Right in style
As she’s done so many times in the past, Diane Exner cuts the hair of one of her longtime customers, Cindy Pysher, of Lehighton, at Diane Exner’s Beauty Salon in Lehighton. Scan this photo with the Prindeo app for a video. TERRY AHNER/TIMES NEWS
She’s been cutting hair since President Lyndon B. Johnson’s days in the Oval Office.
After 52 years as a hairdresser, it’s safe to say Diane Exner has the art of haircutting down to a science.
For over 30 years, she has owned Diane Exner’s Beauty Salon at 120 S. First St. in Lehighton.
Her assistant, Hailey Deibert, has been with Exner for over seven of those years.
“She’s a great teacher,” Deibert said. “She’s a great person to be around.”
Starting out
Exner attended Empire Beauty School in Allentown, where she earned her operator and teacher’s license.
Soon afterward, Exner began cutting hair in 1966 under the tutelage of Donna Mullen at 609 Mahoning St.
“Donna was a great teacher,” she said. “I learned the tricks of the trade from her.”
After working for Mullen for about 10 years, Exner began working for Renee Yanick, whom she worked for about six years at her hair salon on South First Street.
Exner noted times — and hairstyles — were much different then.
“When I started out, everything was razor cuts because of the way they did their hairstyles,” she said. “Then when the blowcuts came in, you got scissor cuts.”
Keeping up with the times
Exner noted that education is an ongoing process through hair shows, classes and clinics.
And as times have changed, so, too, have hairstyles, she said.
These days, Exner said she works with chemical services, perms, colors, and foils, cuts, and styling.
“Now, I see clients every three to four weeks for various services to maintain their style,” she said.
Exner thanked all her loyal clients, including men, women and children who have stuck with her, including a woman whose hair she cut back in 1966 who is still a client.
“I get different people, a different head, a different thing coming in all the time,” she said. “There’s always something different.”
Though she doesn’t have set hours, Exner accepts appointments on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
And by all accounts, it doesn’t appear as if Exner will be putting down her scissors or shears anytime soon.
“People ask me, when are you going to retire,” she said. “I tell them when it’s not fun anymore.”
