New hair salon with clever name looks to make the cut in Palisade

Tim Harty, The Business Times

Feeling nostalgic for the days when Farrah Fawcett’s hair ruled the fashion world? Better yet, do you want to leave the salon with an old-fashioned razor-cut shag?

Hailey Moya can do that for you.

Are you a military man looking for a high and tight?

Moya can do that, too.

Do you need color? Vivids? Extensions?

Moya, Moya, Moya!

Her specialty as a hairstylist isn’t any one thing. It’s everything. And if that’s what you need from your stylist, she’s got her own little shop now at 309 W. Eighth St. in Palisade, CurlUpNDye, which sits between the Palisade DinoMart convenience store and Diorio’s Pizza & Subs.

“I would say I can do anything,” Moya said. “I was working at Walmart for the longest time, so whatever walked in, you had to take. So, I can do men’s high-and-tight fades, but I can also do the old classic razor Farrah Fawcett shag.

“I love my colors. I love extensions, making hair longer. But I feel like I mainly find myself honing in and loving the most: vivids and extensions, like very fun, colorful, like you’re-walking-out-completely-different-than-how-you-came-in kind of thing.”

She’s closing in on seven years as a hairstylist, and Moya started CurlUpNDye while renting a booth at a salon near the Mesa Mall.

She said opening her own business is something she always wanted, but there was no compulsion, no nagging, “Let’s do this right now,” ringing between her ears.

Instead, Moya said, “It kind of just stumbled onto my plate at the right time.”

She saw the open commercial space in November, began talking to the landlords, and come Jan. 1, they gave her the keys to the unit.

“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s the universe saying this is the new year. This is the new chapter for you,” she said. “So I thought it worked out perfectly that way.”

A month of renovation followed, and Moya opened CurlUpNDye there on Feb. 1.

Like many a person who moved their business, Moya had good reasons for loading up all of her hairstyling stuff and setting it up in a quaint little commercial unit on the main drag in Palisade.

But optimism’s roommate in many business owners’ brains is doubt, and Moya wondered how many of her clients would follow her to Palisade. Her booth near Mesa Mall drew people from the west side of the Grand Valley. Would they drive the extra miles and follow her to the far eastern end?

The answer: Yes.

“I was expecting, you know, moving away from one side of the valley, all the way to the opposite side, I was gonna lose business,” Moya said. “But it’s been the opposite, and it’s been amped up. So far since moving, I’ve only lost one client, but she was an older gal and she lived right next to my old salon, so it was convenient for her. Other than that, I think I’ve gained close to 20 new people since being here, which is incredible.”

Also incredible? “I’m booked up til June,” Moya said on April 29. “I’ve never had that happen before.”

It makes sense, though. One of the reasons Moya chose to open in Palisade is she believed there was a need for hairstylists with her skills. She said another hairstylist opened a salon in Palisade about a month before her. Otherwise, she said, “I think before that Palisade had no one. I think there were a couple of older mom-and-pop-shop salons, but they strictly just did haircuts.”

Moya acknowledged that is only her perception, not research-substantiated fact, and she means no disrespect to anyone.

Undisputed, however, is the opportunity she believed Palisade provided.

“I saw a big, untouched market,” she said, “so I thought, ‘That’s perfect.’ And it gives me an even bigger chance to step out, being more on the, like, funky, whimsical, alternative side, too.”

Moya wants customers to know that, because if funky, whimsical and alternative is what they want, then that’s what they should get.

“I think my biggest thing that I’m discovering about CurlUpNDye is I want it to be a place where people who were always so intimidated to like say, ‘Hey, this is what I want. Can you do this?’ … I want to be the person that can bring that to life and make you feel confident,” she said.

With her versatility comes an invitation to everyone.

“I like being a vast or, I would say, a wide-service selection salon,” Moya said. “I don’t hone in on just one thing. I have military men that come in every 3 weeks. I have my little old ladies that come in once a week. But then I got my girls who come in once a year, or people I’ve never met before … I just like to be for everyone.”

CurlUpNDye is at 309 W. Eighth St., Suite 7, in Palisade.

To see photos of owner/stylist Hailey Moya’s work or make an appointment, go online to haileymoya1.glossgenius.com/services.

CurlUpNDye is active on social media such as Instagram and Facebook.

Inspiration for the name

A search of the Colorado Secretary of State website shows several other variations of Curl Up and Dye, one going as far back as 1986, but Moya said she came up with the name on her own. However, to register a Limited Liability Company name she could use, she had to remove the spaces between the words.

“I didn’t see it in a Julia Roberts movie. I didn’t get it from anyone else. I thought I was being very authentic with the name,” she said.

And two of her passions – hairstyling and heavy metal music – made the connection.

“I love everything alternative – I love metal music especially – so I kind of wanted a name that would look really cool in the metal chicken scratch, where it’s like, ‘Bah!’ like that. So, I’m like: curl up and die. I curl hair, and I dye it, but it’s also like a metal scream, like, ‘Curl up and die!’ And like, that’s sick, so I just clashed that together. So, that’s why I came up with it.”

Another pretty cool name

The young hairstylist who rents a booth inside CurlUpNDye has a cool name to rival the business: Dessa Lavender Sims.

Moya said she taught an alternative cutting class at a beauty school last year, met Sims there, and Sims followed her to Palisade, and Moya said, “I’m very lucky to have her.”

Duo soon to become a quartet

Moya said CurlUpNDye will be getting a nail technician in about two months. Then, Moya has another hair stylist lined up to join them once she gets licensed.

Proximity and less craziness

Moya said she saw a need for hair stylists in Palisade, but a couple other factors made it the right choice for her to get her own storefront.

First, she said, “I live in Clifton, on the cusp of Clifton and Fruitvale, so I was really excited to not have to drive 25 minutes to get to work anymore.”

And second: “I feel like Palisade, it’s very quiet, and it’s very away from the hustle and bustle of Grand Junction and what it’s becoming. So, I wanted to take a break from the craziness of Junction and point my business in a direction of like, ‘Let’s start grounding ourselves.’ And Palisade is a perfect place for that. Just a nice little, steady slowdown.”

Where everybody knows your name

Moya may love everything alternative, but old-fashioned has an allure as well.

“I love to spin on the vintage, because I grew up in all the older-lady salons, where they come in once a week for their perm sets. They’re all talking to each other and everyone’s just friends. That’s what I want this place to be,” Moya said.