The Hair Shoppe Celebrates 20 Years

Del Carmen –“Your Hair Defines Your Image”

Your hair defines your image probably more than any other feature of your appearance according to Del Carmen Cadena, La Feria professional hair stylist and entrepreneur. “There are so many new ways and techniques now to give you the look you want,” she said, adding that “I have to continually attend classes and seminars just to keep up with what is the latest in family hair care, and to be able to deliver what my customers ask for.”

Del Carmen is the owner and operator of The Hair Shoppe beauty salon located at 220 East Oleander in La Feria. She spoke with LA FERIA NEWS about her business and future plans for her shop.

“I just love to make people feel beautiful,” she said. “They walk in feeling down, but they walk out feeling awesome and ready for anything–I like that; that is why I like my business.”

She related that making people and things more beautiful with her hands is something she has done since she was a child. Bearing this out, she said when she was six years old, she was crocheting pretty little gift designs and giving them to friends and family members.

“My mother was very talented and artistic, and she taught me many things to do with my hands,” she said. “I guess I just came by it naturally.”

As she grew up, Carmen got into her hair styling career professionally when she was l6-years-old taking a High School Cosmetology Course at Edinburg High School. “I practiced on my fellow classmates, all my friends and family. “And I knew that I had found my career.”

“But styles and the beauty business itself has really changed since then,” she continued. “I have to go to classes and seminars in Houston and elsewhere just to keep up with the latest styles and trends. Also, today we are getting more and more men of all ages in our salons, because they are becoming more conscious about their hair style and what it says about you.”

“Sometimes, I have to tell my customers that what they want is not for them–it really doesn’t fit their facial features,” she recounted. “Then, I try to show them what would look better on the–But, alas, sometimes, they listen, and sometimes they don’t.”

Always the educator, Carmen added a word of caution about some of the new trends in hair styling and color changes: “There is some danger in ALL chemical hair services, be it: hair coloring, permanents or straighteners, unless it is applied by a professional, licensed and trained stylist who understands the risks–This applies to men and women alike.

Del Carmen loves her business and loves La Feria. Before coming to La Feria, she had businesses in Donna and Mercedes.

Her reason for making the move was to be near her children who were attending schools in La Feria. But after living here 22 years, she is an enthusiastic native and very active in local civic activities and events. She and her husband own and operate The Little Lions Learning Center and a beauty and barber shop in Mercedes, but, that is a story for another time.

“Right now,” she says, “my interest is making The Hair Shoppe continue to be known as a Family Hair Care Center and do all I can to also help this beautiful city grow and prosper.“