Third generation
Starnes opens K•M Salon Studio in Sola suites along Parkside Dr.
The owner/designer serves men, women and children, providing haircuts, color, blonding, Biologes, highlights, gray coverage and hair extensions, for which she is Bellami-certified.
Keely explained Bellami is a brand of hair extensions.
“It’s a real good quality of human hair, and there are a bunch of techniques that I can use, depending on what someone may need or want,” she explained.
Keely said people get extensions if they are having issues growing out their hair or if they have naturally fine hair.
“There are a lot of different alternatives and methods of hair extensions that will help bring out someone’s confidence,” she said. “For myself, I really like to have them.”
Also, “if someone wants longer hair or thicker hair or if they want an accent color, you can do it with extensions,” said her grandmother, Phyllis Starnes, a retired hair dresser and the first-generation hair dresser.
“So the white hair, it’s super popular to have pieces of it in the hair,” Keely said. “I can use the extensions.”
She also can add silver, purple or other color extensions.
“I can use the Bellami hair to prevent damage,” Keely said. “It’s an option not a lot of people know of, and it’s not permanent. It will help the (person’s natural) hair grow, too.”
The salon also specializes in Kevin Murphy products, an Australian “mostly natural” brand.
“She technically grew up in a salon,” Phyllis said of her granddaughter.
“My grandmother did hair, and my mom did hair, so being around it growing up, I knew it was something I liked and I got into it,” Keely said. “I graduated high school early and started (Douglas J. Aveda Institute) cosmetology school at 16 in 2016.”
“Initially, we tried to talk her out of (hair styling), and that was a no-go,” her grandmother said. “I think at that time, her mother and I were kind of burnt out. We had been doing hair for so long. People think that it’s glamorous, but it’s really hard work.
“But she loves it,” Phyllis added about her granddaughter. “I can’t imagine her doing anything else.”
After cosmetology school, Keely worked at Natural Alternatives for a year as an assistant, and then Ulta Beauty in Oak Ridge for five years before she decided to branch out on her own “to have more control over my scheduling.
“A lot of people were waiting two to three weeks out to come in for appointments,” she added. “There was nothing more I could do on my side to help people be able to come in earlier. Now people don’t have to wait as long.”
“At Ulta, you can only work so many hours,” Phyllis explained. “It’s total freedom here.
“This is the fourth salon I have (helped) open over the years,” the grandmother added. “I come in an help. I guide.”
“Switching to K•M was like going back to my roots,” Keely said, adding she is using natural products that are environmentally friendly.
K•M Salon Studio is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, and by appointment on Sunday. It is closed Monday and Thursday.
“I kind of come in whenever I’m needed,” Keely said.
To book an appointment, visit her website at keelystarnes.glossgenius.com, e-mail to Keely.Starnes.Hair@gmail.com or call 865-422-4648.
She also is on Facebook and Instagram, @Keeley_Starnes.
