“We’re more like sisters”: Chesterfield hair salon kooky duo on perfect wavelength

This is Katie Wright’s advice on setting up a business with a friend, and her friend is Katie Davis. Between them, they run Chesterfield’s Stella and Ellen hairdressers. Katie Davis agrees.

“You’ve got to be 100% honest with each other. All the way through,” she says.

The two Katies look at each other, Katie Wright adding “If you can’t speak to one another, then it’s not going to work… And, we do socialise together.”

The two Katies laugh. Katie Davis nods. “I probably see more of her than I do my husband.” The other Katie grins, says “You probably do, yeah”.

It doesn’t take long to see these two are in perfect harmony. In conversation, their sentences intertwine. In telling stories, each adds the next part of the tale, taking turns until the punchline hits, then both laugh like the story is fresh to their ears.

When asked where the salon name comes from, Katie Wright looks up to the ceiling, Katie Davis holding out her hands like she’s catching surprise rain.

“Oh, the name! It was the hardest thing ever! And people are like ‘Why aren’t you called Katie Cornered?’”

“Or Two Katies!” adds Katie Wright, both of them laughing louder than the nearby hairdryer.

There’s a pause as both laughter and hairdryer stop. Katie Wright side-nods to the other Katie.

“And then one day she was like ‘What about Stella and Ellen?’ And I was like ‘Oh yeah!’ And then when we told everyone, they were like ‘Oh… really?’”

Another pause as they both look at each other, a soft nod as Katie Davis says “And it’s both our grandma’s names as well.”

Okay. Let’s put this jigsaw together. The two Katies met seventeen years ago at Harley’s hairdressers in town. Katie Wright’s middle name is Stella. Katie Davis’s middle name is Ellen. Both got their middle names from their grandmas. And, they’re both called Katie.

Katie Wright tells of the start of it, the two of them initially stylist and client at Harley’s, and then the other Katie started working there. “And I wanted to be Katie’s friend before we were actually friends.” More laughter.

And now, five years in, the pair of them have created a successful business, chairs filled, good vibes and a gaggle of staff, including Katie Davis’s two daughters.

“My daughters call her their other mum,” she says.

The other Katie looks at her, says “I probably tell them off more than you do… Good cop, bad cop”.

An old chap walks into the salon, puts his flat cap on the sofa, mooches across to a lady having her hair done, starts chatting. This, I’m told, is Jeff.

“We love our people,” says Katie Davis. “People like Jeff, that just come in and hang out. We’ve got quite a few of them. Just come and sit, have a chill, don’t just have their hair done.”

They’ve even made a backyard natter space for when the sun’s out. Katie Wright explains: “Clients sit out there chatting once they’ve got their colour on. They all sit round with a cup of tea or a glass of wine and chat amongst themselves. It’s really nice. I think our customers reflect us.”

“I love my job because it’s like you’re hanging out with your friends, and making them feel good. And, they leave with nice hair.”

A funny story is told about the night before lockdown, the two Katies getting barred from a local because one of them decided to open a bottle of wine from their shopping bag as last orders got called. The question is asked if they have a touch of soft rascal about them.

The Katies laugh. Katie Davis shrugs. “A little bit. We’ve always got funny stories to tell our clients. If we ever have any nights out, clients are always dead eager to hear all about what happened. I don’t think some of it’s printable.”

Laughter rises above the hairdryer hum, seated clients and attentive stylists grinning at the conversation. The chat turns to proud moments, the first day they were so busy they had to put a second pot of coffee on. The moment they looked out from behind reception and watched their new stylists at work, realising they were “a real hairdressers now”.

And then, the salon’s birthday party celebrating a year of being open. Katie Davis grins. “Yeah, that story’s a good one.”

The other Katie looks at her with a smirk. “Yeah… She gave me two black eyes on our first birthday party.”

The hairdryer stops. The salon a ripple of laughs. Katie Davis holds her hands up in surrender.

“So… obviously I was dancing on the bar at the party. And one of my clients asked me to run and jump on her back. So instead of graciously getting on her back, I ran and floored it. And literally skittled everyone out.”

The other Katie side-nods to her best friend of seventeen years, adding “She took the whole dance-floor out. And my head hit a metal chair. Face first.”

Both Katies, in a fit of giggles, are asked how they would describe each other. Katie Wright describes her friend as “a whirlwind… does a really good job, but wow”. Katie Davis describes her friend as “massively loyal, more sensible than me, but equally, she can party… my absolute best friend.”

Another pause. The kooky duo smile at each other as Katie Wright says she’s feeling emotional.

And when offered a time machine, both Katies refuse to go anywhere else, to any other time, echoing to each other exactly: “I’m really enjoying now”.

Stella and Ellen: “We’re just on the same wavelength all the time.”