A NEW beauty salon in Sonning Common is named after a baby girl who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Sienna Beauty at Peppard Road pays tribute to the daughter of owner Doey Ragbourne, who died in July 2019 when she was just three months old.
Miss Ragbourne, 24, who lives with her partner Adam Shaw in Wokingham, started the home business after finding out she was pregnant.
At the time, she was working in recruitment in London but wanted to change careers and help the family financially.
She said: “My employer had let everyone go, so I decided to take a month off with another job in mind, but that month I found out that I was pregnant and that I was could not accept the new job.
“For the first time in my life, I was unemployed and it was stressful.
“I had lived on my own since I was 15 and have always worked, so it was difficult to accept and think about how I was going to provide for my little girl. “
Miss Ragbourne said she had never been particularly interested in beauty, but had her eyelashes done professionally. So she asked her technician how to get into the industry.
She took two crash courses in eyelash care and began caring for clients. When Sienna was a week old, she returned to work and took the baby with her.
“She would sit in her little chair while I did clients,” Miss Ragbourne said. “People would forget that she was even there, she was so well behaved.
“I found that she felt comforted upon hearing my voice. He was truly an angel, which is why I was able to get back to work so quickly.
“My business has grown a lot in those three months, but now, looking back, since it was my only three months with her, I wish I had done it differently.”
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, also known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, is the sudden, unexpected, and unexplained death of a healthy baby.
Miss Ragbourne said: ‘There was no cause for his death and it was difficult because there will never be a shutdown.
“I named the business after her because I started it because of her.”
After Sienna’s death, she continued to work and used social media to market and grow the business.
She then decided she wanted space and started renting out the old Sonning Common Electrical store a year ago before finally opening the show last month. “It has been a long process,” Miss Ragbourne said. “I needed a building permit to use it as a living room and there was one thing after another, so I didn’t get the keys until November.
“We then renovated it because it was shocking in there, really bad. Then we all went into another lockdown, which was another setback.
“It was difficult and it slowed things down. It was tough on me financially and it was quite stressful. I couldn’t take time off, so I continued to work from home when restrictions permitted. “
Today Miss Ragbourne employs one full-time staff member and one part-time employee who is due to leave full time soon.
The salon offers semi-permanent makeup, eyebrow tinting and lamination, eyelash and nail care, body contouring and more.
Miss Ragbourne said: ‘It’s going very well and it’s much better to have a local.
“About 80 percent of the customers are my regulars, but we’ve had quite a few new people, especially for the nails.
“It’s difficult to go any further at the moment as I only have one full-time staff member, but when the other is full-time, I hope to take on more clients.
“It’s hard to plan because I need to work so badly and it takes a bit off of me – I haven’t had a day off this month. Miss Ragbourne hopes to open another salon within two years and focus more on semi-permanent makeup.
“I would like it to have a more clinical aspect, but first we will have to develop the clientele.
“Maybe I’ll keep this salon just for lash care.
“When you come to have your eyelashes done, it’s a different environment. You build friendships with people who make your eyelashes while you have conversations.
“But when I microblading the eyebrows I don’t want people talking because they have to stay still and I need to focus.”
The living room is painted pink and decorated with flowers because it reminds him of Siena.
Miss Ragbourne said: “I have never been a ‘girly-girl’ and this is the only part of the industry that I fight with.
“It can be very unwelcoming and sometimes difficult to work with, but the feel of this place is different.
“I wanted to get out of a stereotypical living room and make it a friendly and welcoming place.”
She also says that she must thank her daughter for her success.
“I know I would have procrastinated before starting a business without it,” Miss Ragbourne said. “She had a huge impact on my life.”
For more information, visit Sienna Beauty Care on Facebook.
