Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022
In 1968, Dagney Nöste Johannsen, known as Dag, retired after half a century of fixing hair. Thirty of those years were at the Modern Beauty Shop in downtown Shakopee.
In the late 1920s and 1930s Shakopee was introduced to professional hairdressers. “One of the early hairdressers of Scott County was Rosella Dressen Ries….” said Ione Theis, in an article in As I Remember Scott County in 1980. Rosie was well-known in Shakopee as she was chosen “Miss Minnesota” in 1929. Rosella opened the first professional hairdressing at the Modern Beauty Shop, which was located at 117 First Avenue East starting in 1928.
Ione remembered working there in the late 1930s. “As a recent graduate of the Brady and Rogers School of Beauty, I arrived at the Modern Beauty Shop in the late 1930s and trained in the methods of the time. Marcelling the hair was giving way to the more popular spiral wave. The hair was wound on long slender rods, then with a lotion saturated pad was baked on an electrical machine that could be described as a torture device! Somewhat later, and even more popular, was the invention of the Frenchman, Monsieur Crogonle. It gave a tighter curl to the ends of the hair but still used the heating machine that resulted in many scalp casualties. Later, Mr. Willette invented the cold wave, the forerunner of the permanent wave we enjoy today.”
Rosella and Ione sold the Modern Beauty Shop to Dagney Nöste Johannsen and her husband, Ben Johannsen in 1948.
Dagney Nöste was born Dec. 14, 1905, one of six children of Iver Christian Pederson Nöste (1866-1947) and Anna Ellen Eikrem (1873-1958). Dag married Benhart Peter Johannsen, who was born Oct. 15, 1905, in Sweet Township, Pipestone, Minnesota. Ben’s parents were Jacob Gustav Johannsen (1874-1960) and Margaretha Dorothea Tanck (1875-1955). Dag and Ben married on May 31, 1936.
Dagney attended beautician school, according to an interview in the Shakopee Valley News in 1968. She remembered the marcel style was popular at that time. Dag started her beautician career in 1928 in Pipestone, and then worked in Renville and Mankato, followed by 15 years in Alexandria.
In 1948, when Dag and Ben moved to Shakopee to operate the Modern Beauty Shop, styles continued to change. First, it was the cold wave, and then rollers were the thing. “There was an era when women curled their hair close to the head, and another time when the curling was done on the end of the hair,” said Jerry Barney in the article, “Dag Johannsen Retires After Half a Century of Fixing Hair.” Now the crimp style is in, according to Dag. She described one style as leaving the hair looking as if it had been “combed with an eggbeater.” Dag particularly liked the finger waves and the natural curl look.
Ben fixed men’s hair. He was also an avid sportsman and loved baseball and golf. Ben died in 1976.
In April 1967, Dag was hit by a car in downtown Shakopee, which left her with a broken hip. After two operations, she slowly recovered, and so she decided it was time to retire.
Modern Beauty Shop was sold to Betty Markgraf, and after some remodeling was re-opened as the “Klip and Kurl.” Dag believed that Betty would be a good operator for the shop. “She’s well trained and she loves people.”
Dagney continued to live in Shakopee. “It’s a tremendous town with beautiful people!” noted Dag in an article in the Shakopee Valley News.
On March 13, 1985, Dagney Nöste Johannsen died surrounded by the women who remembered the beauty shop in downtown Shakopee, and the beautician career that spanned fifty years, thirty years here in Shakopee.