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Stylists, clients share unique bond

Dedicated to the end

Staff writers

Cut, style, perm.

It’s all in a day’s work for hairstylists.

Anita Weber of Marion has been cutting, styling, and perming hair for more than 50 years. She said she plans to stop in two years.

Then again, she still has plenty of loyal customers. The 81-year-old beautician recently returned to work after recovering from surgery. Her daughter, Kathy Thomas, called Weber’s customers and they all said they were coming back.

“I enjoy my older customers very much,” Weber said. “I couldn’t ask for better people.”

The bond between hairstylists and their customers is strong.

Weber has been styling Alice Richmond’s hair once a week for 20 years.

The reason Richmond always comes back is “because she’s done such a wonderful

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job and she’s always there for me,” Richmond said.

Being there for their customers goes beyond weekly appointments.

Hairdressers have a unique opportunity to perform their services for their customers even after customers’ lives end.

“I prefer for them to go out of this world looking like they’re supposed to, like they want to,” stylist Amy Gillett said. “If someone did their hair they didn’t even know, it doesn’t even look like them.”

Gillett, the owner of Unique Designs in Marion, learned about working with deceased customers when she was in cosmetology school, but not all schools discuss the subject.

Betty Stenzel, stylist and owner of Hair Corner in Marion, didn’t learn about it until she worked with Gillett, 29 or 30 years ago.

Stenzel was scared the first time she went to a funeral home to do someone’s hair. Over time, the fear went away.

“After so long, it doesn’t bother me,” Stenzel said. “You’re just doing something for them. They’ve been your customer. You want them to look good at the end.”

“I always hate to go to the funeral home,” Weber said. “It’s always sad to see them go.”

Seasoned professionals, Stenzel and Gillett said they usually don’t become overly emotional because their customers — particularly the older ones — have had long, full lives.

“There’s that sorrow part, but most of the time (older customers) are ready to go home,” Gillett said.

Stenzel said the most difficult situation for her was when a young customer died in a car crash caused by a drunk driver. Stenzel hated to see a life cut short because of someone else’s decision.

“When they’re younger, like my age, it hits home a lot harder,” Gillett said.

Styling a longtime customer’s hair one final time helps provide a sense of closure when a loyal customer and friend passes away, she said. It is also a privilege — giving that person their last hairstyle.

Some customers want to make sure their hair is done “just so.” One even gave Stenzel instructions of how to do her hair for her funeral.

The three hairstylists have styled relatives’ hair for funerals.

“People ask, ‘How could you do your mother’s hair’?” Weber said. “Well, I figured that was the last thing I could do for her. I had done her hair in life.”

Since 1962, Weber has coiffed hundreds of women in her shop.

Hairstyles have changed dramatically but her customers haven’t.

Although the majority of her customers are pleased with her work, Weber maintains a loyal following for reasons beyond her skill with scissors.

She has lived in Marion all of her life and knows her customers. She said beauty schools should teach a class in psychology because she even has regulars who will complain after every haircut.

“It makes a difference when you know them,” Weber said. “You have to have a good ear. You listen to their problems close like a preacher or a bartender.”

Anita’s Beauty Salon, like other shops in Marion, has been a Marion institution because customers can count on the stylist.

“My customers have been with me for so long,” Weber said. “They’re like family.”

Some of Weber’s elderly customers are unable to drive so Weber’s husband, Virgil, picks them up and brings them to the shop.

The octogenarian has a strong work ethic and said that age doesn’t matter to her.

“My dad said he hoped he could die working,” Weber said. “He was lifting railroad ties and that’s how he went.”

She does not regret a second of a life she has devoted to beauty and hair.

“I think it’s a good thing,” Weber said. “You’re working with people. I just enjoy every part of it.”

At the end of the day, stylists have a sense of satisfaction, knowing their customers trust the stylists will be there through thick and thin, even at the end.

Last modified Sept. 22, 2010

 

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