A blessing of youth is enthusiasm. JONES IS NOT closing the door on hair styling for good. She intends to enroll in Fort Scott Community College’s cosmetology program and earn a certificate to teach the art.
For instance, if one door closes, another seems to open almost instantaneously.
Cassie Jones, 30, is leaving her career as a hair stylist to pursue home restoration.
The decision came because the act of cutting hair proved too painful to her hands. After 10 years of having to hold a comb and scissors just so, Jones has sold her share of Addictive Trendz to partners Jessica Marvin and Amber Glasgow
She has a doctor’s appointment early this month to learn more about her hands, whether it’s a recurrence of tendonitis or something else.
Meanwhile, she’s looking ahead to spending more time on her hobby of restoring homes.
“I did mine,” on South Sycamore, “and started on this one,” she said of a house moved from east of the Bowlus Fine Arts Center to the 400 block of South Oak.
Jones’ role, strictly as a volunteer and as a learning experience, to date has been to carefully remove “four layers of wallpaper that was painted over” on walls and ceilings of the ground floor of the two-story house, built in 1910.
“That was a quite a job,” Jones said, noting that to protect exquisite oak woodwork she spent “about 15 hours just covering it with plastic and taping it off.”
From there, Jones hopes to tackle the upstairs.
“As soon as I’m able I’m going to give it a deep cleaning,” Jones said, which is divided into several small rooms. Her favorite is the most spacious, with three sides filled with windows. Wainscoting covers walls and ceiling.
“This is a room I’d love to have at home,” she said.
“I’m excited to get my hands back to where they ought to be,” which might include a small salon in her home.
She’d also like to do more volunteer work.
“People have been good to me and l want to give back to the community,” she said.
“I want to help with SAFE BASE,” she said of USD 257’s after-school program. “It would be fun to teach little girls to braid their hair and show them that they’re beautiful without makeup.”
Hope Unlimited also is in her sights. And, Jones said the day might come when she’d try to be a writer.
“I’m keeping a journal of what I’ve done with this house (on South Oak), the same as when I restored mine,” she said.
Fact is, hidden away in the walls of her home are several time capsules, in which she put notes and trinkets for someone to discover years from now.
Iolan looks ahead to new career in restoration
