Sisters sell feathers and flowers as hair decorations

Jalyn and Jacylyn Zieglowsky of Washington are blazing a trail in women?s headwear. The Zieglowsky sisters sell feathers and flowers that attach to one?s hair. They have their own Web site with pictures of the feathers and flowers. They?ve also gone to the farmers market in Washington a few times to sell their wares.

The Zieglowsky girls and their father, Jay, take a vacation every year to Bozeman, Montana. The Zieglowskys lived in Montana until they moved to Iowa five years ago.

In July, the Zieglowskys made the 18-hour trip to Bozeman in one day. While in Bozeman, they attended a farmers market. Jalyn said she and her sister were intrigued when they saw a woman putting feathers in people?s hair. She and Jacylyn asked the woman where she got the feathers and how she attached them to hair.

Jalyn and Jacylyn noticed that many of their friends in Montana wore feathers in their hair, too.

?I had never seen them before until I stayed at a friend?s house in Montana,? Jalyn said. ?I assumed they were artificial until the woman at the farmers market told me they were real.?

Jalyn said most of the feathers she?s seen are rooster feathers.

?They come from all over the world,? she said. ?Since they?re real, you can straighten or curl them.?

Jalyn said the feathers are especially popular in Montana because fly fishermen use them to make their lures.

?Montana is really into fly fishing,? said Jalyn, a senior at Washington High School.

Jacylyn, a sophomore in high school, said feathers have become so popular among teenage girls in Montana that the price of fishing lures has skyrocketed because of the increased demand.

Shortly after their return from Montana, the Zieglowskys set up their own feather-making business in their home.

?We have a wide variety of colors,? Jalyn said. ?We have feathers that are purple, teal, red, white, black, yellow and green. I choose the color. We try to go for pinks, purples and teals, because those are the most popular. They also come in both short and long varieties. We try to find longer ones because it seems people want the longer type.?

Jacylyn and Jalyn said they are planning to sell plenty of orange and black feathers in preparation for the Homecoming football game Oct. 7.

Jalyn said that while a majority of young girls in Montana wear feathers in their hair, the trend has yet to catch on in Iowa.

?There is not as much fly fishing in Iowa, and I think that?s why they?re more popular in Montana than here,? Jalyn said. ?I?ve met girls here who are like, ?People wear feathers in their hair? Really???

The Zieglowskys attach a feather to a person?s head by putting the feather and a few strands of hair inside a plastic bead. Then they take a pair of pliers and pinch the bead shut.

?The feather stays in anywhere from two to four months,? Jalyn said. ?I have one and it?s so little, you don?t notice it at all. It?s just like your regular hair you could say.?

In just two months, the Zieglowskys have changed the way young girls think about decorating their hair. Jalyn said they have put in over 100 feathers since they started their business.

The Zieglowsky girls have expanded their product line in the past two weeks, adding ornamental flowers to their repertoire. They receive colored flower petals and then use a hot glue gun to adhere them to one another. The flower is then clipped onto the hair so it can be easily removed at night. Jacylyn said the designs on the flower petals are ?zebra,? ?cheetah,? and polka dot, among many others.

?Right after church last Sunday we spent the whole afternoon making flowers,? Jacylyn said. ?We try to pick out the designs that girls will like the most, that will look cute and go with different outfits.?

Jalyn said she and her sister dedicate a lot of their free time to their business, which they call ?Featherz.?

?Most days we go to school, do our homework in the evening and then make flowers,? Jalyn said. ?We make flowers on a daily basis.?

The Zieglowskys have also begun to make ribbons. They have made ribbons that promote cancer awareness, which they said is very important to them.

Jacylyn said she wants to keep their business going as long as possible, but she doesn?t know what will happen after her sister graduates.

?I?m not going to let her leave for college I love her so much,? Jacylyn said. ?We?re going to have to see where the trend goes.?