Uptown Hair By Aimee
By Mary Runser

After graduating from the Toledo Academy of Beauty Culture with a Managing Cosmetologist License 1993, Aimee Rehberg went on to open her own salon called Uptown Hair in Maumee, Ohio in 2002. While away from the salon on vacation, the three women who worked for her decided to take positions elsewhere. So when Aimee returned, she did so to an empty salon. She continued to run the salon on her own for the next two years until the owner of the building passed away and the lease was not renewed.
           
Since childhood, Aimee has had an affinity for hair. “I used to always create new styles for my Barbie’s hair.” She said. “Both of my grandmothers were cosmetologists. My dad’s mother owned her own salon in Polish Village for 30 years, and I worked with her while I was going to school.” She still has both of their cosmetology licenses, as keepsakes and reminders of her family’s hairstyling history.
           
Uptown Hair By Aimee is currently sharing space with another business. Aimee has some customers who have followed her from her former salon to her new space, and much of her new clientele has come from word of mouth advertising. Sharing space with someone else helps keep the overhead costs much lower and, “the space is quiet compared to the hustle and bustle of other salons which gives me the ability to spend one-on-one time with each of my customers, and because of that I have the opportunity to make each one feel special.”
           
As is true of almost all of us, Aimee has faced some personal tragedies in her life. “I lost my mother to pancreatic cancer when I was 17 years old.” She said, “It was one of the most difficult things I’ve had to deal with in my life.” Aimee explained that it was “strange being that age, and not knowing anyone else my age who had gone through that. Not that I would have wished that on anyone, but it left me feeling very much alone.” She recommends the book Motherless Daughters by Hope Edelman for any young girl or woman who has lost her mother because “it just helps you realize that you aren’t as alone as you feel.” As traumatic as that experience was for Aimee, “it gave me an early insight into the fragility of life. Life isn’t something to be wasted; we should live each day doing something we love to do.”
           
In 2008, after several years of a deteriorating marriage, Aimee and her husband divorced and she was left with the primary responsibility of raising their two children. It’s been difficult at times, to say the least, but they have survived and even flourished. And there are brighter days in their future. Aimee met and fell in love with a wonderful man named David, and they plan to marry this summer. “I never thought that I would be at a point in life where I would be trying to blend two families, and yet, here I am. But I love the person that he is and the compatibility that we have with each other, and I want to be able to share that with my children and his, and just let them know that life can be really good.”
           
Not having her own salon isn’t stopping Aimee. “I own a business within a business, and that’s fine. The important part for me is that I am doing something that I love to do. I have the chance to make each client happy. There is a lot of love, passion, interaction, and humanity in the hair-dressing culture, and I get to be a part of that by creating that special time with each of my customers.”

If you have found this story interesting, inspiring, or informative please let Aimee know! You can contact her at 419-340-8607, email her at aimee.rehberg@gmail.com, or stop in at 128 E. Front St. Perrysburg, Ohio.