BY MAGGIE BEAMGUARD
Insider Editor
Stepping into the Sugar and Spice Salon in Seven Lakes will make you feel like a kid again. Bright colors and friendly animal faces cover the walls and certainly appeal to the pint sized clients Kasey Jasuta, the salon’s owner, hopes will fill the police car and airplane Paw Patrol styling chairs.
The week before the salon’s grand opening on April 13, Jasuta turns on the lights in her new space. As she describes the vision behind each cheerful area she has created, she grows increasingly animated.
A mural dominates the waiting area and reaches into every corner. Jasunta points out that two of her animals — her larger-than-life Persian cat, Sammy, and her dog, Brinkley — are represented on the wall.
A bug-eyed snail crawls atop a picket fence while a spicy puppy dog investigating a mailbox wags his tail. Darling animals and insects — ladybug, rabbit, frog, mole, butterfly, mouse — peek from this corner and that.
At the styling chairs, Jasunta demonstrates how they light up and move. A smaller room adorned in pink stripes, green and cream delivers the sweetness. This is the Sparty Room, or the Party/Spa Room outfitted with a more sophisticated look. It’s where things get glam with manis and pedis, tinsel hair and teen haircuts.
Jasuta points to a precious pink teddy bear made of silk placed on a corner shelf alongside some of the salon’s nontoxic products. Emotion wells up for a moment before she shares that the bear was a gift from her grandmother when she was twelve. It is just one of many personal touches she has added to the space.
The creative vision for the salon even extends to the restroom. Blue walls covered with sea creatures give the feeling of swimming in an aquarium.
Taking stock of all she has accomplished, Jasuta seems wonderstruck — like a woman who just woke up from a long daydream and realizes it was real all along.
What She’s Made Of
Seated near the salon’s winsome mural created by Sandhills Community College student Avery Feree, painted clouds in animal shapes float above Jasuta’s head as she recounts her days of dreaming.
Jasuta moved to Seven Lakes at age eight with her parents, Suzanne and Tom. She entered beauty school immediately after high school and has been styling hair professionally for the last 20 years, many of them at a children’s salon in Fayetteville.
But in truth, she had a crash course in hairstyling long before that. Jasuta was born with congenital nevi covering one third of her head.
Multiple surgeries were required throughout her childhood and adolescence. During those already awkward teenage years, a surgical complication involving excess blood loss to the top of her head resulted in her losing one third of her hair.
“A week after surgery, my hair was just falling out in blobs,” said Kasuta. She was 15. Her mother, a nurse, jumped into troubleshooting. They tried wigs and hairpieces from as far away as Georgia.
“That is how I decided I wanted to be a hair stylist,” she said “These hair pieces, I had to color them myself. I had to cut them myself. I had to put them on every day by myself.”
At 15 she didn’t know how to do any of that.
“I had to learn fast.”
Her mother would take her to salons to get assistance with the hair pieces, but no professionals were skilled enough to help.
Snips and Snails
As dreams often are, it was written in the stars that Jasuta would follow this career path.
“I always had the idea that being a hairstylist was in my cards,” she said. “Having that happen to me as a child and going through everything I went through, and having hair be a source of contention and stress, I feel like this was meant to be.”
These formative experiences shaped Jasuta into an empathetic and intuitive person. Sensitive to the anxieties children and their parents may have about haircuts, Jasuta has methods for connecting with children to make them feel at ease. The child-friendly decor is just one aspect of this kind of service.
She takes special care with children who are neurodivergent, have sensory sensitivities or are just apprehensive about someone coming at them with a pair of scissors.
“I like to have them hold the clippers to let them feel the buzzing,” she said. “They see it’s not going to cut them.” Parents are part of the team, and if they are willing, she strokes the razor against the parent’s arm to show children it just tickles.
She lets them spray her hair with the water bottle or listen to the sound scissors make. Wally, a green puppet friend who is the salon’s official mascot, is also on hand to entertain and distract young ones.
Her mission statement reflects her values. Sugar and Spice is an all inclusive environment for children of all ages to receive salon services in an enjoyable, fun, stress-free and chemical free atmosphere.
Feathers, Too
The Sugar and Spice service menu includes a long list of fun possibilities for kids of all ages. Prices range from $8 for a bang or neck trim to $36 for a cut with shampoo and style. Mini manicures and pedicures run from $14-16. She offers tinsel hair and enchanted forest feather extensions. Hair donations meeting the specifications of Wigs for Kids receive a free haircut. A first haircut package comes with a certificate, before and after photo and a lock of hair. Party packages are also available.
Jasuta uses chemical free, natural hair products from a company in Southern California called Glop and Glam. And her nail polish, Piggy Paint, is non-toxic and water-based.
Services at Sugar and Spice, 980 Seven Lakes Drive Unit #4, are by appointment only, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Call or text (910) 975-5549 for appointments. Jasuta is prebooking her first appointments, available May 8.
Everything Nice
Sugar and Spice Salon is an outward expression of Jasuta’s colorful and kind spirit.
“I wanted to exude exuberance, love, joy, fun and happiness,” she said. “I am very happy and satisfied with how it’s come out so far.”
Like any new business owner she has learned lessons along the way and there is always more to do. Jasuta credits her parents with supporting her along each step including installing cabinetry and meeting with contractors.
She is ready to claim her place among other small businesses of Seven Lakes. “I think it’s very important in a small town to all work together and to support each other’s work,” she said.
“I’ve made it kind of my mission now that I am a business owner here in Seven Lakes. I really want to get to know other business owners, and if there’s anything I can do to serve them.”
Ultimately Sugar and Spice is about the children. She is drawn to their radiance and the silly things they say. “They are fun,” she said. “This venture brings a bright light to the world and to me. I feel so happy when I work with children. I just feel good.”
It must be all that sugar and spice.
Contact Maggie Beamguard at maggie@thepilot.com.
