Tabitha Shramek is no stranger to hairstyling. The Wellsville-Middletown graduate has 18 years of experience in the beauty salon business, all of them in Montgomery County.

Now, Shramek has a shop of her own. She recently opened Under The Dryer at 112 W. Third Street in Montgomery City, the same location where Lanie’s Beauty Salon was housed for 49 years before owner Orlana Gardner retired on May 26.

“Honestly, I knew that Orlana had retired,” Shramek said. “So I called her asking her what she is going to do with the building. Then, I found out that she didn’t own the building. So she pointed me in the right direction of that. That’s kind of how I got by just knowing that Orlana had retired.”

Shramek’s new shop officially opened on Jan. 10. It will open from Tuesday through Friday by appointment.

“I really just want to bring consistency,” Shramek said. “I am very much somebody who if I tell you I’m here, I’m here. I like to stay open on certain days. That’s one of those things. If you’re not open on the days you said you’re going to be open, it’s not great. I try to work around peoples’ schedules. I try to make things work for people. I’m here a lot late at night. A lot of times, I’ll be here until 8 or 9 o’clock at night. I’m here quite a bit. It’s like my second home.”

Shramek said after the first week of business, most of her customers found out about the shop through word of mouth. She just created a Facebook page.

“I have a very loyal clientele,” Shramek said. “So really my books were pretty much full with my previous clients, which kind of stinks for Montgomery because we don’t have that many salons. I have had a ton of messages since putting it on Facebook. It’s going to be hard for me to fit more people into my already busy schedule.”

Shramek had worked at Jean-Franc Salon in Wellsville for nine years before she decided to open her own business. Before that, she worked nine years at the old Hair-I-Am salon in Montgomery City, which closed in December 2021 after owner Sharon Pottebaum retired.

Shramek said it wasn’t easy to pick out a name for her new salon.

“I have so many lists of names of salons,” she said. “I would pick it out, then I would listen to it for weeks and realize that I didn’t like it. So it took me forever and I finally settled on this one after list and list. There is no other salon in the state of Missouri that has that name. So that was another big thing. I didn’t want to be like anybody else.”

Shramek said she knew she wanted to be a hairstylist after graduating from W-M in 2003. She went on to attend Merrell University of Beauty Arts and Science in Jefferson City.

“It was kind of one of those things in which back in high school, they ask you what you want to do,” Shramek said. “It really wasn’t in my mind until I made myself sit down and figure out what I could actually want to do. This is one of those things where when I get up in the morning, I don’t really ever have those days where I don’t want to be here. I always wanted to be here. I have a problem getting out of bed, but once I’m here, I don’t even think about it. I’m just here and I don’t really think about it as work anymore.”

To make an appointment, call 573-590-4169.