours, after closing,” she said.

Her faith shows up in that follow-through.

“I pray for a lot of my clients and the things that are going on in their lives,” Zieglowsky said.

That same faith threaded its way into the team Zieglowsky began building at Crown & Co. She wanted to work alongside someone she trusted, someone whose presence matched the tone she envisioned. Her first call went to Halie Moeller, a longtime friend who has known her since high school and who now joins her at the salon.

Moeller said the partnership feels like a plan that lived in the background for years — the kind of dream friends talk about casually until life suddenly makes room for it.

“It’s exciting,” Moeller said. “And we’ve talked about it before, and then being able to actually make our dream come true, it is really awesome.”

Zieglowsky said she sees Moeller as a natural fit for the environment she wants clients to experience the moment they walk through the door: kind, open, and easy to talk to.

“She’s a very bright and super sweet person,” Zieglowsky said. “We both are very caring people that share a faith in God.”

The friendship matters for more than comfort. Zieglowsky said she also wants the salon to support the real lives of stylists, not just their work. She pointed to Moeller’s plan to homeschool her children and said she wants Crown & Co. to offer flexibility without sacrificing professionalism or purpose.

“It’s really fun that I can create a salon space that is flexible for her life,” Zieglowsky said. “You manage you, you be on your own boss.”

As Zieglowsky reshapes Crown & Co., she looks forward to creating a warm, welcoming environment. The salon’s previous style leaned industrial, she said, and she wants to soften that edge over time with a more relaxed atmosphere.

“So, slowly but surely, I can kind of make it into a boho style salon,” Zieglowsky said.

She shared a vision of a room that invites people to breathe featuring plants, natural textures and small details chosen less for trend than for comfort.

“Adding, you know, plants and like, adding things that bring me joy,” she said. She wants the space to feel “very comforting and relaxing.”

Zieglowsky’s plans extend beyond aesthetics. The building’s back rooms leave space for the salon to grow into something more than hair, she said, especially if she can find the right fit. While the future is not set in stone, she anticipates eventually welcoming professionals such as a massage therapist or aesthetician.

Even with those possibilities, Zieglowsky said she won’t rush expansion at the expense of the salon’s tone.

“It’s definitely important to keep a good, positive atmosphere,” she said.

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That priority shapes how she talks about the people who helped her reach this point. Zieglowsky credits former owner Kelsey Billups.

“She gave me a place to grow,” she said.

She also pointed to support beyond the salon, including her family and Angie Crawford, her instructor in cosmetology school, who still provides guidance years later.

I can definitely always call her and get the advice from her,” she said.

When asked what she would tell her 2016 self fresh out of cosmetology school, Zieglowsky focused on endurance through the long days, holidays, and the persistence it takes to build something that lasts.

“Keep pushing, keep going,” she said. “Make the most of it. Time flies.”

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She said she built her career through more than technique. She built it by showing up for people, appointment after appointment, until clients became relationships and a salon became something more personal than a service.

“Genuinely having a good relationship with your clients,” Zieglowsky said. “Having that connection with people means more.”

That belief now anchors Crown & Co. as Zieglowsky begins her first year as an owner offering confidence through hair, care through conversation and a welcome shaped by the faith she says has guided her timing all along.

“It’s worth it all,” she said.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Kruse@southeastiowaunion.com