Local stylist cutting hair, growing community

Sonia Lamb contemplated a career in fashion design, but her father tried to dissuade her from that.

An aunt suggested she hold off on college and see if she enjoyed cutting hair.

Since graduating first in her class from O’Brien’s Institute, Lamb has done just that and in September of 2018, she opened her own studio, Salon Ink, on Pond Road in Hinesburg.

Lamb, 37, spent more than a decade working at a spa/salon before opening Sola Salon in Williston – where she worked for eight years.

“I was pretty much swimming in rent,” she said. “I was happy, I had a great clientele, and I liked the location, but I felt like I wasn’t going anywhere.”

Another aunt had a salon in the basement of her home and Lamb’s husband Jonathan thought she should try something similar.

But Lamb was somewhat hesitant: “I wanted it to be grand. I wanted it to be something special.”

The couple began to shop around for homes with the intent of installing a salon, and landed on an 1890s farmhouse.

Jonathan, a builder by trade, was able to construct the salon, which the couple designed. “It took us a year from applying for the first permit to opening the doors,” Lamb said. “It’s been awesome and I got exactly what I was hoping for.”

Not only have Lamb’s loyal clients followed her to the new location, she has added a number of new ones.

“The Hinesburg community has really reached out,” she said. “When we were building it, people stopped by to say hello and the community really seems happy to have a new place in town.” Lamb has had some assistants at the studio but otherwise she has been working solo. That may change because she has so many clients that she is looking to add a second stylist.

The salon work is hard on her feet since on some days she works from 9 a.m.-.11 p.m.

Although she has been working in the field since high school, Lamb doesn’t get bored.

“The beauty industry is the number one growing field out there,” she said. “It’s changing constantly.”

Lamb sells some beauty products and does facial waxing, but her expertise is in coloring and cutting. She noted that there are more and more kinds of hair products to choose from and a greater variety of hair colorings, so she has to keep abreast of changes in the field.

She displays the work of local artists in her studio and sells the wares of a local jeweler and a handbag maker. The complementary snacks which she serves come from Sweet Simone’s in Richmond.

Lamb’s clients are generally between the ages of 28 and 58, but she has had some teenagers from Champlain Valley Union High School and other kids from her son’s elementary school. Most of her clients are women, but some men who commute on Pond Road have stopped by for a cut, too.

Lamb loves that she doesn’t have to commute to the studio, and she is making sure she can maintain a work/life balance. She enjoys being able to see her son get off the school bus in the afternoon.

“I need make sure I have time for other things, but I love what I do.”