Hair Care in the ’Ville

Hair Limits gives the town of Cedarville affordable haircare in a place where the people take an interest in the needs, concerns and joys of others.

Located on Main Street in Cedarville, Hair Limits offers a variety of services including haircuts, eyebrow waxes and prom and wedding hairdos.

Men, women and children get their hair done at this salon. It is a family-friendly business with a small area containing toys and games for children.

To expand its offered services, Hair Limits recently hired esthetician Kim Collum to give pedicures, manicures and facials.

In 1982, Janet and Mike Pettit opened Hair Limits. At the time, the Pettits owned a Hair Limits in Xenia as well. When a building in Cedarville became available, they decided to start a second salon. The Pettits operated both shops until closing the one in Xenia in favor of the Cedarville location.

Becca Revenaugh gives Cedarville student Emma Salisbury’s hair a pixie cut. (Photo: Kaity Kenniv)

Becca Revenaugh has worked at Hair Limits for three years, since she was 19.

She said they see a myriad of customers. “Literally, we see everyone from baby — like first haircuts — to roller sets,” Revenaugh said. “I have a 96-year-old coming in for a roller set later. We get different nationalities and different styles from around the world because of the university.”

Revenaugh said the best part about working at Hair Limits is the people.

“We’re really laid back,” she said. “It’s like working with my friends. And all my clients I call my friends. I get to hang out with people all day long and make them look good.”

Revenaugh cut Cedarville student Emma Salisbury’s hair to a pixie cut.

“My favorite thing (about Hair Limits) has been that Becca is my friend as well as my hairdresser,” Salisbury said. “They are just very personable, and they do a great job.”

Hair Limits recently invited Cedarville residents to celebrate the retirement of Linda Curtis, a Hair Limits employee of 14 years, and offered salon-goers cookies, cake and punch. Curtis retired after 52 years as a hairdresser.

“I started doing hair the day after Labor Day in 1962,” Curtis said.

Curtis owned and operated two of her own hair salons in Cedarville before coming to work for Hair Limits in 2000.

When talking about her customers, Curtis said, “We care about one another. We pray for one another. We might just stop right here and circle and have a prayer.”

Curtis has served four generations of Cedarville students since she started working as a hairdresser.

She even went to high school with Dr. David Jeremiah and his sister.

“I did Dr. Jeremiah’s wife’s hair,” she said.

Cathy Durham, a frequent customer, came into the shop to give Curtis a card and a friendly hug. Curtis has been doing Durham’s hair for about 38 years.

Durham said her favorite part about coming to Hair Limits is the interest the people there show about her life.

“Whenever I would come in, (Linda) would always ask me about my kids and my friend Marcie who has melanoma,” said Durham. “My mother had a stroke and her hair needed taken care of. I would bring her down here and Linda would do her hair in the wheelchair.”

While Curtis’ goals for Hair Limits are customer-focused, she said she works to keep Christ at the center of her occupation.

“The unique thing about Cedarville is that I can always express my faith,” Curtis said. “My chair was like my mission field. If I got you in that chair I was going to let you know that I believed in the Lord.”

The employees and the customers each understand and love the people-focused atmosphere of the business.

“That’s my favorite part of my job, period,” said Revenaugh. “I love living life with people — as they go through their college career, as they go through life.”

For the guys, Cedarville offers a barbershop, Barber of the ’Ville, that has attracted many customers in recent years.

Tony Pergram, known as The Barber of the ’Ville, has operated a barbershop in Cedarville for 11 years.

Since high school, he wanted to cut hair. Thirteen years ago, his dream became reality after he completed barbering school and received his barber license.

At first, Pergram worked as a barber in Fairborn. Customers would often drive from Cedarville to have their hair cut, because Cedarville had a beauty salon but no barbershop.

Cedarville Main Street’s Hair Limits salon has been a part of the village since 1982. The salon offers haircuts, pedicures, manicures, facials and special-occasion updos. (Photo: Jillian Philyaw)

“There was nowhere guys felt comfortable to be,” Pergram said.

Seeing the need, he opened his own barbershop in Cedarville on August 31, 2003. The barbershop was located where Stoney Creek is now. He called it The Ville Barbershop.

“As soon as I named it, I had to get an email address,” said Pergram. “So I got barberoftheville@yahoo.com, and I was like ‘Man! Why didn’t I name it that?”

Pergram moved in 2009 to the shop’s current location just a few buildings down from Stoney Creek. He named it Barber of the ’Ville.

Pergram had a unique vision for Barber of the ’Ville.

“Most barbershops are the old school mug-and-brush type with the barber pole and everything,” he said, “I wanted to do something different, something where guys under the age of 40 can be comfortable.”

The shop is lined with guitars, and the TV is switched to the sports channel.

Pergram said, “You won’t come in and have soap operas on TV. It’s not your dad’s barbershop, that’s for sure. It’s a place where men can come and be themselves.”

Pergram doesn’t advertise his services but relies instead on word of mouth. Through the reviews of others, he gets customers of all ages and occupations including college students, farmers, college professors, maintenance workers and people just traveling through.

The shop’s exterior also draws customers.

“About once a week somebody will stop their car, point their phone and take a picture and keep going just because the front is so cool,” Pergram said.

Pergram said the people are what matter most to him.

“It’s so much fun to have 15 minute conversations with people and get a little of their lives,” he said, “and then when they come back in six weeks later, ask how that went.”

Pergram said many take advantage of the community-friendly nature of the barbershop.

“I have a lot of people just come hang out,” he said. “You might think there’s a half-hour wait when actually there’s nobody in the chairs — just people lined up playing music or talking about the weather or whatever it is.”

Pergram talked about his second customer he had in Cedarville, Paul Cope.

“I married his daughter,” he wrote in an email. “His daughter Myndi and I have been together almost 11 years and have a 2-year-old daughter named Murphy.”

He said he is beginning to see another generation rise up.

“It’s kind of cool, you get to know people. I’ve seen kids grow up and now I’m cutting their kid’s (hair) because I’ve been here for eleven years,” Pergram said.

The shop has no phone. Pergram said he believes it interferes with focusing on the customer in the chair at the moment.

Instead, he updates customers about his whereabouts through his Facebook page.

The Barber of the ’Ville offers one simple service: haircuts.

“That’s one thing that makes the barbershop different from the salon,” he said. “When you come in, you won’t be smelling people getting perms or hair color.”

Pergram said that customers receive quick service, because individual haircuts take about 12 minutes each.

“Even if there are two or three people in front of you, you know that you’re going to be taken care of in the next half hour,” he said.

Nolan Russell, a customer, walked into the barbershop for a haircut. When asked about what made Barber of the ’Ville unique, he responded, “The barber!”

Austin Becton, a Cedarville student, wrote, “I love Tony’s barber shop because he gives fantastic haircuts, and he is a great member of our community. He promotes business in town and is a great friend to many students and citizens.”
Pergram said he has worked hard to make Barber of the ’Ville a welcoming and fun place where guys are comfortable.

“It’s a reflection of me,” he said. “Almost every guy can walk in and find a piece of themselves in here.”

Kaity Kenniv is a junior Biblical studies major and a reporter for Cedars. She loves reading by a blazing fireplace, taking long walks in the autumn and a cup of hot tea in the morning.