Discovering Rusted Roots Hair Lounge

Photo Credit to Kaylee Britton

Kim Kidwell is a one-of-a-kind Madison original, and anyone who walks into Rusted Roots Hair Lounge will know that immediately.

Like the bold colors and alternative haircuts she creates for her clients, the décor of the shop at 314 W. Main St. is edgy and eclectic.

She says visitors to town often enter her shop thinking it’s an art gallery. “I like people to think about each piece I have,” Kim says. She frequently adds to her collection of unusual items.

“People get excited when they come in here. People tell me they feel like they’re in New Orleans when they walk in,” she says.

Photo Credit to Kaylee Britton

From her barber chair, you can visually trace Kim’s journey as a barber and stylist. When she started 30 years ago as Madison’s first woman barber, she worked in The Esquire Shop at 321 Mulberry St., alongside the late Bob Baugh. It took her a while to earn the respect of male customers, but she proved she could make her way in a men’s world. When Bob Baugh gave up the business, she signed paperwork to buy his building while she was still hospitalized after giving birth. She got right back to work as a business owner.

From that first location on Mulberry, she has kept two chandeliers, Bob’s barber pole and The Esquire Barber Shop clock, all seen today inside her studio. The walls at 314 E. Main have been taken down to bare brick, except for the areas where you can still see the Early American-style wallpaper from Jerry Wheeler’s barber shop, formerly located there. The juxtaposition with Kim’s female-centric art pieces somehow works just right.

Photo Credit to Kaylee Britton

Kim’s business has been known as Rusted Roots at two locations – the first on Clifty Drive. Eventually the Greves family offered to sell her the Main Street building, and she returned downtown five years ago. When Kim acquired the building, every room had paneling and 8-foot dropped ceilings. Her son Roman helped her gut it. Within five years, she has completely restored the interior. In 2024, she was ready to show it to guests on Madison Main Street Program’s Loft Tour.

Now she’s ready to start on the exterior of her 1834 building. She had all the exterior walls painted in primer recently, and is considering various paint combinations in her mind. She wrote on her Facebook page, “Stay tuned for the west end of Main Street to get even cooler this summer!”

Photo Credit to Kaylee Britton

She’s proud of the cast aluminum columns on the façade, which were made by the Madison Machine Co. She will leave the columns “raw” except for a clear coat. Additional changes, such as opening up more of the original window spaces, may follow in later years.

Rusted Roots has workspace for two additional hair stylists, Holly Elliott and Kauai Schneider. Kauai does hair extensions, updos and perms. Kim herself does both women’s and men’s hair, and her work appeals to some of Madison’s edgier young people. But she also has clients who want a more traditional look. Because she once had the contract to do all the barbering at the Jefferson County Jail, she retains some of her “bad boy” customers. “I’ve got the attorneys and the villains,” she smiles.

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