Sidney’s Janza Studio, a one-stop shop for tattoos, piercings, haircuts and more

There’s a little shop on Fifth Street in Sidney that’s a bit of a throwback to the past – a time when the local barbershop offered more than just a shave and a haircut.

“In the 1930s, it was quite common to have tattoo artists in the back of a barbershop. I guess that’s what gave us the idea,” said Rick Janzen, who with his wife Jane operates Janza Studio in Sidney.

Of course, you can stop by the store for a haircut or get your hair done, but, if you want, you can have a body part pierced and decorated or sit down for an expert tattoo of your choice.

Basically, you might look like a radically different person, although most people opt for a more gradual approach.

“It was actually my wife’s idea to combine services. It was a great idea, but most of the good things in my life have come from Jane. We’ve been married 29 years and she’s always been my rock,” Janzen said.

Although Rick and Jane only opened their store in 2000, the experience they bring to their respective professions goes back much further.

“Jane learned to do her hair from her father, a master stylist, when she was a teenager, and I started doing tattoos when I was 12. They were just old things to poke and prod inking and not very good, but I always loved art and my father was an artist and that inspired me to become one too,” Janzen said.

All this experience has certainly contributed to the rave reviews the store has received, but Rick and Jane offer another feature that is definitely a throwback to an earlier era. They are really nice people who love their work.

They also don’t hesitate to offer common sense advice to potential clients.

“Sometimes someone comes in wanting something really bad,” Jane said. “Young girls come in and ask to get a tattoo on a spot on their body, which, well, is a really bad idea. I tell them that later in life they may not want to show that part of their body.

“They sometimes get offended and say, ‘You’re not my mother,’ and I say, ‘No, I’m not, but I’m a woman and I’m telling you the facts.’

Rick also doesn’t hesitate to give advice to his clients.

He turned down clients who wanted tattoos motivated by hate or just bad ideas. It will not do the names of girlfriends or boyfriends, as these will almost certainly change as long as the tattoo remains. And sometimes the requests are inexplicable.

In a way, Jane says, the tattoos, piercings and even hairstyles people choose are a bit of a Rorschach test.

(For the uninitiated, the Rorschach test is a projective psychological test designed to examine a person’s personality characteristics and emotional functioning.)

“It tells you about people. They do things and often it’s an emotional thing. But within a year, that emotion is gone and they are stuck with their choices,” Jane said. “What do they do then?” »

“Other times they don’t think about the future and what their body will be like. A girl who gets a rosebud tattooed on her chest may find that as it grows, it is a long-stemmed rose.

All of these factors are equally relevant to piercings and helping Janzen guide their clients toward good choices.

“The worst thing about piercings is that people don’t realize that the process can hurt. I was punched, kicked, called names and generally abused. I’ve seen people pass out, pee their pants, and in one case poop their pants after passing out,” Rick said. “That doesn’t happen with tattoos.”

Yet Rick is fully trained and certified and has a friendly and supportive approach, so these cases are rare.

“The best thing about this job is the smile on people’s faces when you’re done giving them what they want and they look at it and they love it,” he said. declared. “That tells me we did it right.”