Hair by Jen: Coleyville hairdresser Jenny Miles wins Queensland Time’s favourite hairdresser competition

She was the pick of the bunch over dozens of nominations and believes her small salon has benefitted from a world now shaped by Covid-19.

Coleyville Hairdresser Jenny Miles took 15 years out of the industry before setting up a business from her home. She was voted Ipswich’s favourite hairdresser by Queensland Times readers.

After 15 years out of the industry, getting the scissors back in her hand was a bit like riding a bike for Jenny Miles and she says her small salon has benefited from a world now shaped by Covid-19.

She works from a salon set up in her Coleyville home, about half an hour south of the centre of Ipswich, and has run her business Hair by Jen for more than two years.

After being trained at Stefan Ackerie’s hairdressing college in Brisbane, Mrs Miles worked at the Stefan’s salon in Booval for seven years before leaving the profession to raise her family.

Hairdresser Jenny Miles works from a salon set up in her home south of Ipswich.

She did some hairdressing from home when her kids were young while working for her father-in-law’s construction business but juggling everything eventually became too much.

More than a decade after giving it up, Mrs Miles said she was really enjoying being back in the hairdressing fold.

Queensland Times readers voted her as Ipswich’s favourite hairdresser over dozens of other nominations.

“I like making a difference to people and I love everybody’s stories and seeing them leave with a smile on their face,” she said.

“It’s been really good.”

She gave up hairdressing for 15 years while raising her kids and working for the family business.

Mrs Miles said she works two or three days a week and work was “pretty constant” while rolling with the punches of operating during the pandemic

“I’m only fairly new back to it,” she said.

“So slowly word is getting around and I’m getting more and more clientele. It’s pretty busy.

“The first lot of Covid didn’t really affect us because we didn’t have to shut down. I only do one client at a time.

“People don’t like going to busy salons, they like just having time out. That’s probably to my advantage. I didn’t really have to change what I was doing because I was already doing it.

Jenny Miles with daughter Isabella.

“But the snap lockdowns mean we can’t trade so that’s hard. Wearing the masks is just something we have to deal with. We just work around it.”

Mrs Miles said she was always trying to learn something new.

“We had awesome training with Stefan’s so we did learn a lot of up and coming things and those skills just last with you forever,” she said.

“I have a lot of friends in the industry.

“It’s just ringing them, talking to them and having chats and seeing what they’re doing. I talk to lots of people and always try and learn from them.”

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.