Lexie Reed and Dave Dobner have been cutting and styling hair for a combined 105 years. They will finish their careers together on Friday.
Brenda Keller | The Lima News
LIMA — It is no illusion that the team at FX Effects has been making community members look good for many years. Those same clients will now be looking for another salon after Friday when stylist Dave Dobner hangs up his scissors and closes the business.
Dobner opened the salon on Cable Road in 1991. Two other stylists, Lexie Reed and Shelly Gerdeman, also work at the salon. Dobner and Reed have a combined 105 years of experience in the hairstyling business.
How it all began
Although he provided haircuts for some friends while in high school, Dobner never aspired to be a hairstylist. Dobner said he had a roommate and “his hair always looked nice.” The roommate shared that his hairstylist was a man named Kenneth Frank. It was after he met Frank at Kenneth’s Salon that Dobner began to consider becoming a hairstylist.
“Kenneth was so friendly and really seemed to be having fun at work,” he said. “It made me think that type of work might be a good choice.”
After attending the Ohio State Beauty Academy in Lima, Dobner began working with Frank at Kenneth’s Salon at the corner of Spring Street and Jamison Avenue. Dobner married Frank’s stepdaughter Tina in 1977.
While working at Kenneth’s Salon, Dobner worked with another hairstylist named Lexie Reed. Lexie’s mother had been the owner of the salon prior to Frank purchasing the business. Dobner said Reed, “cut her teeth on this business.” He believes Reed was likely shampooing the hair of her mother’s clients while she was in high school or perhaps even earlier.
Reed then attended Richard Weston’s Carousel in Lima to become a hairstylist. Since then, she has worked in that role for 57 years. Reed is proud of the fact that she still has clients who have been with her since she began styling hair.
In 2000, Dobner hired Shelly Gerdeman to join the FX team. Dobner expressed gratitude that he has, “such a good staff, the right crew.”
Gerdeman, from Columbus Grove, has considered it “a privilege to work with Dave and Lexie. Dave has been very generous and caring. He knows everyone (clients) by name. Lexie is the sweetest person. She takes care of me like a mom. I could not have worked with any better boss and co-worker.”
A significant change
One of the most significant changes Dobner has seen during his career is the “compensation structure.”
“More salons are using a booth rental approach where the stylists are independent contractors,” he said.
As independent contractors, the stylists set their own hours, buy their own hair care products and maintain responsibility for their training requirements.
Dobner stressed that forming a bond with customers is key in his line of work.
“You can acquire customers, but if you don’t bond with them, they won’t come back,” he said.
Dobner effectively bonded with many customers, as evidenced by serving as a godparent to some of their children, serving multiple generations of the same family and having clients who even made provisions in their will to have him style their hair after they die for the funeral viewing.
“It’s such an honor,” he said. “It’s the last request you can fill for them and they trust you to do a good job and make their last presentation a good one.”
Retirement plans
When the salon closes this week, Dobner plans to retire. He will celebrate his 70th birthday on Dec. 31.
“Having a job I looked forward to going into each day is probably why I worked so long,” he said.
In his retirement, Dobner looks forward to spending more time with family, including his wife, Tina and his granddaughters. One of them, Frances Simone, age 2 and a half, will welcome a baby sister in March. Frances, affectionately called “Frankie” as a tribute to her great-grandfather, Kenneth Frank, has been a source of great joy to the Dobner family.
Dobner also looks forward to traveling, gardening, cooking and continuing his music career. He has two versions of his band. The rock version is known as, “Probable Cause” and the acoustical group is “Almost There.”
When asked what he will miss most about his work as a hairstylist, Dobner replied, without hesitation, “the people.”
“You see people on a rotation every four to six weeks and catch up on their lives,” he said. “I feel so blessed and thankful to have had this journey. I’ve had wonderful customers and employees. It’s been a good ride.”
