Reflections of the 80's

Anne was a superb apprentice, always a smile and boy could she pull in the Gent's to the salon, all her school mates, infact everyone wanted Anne to do their hair - it was January, cold and the snow was thick on the ground, but this made no difference as it was her 18th Birthday, also it was Karen's 21st on the same day, (Karen was my other staff member), so I decided to give them a 'treat' on their birthday! We had been out the previous night to Riley Hall as there was a Disco on, so we were all a little delicate the next morning, Gemma was honking in the toilet, Karen as green as her uniform and Janet, the senior was trying to keep all customers happy on the shop floor - "They will be with you shortly" I could hear - we were all out on the salon floor, this was my Cue to open the window - "It's a bit hot in here, I need some fresh air" I got some strange looks but my plan was working, he was here, Nick - the Milk Tray Man, dressed in black, with ropes accross his shoulder, a balaclava on and he had the chocolates under his arm, he mounted the ladders and jumped in through the window and all because the ladies loved Milk Tray - screams, laughter, amazement and joy, the girls and customers loved it, he then left via the window (with his small payment) This was me at my best, trying to surprise the staff, I was so greatful of their contribution to the business that I was always looking to stretch surprises to the full, infact even customers used to say, Angela how can I pull off a surprise and I was away.

Towards the end of Anne's apprentiship, she once said "I can now cut any style, anyone, nothing phases me" - haha I thought, as you are coming to the end of your apprentiship I will make you eat your words...........so..........I arranged for our local farmer, Brian to bring in a sheep for a 'haircut', the nod and wink was on, Brian got the sheep in to the salon (ground floor) and Anne was in the staff room, I shouted "Anne, your next customer is here", so she picked up her scissors and opened the Barber Shop door to the biggest shriek, Dolly faced her, we all descended on the Salon and said, go ahead Anne, you can do anything now - she giggled and giggles to our sides hurt, but Brian plugged in the clippers and made her trim Dolly, and she did, by this time, the press had arrived and we got maximum coverage for a great fun day celebrating Annes completion of her apprentiship.

Then one day, the sad news arrived, Anne's father bought her or arranged the purchase of a Salon in Leeds, this was such a shock to me, it hurt so much as we were such a great team and I felt I had been used, but it was her choice to move in to the very undesirable area of outer Leeds, I was concerned for her, but knew she would survive - but not for long, I think a couple of years and then she went to Australia with her husband to emigrate.

Lesson learnt - I would not give as much to the next one, I even thought of selling the salon, that was how hurt I was, I took it personally, which since then and many years later, I realise that you must have a 'them and us' policy.

It's now 1979

I did not really get in to the high fashion stakes in hairdressing in '79 as I was still very much a 'mother', I had suffered a mis-carriage this year which left me devastated, I never thought I could feel so empty and so alone, yet it is a very regular occurence with the majority of women. You don't think so at the time though, so another year passes and I am still enjoying 'keeping my hand in'. It is now spring 1980 and we decided to go to Majorca for a holiday, we went with Sharon and Keith, very good friends of ours then and still today. I was pregnant again and this was not planned, so I was not happy about the thought of maybe not carrying this child with 100% love that I had when I was pregnant with my first child.........Majorca was fun, sunny, warm and loved being together with our friends and my adorable Adelle, until one evening I realised I was losing my 12 week old unborn child.....again, so I was taken in to hospital in Palma and without going in to further details, that was it as far as I was concerned regarding having more children.

Then, when I came back to England, infections set in, so I was taken in to hospital at York and that's where I met my friend Chris Lacy, she was in the bed to my left, suffering from an ectopic pregnancy, but what a lovely lady, with two beautiful girls, Nicola and Jo-anne. Chris had her own Salon in Huntington, York. Eventually this friendship blossomed and Chris offered me a job in her Salon, I loved it, I helped develop Chris' thriving business by my input and this worked well for a few months. Adelle was at school, her Nana helped me whilst I worked.

In March 1981 a Gent's Hairdressing business came up for sale in Tadcaster, this was the opportunity I wanted, I needed and with the financial help of my Mother and Father in Law, this became possible. So I bought 'Mr Knibbs', it had great opportunities as it had a first floor which was un-developed. Within one week, I was in the shop, changed it's name to 'Reflections', we were at the side of the River Wharfe, hence the name as well as the mirror reflections. This business was turning over £3,500 per annum, but I raised it to £17,500 in the first year. The ladies' business was growing rapidly, the mens side of things was not what I really wanted, but did not turn down this as it was a regular form of income.

I joined the NHF, (National Hairdressers' Federation) as I was employing staff (Janet and Anne), this trade body and it's meetings were essential in helping me with the laws of employment, holidays, sickness etc. They also arranged demonstrations to demonstrate the skills of competition work, this was given by David and Michael of York. Wow! I was amazed at what these men could do with their models, ....I wanted to learn how to do it....and I did, by 1982 I was the North East of England Men's Champion Hairdresser! I learnt from David how to taper, texturise, create shape and most of all finish the style to perfection.

I was buzzing, I loved been competitive, I has a good model and it was not long before Anne ( we called her Gemma as their was an Ann previously at the Salon) wanted to compete, so as a team we toured the north and entered at all available competitions, finally to Blackpool - this was the the icing on the cake. I had been to Blackpool exhibition in the 70's with Michael Aldrich from Jack Lee's as he arranged a salon trip, so I knew it was a huge event...............

1969 Onwards

It is now 1969, I am working in the city of Hull, famous at the time for it's Fishing Industry, Hull was a troubled city then, as is now, the reason was that nearly the whole of the city relied on the industry of fishing, then with cut-backs, industrial action, the cold war, it was on a fast down-turn. I went to work at a City-Centre Salon called 'Paulines' of King Edward Street, this was a massive culture shock for me, as I had lived on the coast and my apprenticiship was formed in my home town of Withernsea, but after two years, Susan Lear (my talented boss), decided it was best for both of us to part company and finish my apprenticiship elsewhere as we had a massive personality clash:

I wonder whether it was to do with; Deena (my senior and still very good friend) and I decided to mimick the advert for Newfarm Eggs, this was 4 hens in a row, singing "Always ask for Newfarm, Newfarm eggs, fresh from the farm for you" -( I have looked on uTube for a link, but it's not out there, sorry), so there we were trouping this song down the full length of the salon, in front of all the customers, when Susan walked in!!!! or was it my impressions of Pete Cook and Dudley Moore, Hilda Baker, Morecombe and Wise or The full Monty Python Sketch that was on the TV the night before, I don't know why really she was upset as the customers loved it........except the posh ones and Susan loved the posh ones.

So Pauline introduced me to her 32 staff!!!!!! that each was assigned to her work station and wall hairdryer - we were allocated 7 mins per combout and 5 mins per set, I found this so hard as I had been taught to put rollers in with no 'root drag', all neat and tidy, infact Deena was the most immaculate, setter and perm winder to learn from, but she did not have the ability to teach, I watched and replkicated her work - Pauline said 'Grab a steel comb and a bottle of 'Bel-Aire' and we'll show you how to do this - I had to back-comb hair vividly in the roots, lock it in and then back-comb the ends so the hair stood vertical, when all the hair was done, I then had to bend the ends over into a roll or barrell, these sat on top of each other to give height. It was a great way to learn how to dress hair in a manufactured-typed way but not the beautiful way I had been taught. I was confused

One lunch time after been paid, I went to Boots Chemist and bought a dusky pink Moulineux hand hair dryer, up till then, they were slow heavy like this image above, so this new light-weight modern hair dryer was brilliant to hold and work with, so I persuaded one of the juniors to have the Quant-look, I worked away in the corner, creating my masterpiece, after cutting it, I blow-dried it using brushes as I has seen this on a programme about Vidal Sassoon, Wow, what a feeling to think I could do this, all the staff, slowly came back from lunch admiring this new total-look, but when Pauline herself walked, she hit the roof with excitement "Did you do this?", yes I was pleased to say, she said things are about to change, I'll get the builders in, and we'll create a corner of the salon that is modern and fashionable, and she did, this was 'my area' for youth and creativity'.

The 1970's was strange period in my life as I had 'found my feet', spoke up for mysef and was a stylist as good as the rest, so when I got married in 1974, I moved to York and went to work in the most famous salon of it's time at Mason Lee's, the owner Jack Lee, was tall, handsome debonair, a small thin 'tache and always had pretty young girls around him, as well as Mary, his wife.

He was a showman, he lead, others followed. He used to throw Pool Parties and you can imagine the life-style that went with it. Jack gave me the opportunity to work at his Cut and Blow Dry Salon in Coney Street, this was called 'Mopps', Graham was the manager and was a great stylist, this was the first time I could look up to someone for inspirational ideas. Michael Aldritch was the manager at Mason Lee, and one night he asked anyone to stay behind if they were interested in a photo shoot, so I did. I created my first Wedge haircut on one of the staff and they shot it in black and white, this photo adorned the walls of the salon and was published in HJ, our trade magazine, this gave me the greatest buzz and confidence, I'm glad I took this direction as 'Afro Perms' came in to fashion and the new 'stack winding', I hated perming, so I carried on in the cutting dpartment.

Until.........1976, the hottest summer of the decade and I chose to have my first child in September, all I wanted was a daughter, my husband was not bothered, so I kept hoping my dreams were fulfilled as I would have the baby in September and be back at work in December, until September 14th 1976 and Adelle Mary was born, how beautiful my child was, yes she was a breach, which means no distortion, she was dark, black hair, brown eyes and perfect as she still is to this day. This changed me completely, I did not want to go to work, I wanted to stay at home, learn to be a good mum and wife and adapt to rural-living, this was helped with a friend called Jackie in the village, she taught me all sorts from baking bread, making Jam, casseroles, how to grow plants etc, the list is endless but was great to have someone like that as I did not want to be away from Adelle at all, my late friend Christine from Burnley once said, you only have your children 'on-loan', before you know it, they will be gone, and now sadly Christine has departed but her wisdom stays with me. Adelle is a writer and it is her who has persuaded me to write this blog, I told her I'm not good enough, but she insists that I put down what's in my head, so i hope it's going OK.

I carried on hairdressing at home, as mother said in her early comments, doing my friends, their mum's, ladies from 'play-school' etc, this kept my interested ans earned a fair bit of cash. By 1978 we bought a new house and the interset rates rose enourmously in 3 months to I think about 15-16%, so the extra money was handy.