Hair Today....

Mrs June Parsons owned the Hair Salon and Boutique,
on the corner Ellis Parade and Fairfield streets, Fairfield.
She bought the shop in 1935 and lived upstairs all her life.
It was 1983 and she was 70 years old.
She didn’t open the Salon today.
She just carefully took the steps down to the chairs.
She spun a chair around and said “Still Got it”.
Actually she didn’t really have it at all.
When the chair stopped spinning she sat down
and stared into the large mirrors in front of her.

June had arthritis and lung cancer and could hardly
breathe let alone cut anyone’s hair.
No she sat there for hours thinking of the old days.

She began talking out loud as old people do,

“Thank you all for coming. I am unaccustomed to
public speaking but I’ll give it a shot.
I actually know most of you. I cut and coloured
your hair over the years. I certainly had to listen
to your boring stories. Now you can listen to mine.
No I’m only joking. I loved you all and still do.
 When I began it was all curls and waves like the
Movie stars. It was all so glamorous.
Everyone wanted to be Mae West or Lana Turner.
Gee it was hard work but I loved every minute of it.
Oh then came the girls going off to War in the 40’s.
They wanted very serious hair styles then.
It  was all  Pin Curls, Victory Rolls Pageboy and the  Voluminous Bobs.
My goodness they were sad days.
Some of those brave women never returned.
By the 1950’s everyone wanted to look like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor.
They all wanted to be glamorous again.
My goodness what about the sixties.
Every style had to be big like Audrey Hepburn and Jacqui Kennedy.
What a whirlwind.
By the 70’s women became a little more concerned about equality
and kept there hair simple for the most part.

Oh I do remember old Mrs Cruikshank.It took her about half
and hour to toddle down from her house to the Salon.It was
only 100 yards for goodness sack. But she always got there with a  smile.
All she ever wanted was a trim and a chat.I think the poor old dear
was lonely and just needed someone to talk to.
I think she died last year poor old dear.
Oh well that’s about all  I can remember.
I really don’t think I will be cutting anymore hair today.
As we always used to say. Hair today and Gone tomorrow.”
I may not have cured cancer but I made a lot folk feel good about themselves.
And that is a life well spent.