Walk into The Best Little Hair House right off Route 1 on 220, all sparkling with new seats and mirrors, and you might spot an octogenarian in rollers patiently sitting under one of the familiar egg-shaped dryers – while at the same time a millennial watches himself in the mirror getting his hair colored purple. It’s a hair salon serving Waldoboro’s generations. And Laurie, who has been hairdressing for almost forty years, has spanned generations as well. She even would do the hair of a couple of my own aunts, now long deceased. Laurie started in 1986, first graduating from Medomak High in 1985, then from hair school. For many years, she partnered with June Gagnon, crisscrossing across Waldoboro in different spaces. When June retired about fifteen years ago, Laurie teamed with her daughter Charlotte. Their calendars are booked four weeks out. But Laurie no longer answers the phone after 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. She keeps that time for herself and for paperwork, for the husband she married right after high school and for her children and grandchildren – that is, until Tuesday morning when they open their doors again.
Teenage boys are the fussiest, pickiest, and the most nervous about their hair of anybody, and I really enjoy them. The people are best part of this job.
And sometimes they can be difficult. Like the people who make the appointment and then don’t show up for their 3-hour, $150 appointment for color. I could have used that time for others, but I can’t just call someone else at the last minute to take their slot. It doesn’t work that way.
And then there are the ones who will tell you how to do your job: “I think you should mix the color this way;” “I think you should cut it that way;” or “Why are you parting my hair this way?” Sometimes I have to laugh.
When I work with the older generation of men, I like to make them comfortable. They just want to know that you know somebody that they know. Once we make that connection, they get really comfortable. They like to talk about the history of the town, who used to be where and how it’s changed. And men don’t want to talk about what kind of haircut they want. They just want me to automatically know. So, we do the same as we did last time. I really enjoy them.
Women like to talk about men and what drives them crazy, and that’s fun. And about home and kids and grandkids. We talk a lot about that.
In the old days, I think people would also talk also a little bit about politics. They might ask who you were going to vote for, and when you told them, they’d be like, “Oh.” But politics is too heated now, so I just shut it down. I try to move the conversation without making it obvious. I’ll say, “My granddaughter’s going to Popham Beach today. Have you ever been there?” Or say, “Now let’s about your garden.” Or, “What are you doing for Labor Day?” I think what people are doing is really fun to talk about.
A great customer has a lot to do with personality. They are the people you like being around. The ones that come in, and you just have a great time talking together. You build a rapport, and you have them for years and years which is great. It’s a lot about who you love and who comes through that door. Like your Aunt Peggy. Sometimes people are so unhappy that they’re just funny to be around. I like making people feel better when they leave. I think everybody feels better when they get their hair cut.
We used to have a whole generation of ladies that would come in and get their hair set every week. On Fridays we used to have thirteen ladies that would come in. Like your Aunt Jean and Betty who came in every week. They had great stories. And they loved being here.
Now I think we’re down to our last four. We have lost so many this year, whether it’s death or getting up there. In the last couple of years, Marilyn Andrews, Eleanor Smith, Elsa Lauften and Sheila Maxcy have gone, and that’s just a few of them. It’s a lot of loss, especially when you’re close to somebody for that long. They were closer to me than family that I see only twice a year, because I would see these ladies once a week when we’d catch up, and I’d hear about what they did each week.
Sheila passed away just this year. For years we used to have conversations that went on and on and on. I went to school with her daughter, and her grandson was the same age as my daughter. That was so much fun. But in the last four years she had Alzheimer’s, and slowly our conversation dwindled to one word and her not really knowing who I was. That was really, really hard.
The next generation, the ones in their 70s, they aren’t coming in each week. They just come in for a cut and blow dry or they let it go. They don’t even want a perm. Back in the ‘80s when I started out, everybody in the world was having a perm. I was the fastest wrapper, and I could execute the best perm. But now color is a big thing, and coloring and perming together are a no-no.
And the younger generation of hairdressers won’t do it anyway, nor a wash and roller set.
They’re not interested in something they think is old. They’ll do hair color, extensions, and eye lashes instead.
Trends come and go. Now its hand-painting – it’s called balayage and it’s a big thing. Us older people laugh because back in the day, we used to paint color on all the time. Only you didn’t get paid for it. Now you can charge $150 for it. I think it’s funny.
I like input. I’ll take all the input in the world. I love it when people bring in pictures of what they want in. I love it when they talk about what they want.
I’ve learned that when I ask, “What do you like?” they’ll say, “Oh, I don’t know…”
But if I say, “Well, what do you not like?” all of a sudden, there’s a whole list, of everything in life. “I hate this, I hate that,” and “Don’t do this, don’t do that.”
So that’s when I ask. “What do you not want?”
And they’ll say, “Well, I don’t want my ears to show.” Or, “I don’t want my hair to be reddish in color.”
And that’s where we start. We take it from there.
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