Two barbers available at Smoking Waters

Smoking Waters Barber Shop welcomes newly licensed Ray Monasmith to the barber business. He and his wife Kristen own the barbershop. Together they are increasing their ventures to serve the people of Thermopolis.

Ray’s background includes close to 18 years in the Army where he practiced haircuts on his fellow soldiers and served as a signal soldier, a form of a communications advisor. Ray also had a 36-year career in information technology. He worked at the University of Wyoming as a senior systems manager. Prior to that, he worked as an international network services consultant for a number of years.

Prior to becoming a barber, he worked as a construction technician. Ray said, “I truly love that job. It’s a great job. But the hours were a little crazy during the construction time and we weren’t getting to do pretty much anything that makes life meaningful. I’m just eating and sleeping and working.”

However, his wife Kristen got the vision of being a barber and together they opened Smoking Waters Barber Shop in 2019. Ray said, “She came up with that name. But in 2019, the previous barber moved away and I kind of half-jokingly one night suggested you ought to become a barber. You get a corner on the market now before somebody else.”

Kristen had been a cosmetologist for 35 some years and attended the school Rocky Mountain Academy, Hair, Skin and Nails Academy. But as their business started, Kristen found the workload was too much for a single person and so Kristen inquired of Ray’s help.

Ray at first said, “You know, I know I got a good cushy state job. I don’t think I want to be a barber. But then the more she talked about it I could see she’s getting kind of worn out from this part of the, you know, go, go, go all the time, keep up with the demand and we kind of ran the numbers and realized that the business she was having to turn away. You know, if I could recoup some of that, I mean I would be making almost as much as I was. Why not? Plus the benefit I would get my life back.” 

Ray attended barber’s school in Casper on May 31 and trained for 1,000 hours as a full-time student for about 25 weeks. He completed his schooling in November and became officially licensed in December.

Also, one of the special elements of Ray’s barbershop is his barber’s chair. It is an older and fully restored chair that was originally built sometime between 1910 and 1920. Ray bought it on a Wyoming Facebook marketplace and started the restoration process. Most of the original components are still there. The cost of replacing the original nickel-plated metal sources was too much, so Ray gave certain surfaces new life with a high-quality gold spray paint. Ray also reupholstered himself with a bright red leather cover. Ray added, “It’s got a lot of history. It’s been in Wyoming this whole time and we’ll hopefully get a very cool life out of it.”

Smoking Waters Barber Shop has new hours. Walk-ins daily Tuesday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturdays 8 a.m.-1 p.m. They are located at 316 Broadway Street. 864-3535.