Ruby’s Beauty Salon: 65+ years of history in Troy

Ruby’s Beauty Salon has been a staple storefront in downtown Troy for over 65 years. Nowadays it’s a luxury salon offering high end services like lived in color and extensions. With original 1940s and 50s fixtures, this salon is the best of old and new.

The History of Ruby’s Beauty Salon

In 1941, at the age of 21, Ruby Kuckherman opened Ruby’s Beauty Salon in Troy, Ohio. It later moved next door in 1957, where it still stands today.

Ruby got her beautician license at 17 and worked continuously until the age of 91. “She was a polio survivor, and with being that sick during the Great Depression, she was treated as a burden,” explains Ruby’s grandson and current salon owner, Jonny Wright. “But that hard time must have lit a fire under her ass that never went out.”

Jonny Wright didn’t have any plan to take over Ruby’s salon, but he did manage to follow in her footsteps. After around four years training in salons in Columbus, Ruby told him it was time to come home and run her salon.

“We have this idea that she lived to 97 just waiting for someone to take over her salon,” explains Wright.

After Ruby’s death, Wright and fiancé, Ali Romano, considered leaving the salon behind to move to Los Angeles. “I never saw myself as a salon owner,” explains Wright. “I never wanted to manage people.”

Just when they had made their minds up to go, disaster struck in the form of a F0 tornado. “We joke that Ruby sent that tornado from beyond the grave,” explains Wright. “It pretty much only affected our building – and she definitely wouldn’t want us to sell her salon.”

Ruby’s ghostly influence may have been a blessing, however. COVID-19 caused a lot of chaos in nearly every service industry, and in places like California that didn’t reopen as fast as Ohio, many salon owners and stylists burned through savings and struggled even more than their counterparts in the midwest.

And when they couldn’t go to LA, a little Hollywood magic came to them. “While we were waiting for the repairs to be made, we had the opportunity to work on hair in the Lady Gaga video for “Stupid Love,” explains Wright (they worked with the blue dancers).

With the insurance money, they were able to make needed upgrades to Ruby’s salon. But the wet stations and chairs stayed all original. “Stations like ours haven’t been made like that since the 60s so it’s a big deal that we have them all and they still work – plus our chairs are from the 1940s,” explains Wright. “It’s important for us to maintain the vintage feel, but there’s also a lot of sentimental value in it as well. I grew up at that salon and can’t imagine changing them.”

Even if the chairs, stations, and signage are the same, the industry has changed by leaps and bounds since Ruby was treating clients to comb outs and permanents. Ruby’s Beauty Salon now provides luxury services in the same laid back atmosphere of yesteryear. Their team of expert stylists specialize in lived in color, extensions, and precision hair cuts to name a few.

What does the future hold for Ruby’s Beauty Salon? “I may have never imagined being a salon owner, but now that I’m with my fiancé, Ali, and we equally lead the business, we balance each other so well,” explains Wright. “We don’t have any intentions on selling the salon anymore.”

Ruby’s Beauty Salon

1 N Market St, Troy, OH 45373