Words by McKenzie Wade | Images by Al Blanton 

Opening a business takes drive, vision, and passion for the work you do. There is no doubt that Keri Sanders possesses all three of those things, especially considering that at 27 years old, she owns two salons in the Sumiton area. 

As a young girl, Keri always had a love for doing hair. “My grandfather would let me put stuff in his hair, and my mom always let me do her hair, too,” she says. “I feel like it has always been in me since I was a little girl.”

In 2014, confident that cosmetology was the career path she should take, Keri began an apprenticeship with a local stylist with over 30 years of experience. 

Around the same time, she met a man named Ryan who would eventually become her husband. “When I saw him, I instantly fell in love; he was pretty interested, himself,” she laughs. 

Ryan and Keri just celebrated their fourth anniversary. They now have a four-year-old son named Ryder. 

After graduating from Linda’s School of Beauty in Fultondale in 2016, Keri immediately went to work for a local salon in Sumiton. As a driven, goal-oriented person, she began tossing around the idea of opening her own salon. “Even in cosmetology school, I was telling [the] girls, ‘I am going to own my own salon,’” she recalls. 

Sticking to the bold assertion she had made as a cosmetology student, Keri opened her first salon, The Hair Loft, in May 2019. Despite starting the business from scratch, The Hair Loft quickly grew in popularity and success. During the Covid-19 outbreak, an opportunity arose to open a second salon. For Keri, it was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. 

“We have a lot of really talented stylists around here,” she says, adding that her goal was to provide a modern and upscale salon where they could work. “Some people would probably tell me I’m crazy,” Keri laughs.

Both salons offer colors, cuts, perms, and specialties like balayage and ombre. In order to stay up to date with everchanging trends and techniques, Keri also offers rare services, like handtied hair extensions.

While it would be easy to accept all the credit for her success, Keri insists she would not be where she is today without the talented stylists who work in her salons. Between the two salons, a total of seven stylists work alongside Keri: Hillarie Tucker, Amber Dunnam, Kelli Knowles, Machea Folse, and Eryn Mullins work at Level 10, while stylist Kali Ragsdale and Rachael Kaufman offer their services at The Hair Loft. 

 “They are the only reason that all of this happened for me,” she says. “I want to give them a lot of credit.”

As a wife, mother, and owner of two businesses, Keri admits that at times, life can be quite chaotic—and that’s fine with her. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she says. “I live for it. It doesn’t feel like a job to me. I always look forward to it.” 

With the support of her family, clients, and community, Keri is confident that the best days of her career are still to come. 78