Miss Dany’s Place: Total Skin Care With a Passion

The treatment room is warm and inviting, a stark contrast to the gray sky outside the window looking out to Edgewater Avenue. Dany De Santis Mac, sitting at one end of a long, luxurious table, explains the concept behind Miss Dany’s Place. It’s easily understood that while this may be a business, for Dany it’s a labor of love.

“I am very passionate about what I do,” Dany says, “and when you follow your passion, you're going to be good at it. My hands have been very blessed. I give a mean facial because I love it.”

Dany is known by friends and clients as Miss Dany and, logically, operates Miss Dany’s Place salon at 1132 Edgewater St. NW in the heart of West Salem’s Central Business District. This is where Dany provides that mean facial and much more. While her list of services is extensive, it’s a sense of comfort and belonging that brings patrons back again and again.

“I'm very relational so when you come to my table it's more than just about the service,” Dany says. “And truly, my business is a cover for my helping heal people from the inside out. If you are good on the inside, then you're going to be good on the outside.”

In a way, this has been Dany’s life calling. She remembers helping her friends with makeup and eyebrows when she was only 6 years old. “I was born with it, but it's not what I thought I was going to do,” she says. “I thought I was going to go be a doctor and deliver babies. That's not what happened.”

The Salem native’s path took different turns. Dany worked in the corporate world and tried real estate, but she eventually decided to make a career course correction. What skill set did she possess? What could she build on?

“The beauty industry kept on coming up for me,” so she obtained her esthetics license and 14 years ago started her own business. Miss Dany’s Place opened on Edgewater Avenue five years later.

The salon provides a wide range of services including waxing, facials, lashes and extensions, chemical peels, teeth whitening, body contouring and tightening, and body wraps.

She also shares space with nail technician Sydney Edmiston, massage therapist Lauren Cusick, and barber Cody “Yeah Yeah” Weaver.

“I have an amazing group of people here,” Dany says. “I have Lauren, the best massage therapist I have ever had in my entire life. Cody is really good at what he does, and Sydney is very thoughtful about the work she does for people. Everybody here is about the experience for their clients.”

Over the years, Dany has developed a loyal clientele who travel from as far as Vancouver, Portland, and Eugene for both the quality service and the personal relationship.

“They could see anybody in their own community, but they come to see me,” Dany says. “That's very honoring to me and I want to honor them. I love that.”

Then there are those who ask Dany to fix their mistakes. 

“Yes, I do a lot of fixes,” she acknowledges. “With social media, everything is at your fingertips so people think they can do it all themselves. I have story after story of why you should not do some things yourself.”

More than a few Tik Tok-inspired ideas have gone wrong. Dany has seen errant eyelashes, wild waxings, and even one man’s erased eyebrow, the victim of a misdirected beard trimmer.

“Some things you should not try at home,” she says.

Dany also helps clients remain comfortable in their own skin so they can age gracefully without turning to plastic surgery. “I'm really trying to keep my focus on what I can do for my clients as they are aging, without it being invasive,” she says, “steering away from Botox and fillers and the knife.”

“Everybody wants to feel youthful, attractive, important, and useful,” Dany says, “and they are coming in and allowing me to help with the outward appearance.”

Dany also offers doula services as she assists pregnant women before, during and after childbirth. Doulas are not medical professionals but instead offer physical and emotional support. Consider them a companion during pregnancy who can help advocate for the expectant mother’s needs and wishes.

“I'm a birthing coach. Most of my doula clients are my regular clients,” Dany says, “The nice thing about that is they have me for nine months whereas your other doulas they have you for only a few weeks.”

For information on all services, visit the Miss Dany’s Place website (www.missdany.com), call (503) 569-2449 or send email to missdany13@yahoo.com.

Lauren Cusick and Cody Weaver can be contacted via the Miss Dany’s Place website. Sydney Edmiston is online at rae-of-sunshine-nails-co.square.site. All can be reached by phone at the salon. Cody also lists his business phone number at (260) 579-8095.