Jennerations Salon Celebrating Over Ten Years of Style in Mansfield

Jen McDonald first started in the hairdressing business over 23 years ago. She said it wasn’t a lifelong dream of hers, but if it wasn’t for her guidance counselor, she may have never opened Jennerations Salon in Mansfield.

“It was a fluke,” she said. “Originally I wanted to be a sports photographer, but my guidance counselor thought I’d be good at this and so I did.”

McDonald, now celebrating her tenth year in Mansfield at Jennerations, said she started cutting hair in Wellesley as a shampoo girl in the John Dellaria shop.

“Then I came to Mansfield and worked for another woman here in town,” she said. “She closed down, and I’ve been in Mansfield ever since.”

She said she then rented her own chair at another hair place called James Musto.

“I worked for myself, and then I bought this building and started my own place.”

McDonald said she did some extensive renovations.

“There were a lot of changes,” she said. “We gutted the whole floor and the upstairs too.”

McDonald said though she wanted to be a sports photographer as a kid, she really loves cutting hair and making people look good.

“It’s really nice to make people feel good about themselves,” she said. “When they leave the door they tell you ‘Oh I love you, did the best job,’ it’s a feel-good kind of job.”

McDonald added the social interaction and rapport she builds with her customers is extremely important, but has added benefits.

“A lot of my clients are now my friends,” she said. “I’m a people person and it’s great getting to know people. You get to be creative as well.”

McDonald said actually having great people skills can be way more important than actually cutting hair. She said she knew of hairdressers who former customers said kept clientele based solely on their interpersonal skills.

“I’ve known hairdressers that might not be technically that great but because they’re such a good people person they make real connections with people,” she said. “I had a client in recently who said they had a certain hairdresser for ten years. She said she never liked what she did but stayed there because she liked her. People make a connection and I think that’s a huge part of the job.”

McDonald said on May 7 she, her staff and her clients are celebrating Jennerations’ tenth year in Mansfield.

“We’re having a cocktail party,” she said. “We’ll have hors d'oeuvres, raffle prizes and I don’t even know yet. We’re still in the middle of planning because I like to fly by the seat of my pants.”

McDonald said she thinks of herself as a conservative hairdresser, but isn’t afraid to try distinct and new styles.

“I’ve done mohawks, lines along the head, stuff like that,” she said. “When I stated, it was the early 90s, so there were plenty of mullets. I think I even made a design of initials.”

McDonald said she donates regularly to Mansfield and other local charities.

“I do tons of charities,” she said. “Hearts for Hope, which is a fund raising event held every year for two sisters with cystic fibrosis. A lot of times people just come in.”

Jennerations is located on 112 North Main St. and is open Tue - Thu, 9am - 9pm; Fri, 9am - 6pm; Sat, 7am - 4pm; Sun, closed.