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Rebecca Bedinger is a hair stylist, a fashion designer, a philanthropist and the owner and manager of Ippatsu Salon on 122 North Neil St. in Champaign. The shop has a different ambiance than run-of-the-mill hair salons. The textured olive green walls are adorned with intriguing bits of art, some created by Ippatsu's stylists. An elegant mannequin affectionately referred to as "Nancy" poses in the window. Artfully broken plaster busts adorn the back wall, atop a long display of colorful hair care products, and as the stylists are hard at work in front of tall, curvy mirrors, eclectic music floats throughout the shop. Bedinger, who bought the place three years ago, is not your typical stylist either.

Born in Catlin, a small town about six miles outside of Danville, she loved to play with her father's hair as a child.

"I would style it and then puts all these clips in it," Bedinger said. "Sometimes he'd forget it was in there."

Bedinger, however, didn't initially follow through with her hobby.

She attended Danville Area Community College, majoring in elementary education and business management. However, she soon discovered that this was not her calling.

At the time, Bedinger worked as a receptionist at a local salon. She liked what she saw around her and began to consider a career in hair design.

"It looked really interesting and the girls seemed to have a lot of fun," Bedinger said.

"I wanted something that changes everyday, and hair does that."

After a year at the college, Bedinger moved to Springfield to attend the Undergraduate School of Cosmetology. Knowing that there is always a demand for haircuts, Bedinger said she felt confident about her career move. Cosmetology also appealed to Bedinger's artistic sensibilities because, she said, "every haircut is a design, so you are constantly doing art."

After graduation, Bedinger worked at various salons in the Champaign area. Her big break came when she purchased Ippatsu Salon from its previous owners, who were moving to Chicago. Bedinger said she loved the salon and wanted to preserve it as it was, and had she not purchased the salon when she did, it would have closed in a matter of days.

To Bedinger, the space is a haven where stylists can enjoy their work.

"Stylists can be very comfortable here," Bedinger said. "When they walk in,

they don't feel like they're coming into work; they feel like they're coming in to do

what they enjoy."

Ippatsu offers cuts, styling, custom colors and Japanese thermal straightening. Ippatsu is known for offering fresh alternative styles, but Bedinger said her salon creates hair designs on both ends of the spectrum. The haircuts her clients ask for range from simple and classic to wild and edgy.

Ippatsu also offers a wide variety of European cuts which haven't hit the States just yet. Bedinger is passionate about traveling, which meshes well with her chosen line of work.

"I like to travel places where I am still working," Bedinger said. "I research new styles and hopefully can bring them back."

Bedinger is currently planning a trip to Amsterdam, Paris and London to research innovations in hair design.

Not only do Bedinger and the Ippatsu stylists offer the latest hairstyles and hair care products - readers of the local magazine The Hub have voted them as the best stylists in the Champaign-Ubrana area this year - they are also local philanthropists. For the last three years, Ippatsu has presented fashion shows for charitable causes. Last year's proceeds benefited the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and the year prior they supported the Crisis Nursery, an Urbana agency that aims to prevent child abuse and provide family support.

This year, the Sept. 3 show at Soma Ultralounge in Champaign, entitled "The Great Clash", is a benefit for Mark Daily, a Champaign resident who has been diagnosed with glioblastomay, a type of brain tumor.

Ippatsu has been abuzz lately with preparations for the show. When she is not cutting hair, Bedinger spends a good deal of her time researching, shopping, and designing looks for the show. "The Great Clash" will feature clients and other area residents as models. All makeup and hair designs will be created by

Ippatsu stylists.

Bedinger said the show's name comes from the concept of "clashing" different eras of music and fashion. The styles that will be smashed up on stage will span different decades and represent genres as varied as glam rock, punk, disco and country.

"The '50s and '80s looks will be on stage at the same time," Bedinger said. "While they clash against each other, DJ Elise will let music from the eras bang against each other."

In the future, the restless Bedinger plans to expand Ippatsu's repertoire of services. In the next couple of weeks Matt Steins, a tattoo artist from Chicago, will be coming to work at Ippatsu, and the back room will be converted into a tattoo parlor, called "No Regrets Tattoo." Steins is currently designing a tattoo for Bedinger.

As for herself, Bedinger also has ambitious future plans.

"My goal is to do education with hair," she said. "I want to do international education with a company, traveling and working with other stylists and teaching them the newest trends."

As Ippatsu's friendly Chihuahua, Roxanne, curled up in her lap, Bedinger explained why she loves what she does so much.

"I love the change and getting to meet so many people," she said. "It's great to just be able to make someone's day better sometimes."