Small town, big-time looks

ENNIS—When Angela Post opened Halo Studio Hair, she intended it to simply be a hobby endeavor. Styling and cutting hair had been her career for nearly three decades, and she and her husband wanted a quieter atmosphere than the busy Lake Tahoe scene they’d lived in.

“I started with a few friends and family, just keeping it to people I knew,” Post says of her initial clientele in Ennis. “It just snowballed from there, and pretty soon I decided to open up my own space.”

Post and her husband moved from Nevada to be in a milder climate, as well as to begin their retirement in a place where they could enjoy time with their horses. They have a cabin near Raynolds Pass and are longtime lovers of Montana. Post felt immediately welcomed by the Madison Valley community, and wasted no time getting established.

Halo Studio is run out of Post’s own backyard, in what she calls her “she shack.” She’s overhauled their property’s outbuilding just has her husband David overhauled their First Street home in the downtown area.

During their years in Lake Tahoe, David had worked training exotic animals for the MGM hotels in Las Vegas. The pair decided to blend their two specialties, and Post’s salon took on an African theme, something that has hung onto her new space in Ennis. The unique atmosphere won her business in Tahoe “most exotic salon” in Vision Salon Magazine, as well as plenty of local fame.

Post received her training from Aveda International, one of the world’s largest salon, spa and cosmetics companies, earning advanced degrees from the Aveda Institute. Her specialties are hair cutting and coloring, but her trademark is makeover-style hair transformations. 

“I love that ‘before and after’ feeling,” she says. “Taking someone’s hair that she might think does nothing and turning into something completely new. It’s so fun.”

Post also offers help with cosmetics, helping her clients find the makeup that works best for them and hosting makeover parties that feature full makeovers and pedicures. But in her retirement, she still treats it as a hobby.

“The power of word of mouth has just been amazing,” she says. “In a community like this, it’s incredible how quickly things have snowballed.”