Appian Way Hair Salon: Setting the Style for 50 Years

James and Nonie Stiltner have downsized with their new location of Appian Way Hair Salon, but they’re certainly not slowing down

James is 83 and Nonie is 77, and the couple still works six days a week.

“The reason we still work is it really isn’t work, it’s fun,” Nonie said. “We have our customers and we help them look good and we make them feel good and they give us money for it. It’s a pretty good deal.”

The business was founded by James Stiltner, a master barber-stylist, and his first wife. James graduated in 1962 from Moler Barber College in Portland and opened his first salon in 1970 in Portland. He said he chose the barber career after working as a scaler for Simpson Timber Company and realizing that it was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He took a vacation from work and decided to try his hand at his two top career choices — barber and meat cutter.

“When I walked into that barber shop, it was just me,” James said. “I had never touched a comb or a pair of shears before, but it just came naturally for me.”

James and his first wife moved to Chehalis and opened Appian Way at the Lewis County Mall, where they would be located for 28 years. The Appian Way business name comes from James Stiltner’s love of the ancient Roman culture and artwork. The Appian Way was a road in ancient Rome traveled by soldiers returning from war.

“The soldiers would come in after the war and get bathed and shaved and their hair done,” Nonie explained.

Nonie and James were married in 1980 after the death of his first wife. The salon was located at 1000 Kresky for many years, then later the couple purchased the former White Elephant hamburger stand at 1100 Kresky Avenue and built their third location. In the 1980s and 1990s, James was heavily involved in the competitive haircutting circuit and the couple would often travel for competitions. James is proud to talk about the many trophies he won in precision hair cutting. Like his introduction to cutting hair, James said precision hair cutting was a technique that just came naturally to him.

“I don’t know how it all comes out, you just pick a line and go with it,” he said with a smile.

Recently, the Stiltners made the decision to move their business one last time. Their new location is just past the Port of Centralia on Old Highway 99. The smaller location has allowed the couple to downsize their business. It is just them in their new location but the services remain the same.

Both Nonie and James cut hair at Appian Way and Nonie is also in charge of the chemical work. One of the more unique services they offer is wig fitting and styling. Nonie started working on wigs in 1968, at a time when all wigs were made purely of human hair. She recalled that when she began, all wigs were a light-yellow color and would be colored to match a woman’s natural hair color. The stylist would cut, perm, color and style wigs just as if they were a woman’s own hair.

“It was the style, it was fashion, everyone wanted a wig,” Nonie recalled.

Today Nonie styles the wigs and James handles toupees. Nonie said their wig customers are split evenly between men and women who wear wigs for style and those who wear them for necessity. She said she has many customers who have thinning hair or hair and skin problems as well as cancer patients who come for wigs because their treatments have caused their own hair to fall out.

“I cry a lot with those people,” Nonie said of the clients living with cancer. “They’re really upset because they’re going to lose their hair.”

Appian Way Hair Salon

Location: 22134 Old Highway 99, Centralia

Contact: Nonie Stiltner can be reached at 736-7703 and James Stiltner can be reached at 269-3055.