The Market Salon brings sense of freedom to young Mountain Home native

When Addisen Persenaire decided to go her own way as a hairstylist in Arkansas, she was seeking two things: the ability to pursue and exercise her artistic side and an escape from corporate life.

That desire for freedom and artistic expression led her to leaving Fayetteville, Arkansas, and returning home to Mountain Home to create The Market Salon.

“I’m an artist,” said Persenaire. “I really like doing drawings and painting and colors. So, I wanted to do something creative, and I was initially going to do like makeup art, but I couldn’t find anything, and everything else was really far away. So, I landed on hair cutting and coloring because it uses colors and creativity as well.”

Nestled in her family’s shopping center off of Highway 62 in Mountain Home, Persenaire has created a cozy and tranquil salon for her and her clients to enjoy.

The salon, which was created in March of last year, is open from Monday through Friday and covers a variety of options for those seeking a haircut and more.

Persenaire offers men’s cuts, women’s cuts, and kid’s cuts, as well as waxing, perms, hair coloring, and highlights.

Persenaire uses product lines from Amika, Kenra, and Redken, when styling and coloring hair.

The Market Salon is also conjoined with The Market, a rental venue overseen by her mother, Becca Persenaire, that features an outdoor lounging area, conference room, and 3,000 square feet of indoor event space.

The Market can be used for wedding showers, baby showers, birthday parties, weddings, and flea markets.

“People say it’s very homie and not very industrial,” Persenaire said. “I get probably three or four comments a week or more about how peaceful it is.”

Persenaire’s journey to becoming a hairstylist began in 2018 when she began attending Paul Mitchell The School in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The school features an 11-month long course comprised of a six-week core class before students hit the ground running with cutting hair full time until graduation. The school also offers courses in business management and booth rentals.

“They teach about business and setting up your own salon or booth renting, and like how all these other salons work before you go into it,” Persenaire said.

After graduating from school, Persenaire remained in Fayetteville and worked at corporate salons as a full-time stylist before finally being forced to stop working after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

By that point, Persenaire was ready to strike out on her own, prompting her to move back to Mountain Home and set up her own salon.

“For several months, I had a lot of stories of people needing haircuts. A lot of horror stories, but they didn’t really affect us that much starting here,” Persenaire said. “I think I wanted to be on my own and charge my own prices and stuff.”

After moving back home, Persenaire began renovating the building that The Market Salon would soon call home.

During the course of the renovation, the young woman painted the entire outside of the building and the inside of the building and renovated the ceiling of the building on her own.

“I painted, put the wall up, scraped off the popcorn ceiling. That took forever. I painted the whole outside of the building. It was a big group effort,” Persenaire said.

The Market Salon is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Walk-ins are accepted, but appointments are preferred.

Prices range from as little as $10 for children under 12 to $15 for men and $23 for women. Highlights start at $85 and up, depending on what needs to be done.

For more information on The Market Salon, contact (870) 580-0001.