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The Blue Slide Parlor hair salon opened recently by owner Ai Moore. Ai and her husband Brian built the salon on their property, where Brian grew up. "Ai designed the building herself," Brian said. She wanted an A frame due to the amount of snow they get and for the looks. Ai also decorated the interior and helped build the cabinets. The walls are white with macrame hangings that Ai made. Dark blue is found throughout the furniture and artwork. "I like blue and I watched videos on how to do macrame," Ai said.

The salon was finished in December but clients started coming after the first of January, Ai said. "This has been a dream of mine for a long time." Ai's journey of becoming a stylist began several years ago.

When Ai was 16 she went to California from Kyoto, Japan, to be an exchange student for three weeks. "I wanted to come back to the states for more experience. My parents freaked out. My dad said no more travel because it was too dangerous after 9/11." Ai was persistent and convinced her father to let her come back when she was 18. "He said if I really wanted the money to attend college in the U.S. he would give me the money he had been saving for my wedding." Ai attended college at Huntington Beach to learn English and cosmetology. She had met Brian and his family on her first visit to California when she was younger and they all kept in touch.

In 2005 Ai went back to Japan because she couldn't get a visa. Then in 2013 she got a green card to work in Canada. "I got my working holiday visa for one year. You had to be under 31 years old to receive one," Ai recalled. She wanted to stay longer but had to return to Japan in 2014. Ai told the salon where she worked that she wanted to return to Canada. Back in Japan, Ai applied for a permanent visa in Canada. "A lot of people applied so I was lucky to get one." In 2017 Ai returned to Vancouver.

In 2018 Ai went to California with a friend. "I wanted to see Brian and his family, but he was in Montana. Later Brian went back to California. I didn't know he was getting a divorce. We were all friends."

Over the years she and Brian had kept in touch via email. He checked on Ai and her family during the tsunamis, "because he was worried about me," Ai said. Brian went to Vancouver in 2019 and told Ai how he felt about her. He proposed and they were married in July 2021.

Ai said that she and her girlfriends in Japan were artistic in their own ways. "We had a dream of working together. One friend is a teacher, one a nurse, one is in the music industry and one a fashion designer. We are still close," she said.

Ai lost her father two years ago. After surviving cancer and COVID he passed away from kidney failure. "He told me on the phone that he was fine and he wanted Brian to make him a new belt. He passed away right before I made it back home to see him. I wasn't ready for it."

" I am very lucky to have very good people around me and in my life," Ai said. Family and friends in Japan, Canada and the U.S. have been supportive of her and her dreams.

Ai said she is still waiting on her 10-year green card. Brian said he was worried that Ai might not like living in rural Montana away from the cities that she is used to. "I love being in Montana. The people help each other and are kind. I also love Nature and animals. I saw a bear one day. She didn't scare me."

Now that her parlor is finished, Ai offers cuts, styles, color and perms, with shoulder and head massages included. "I do not do nails and I do not do eyelash perms." In Japan stylists offer eyelash perms because their lashes are straight, Ai said. "I try to keep my prices affordable because people have to travel all the way here. But I don't have to pay rent so I can do that."

The Blue Slide Parlor is located at 1227 Blue Slide Road. For information or an appointment, call (406)241-2307.