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BY SUZANNE CLOUD
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
REAL NEW JERSEY
For almost a hundred years, people have been arguing over what the poet Keats meant when he wrote that all anyone had to know was that "beauty is truth, and truth is beauty."
Volumes have been written over whether Keats misplaced the comma or if the last half of the famous phrase made logical sense. Mathematician Ian Stewart in his book Why Beauty is Truth concluded that mathematical symmetry may hold the key to explaining "the infinite complexity of the relationship" between truth and beauty. But hairdressers know something that scholars can't find in words or equations: If you want to know anything about beauty or truth, visit a hair salon and listen to the person styling your hair.
Linda Taylor, owner of The Hair Shack, has worked as a hairdresser for over 30 years in South Jersey. "I went to Burlington County Vocational School,'' Taylor said. "My girlfriend and I applied together. Poor girl. I was accepted and she wasn't. But that's how it started. I enjoyed art, and I looked at hair as a creation." Linda got her first job at 15 when she was still a student. "I shampooed for a year, and when one of the hairdressers left, the shop owner said to me, ‘Would you like to take over her book [clients]?' I said, ‘Sure.' So I went to school all day, worked a couple hours each night and all day Saturday. It's a talent. You have to really have a passion for it. From the first minute we started doing each other's hair in school, I discovered I was good at it. I was one of the best."Taylor's father died when she was young, and while her mother was busy raising four children alone, Linda blossomed into a natural go-getter. She got her diploma, passed the NJ state boards, and jumped right into the field, just when the unisex concept was integrating barber shops and beauty salons. Men and women were getting their hair cut side by side in the same place. "My first job after graduation was in a small, four-chair barber shop called the Clip Joint in Merchantville. My boss showed me how to do men's cuts, and I loved that. It was my boss and me at first. He'd do the men and I'd do the women. Then another girl came, and then another. We built the business up, and on Saturday mornings, we had people lined up down the street."
The intimidating ambiance of the high-priced salons never interested Taylor; she enjoyed the homey atmosphere of the Clip Joint. "The girls I worked with, we had a lot of fun. Everybody was a comedian. People came in and would stay for hours, buy us pizzas, just talk and have a good time. I always thought that if I had my own business someday, that's what I would have. I didn't want one of those hoity-toity places. I just wanted a little family place where people could come and be themselves.'' She worked for 25 years, always hoping to own her own shop, but she was a divorced single mom, so reality put the dream on hold. I had two kids at 25, and it was a good job. I mean, I was able to raise my kids on my own. But I worked hard. I couldn't afford to buy a home, so I rented. The kids didn't have the best clothes, but we always had places to go. We always did things."
Taylor eventually remarried and with a second income to cushion the risk, her dream rekindled at age 50. "One day I was walking my grandson to school and saw this little place,'' she said. "It was empty. I went home and told my husband, ‘You know that cute little shop on Lees Avenue? It's for rent.' He said, ‘If it's not too much, maybe we can go for it.' We thought if the rent was no more than $1000 a month, we could do it. So I called up and it was $850. That was it. I said to myself, ‘Okay, this is your time, honey.' ‘'
The Hair Shack opened as a family business four years ago. "We didn't have any money when we started. We're still just getting by. But that's okay. As long as I can pay my girls, I'm happy with what I'm doing. I LOVE what I do. My proudest moment was when I turned the key and saw my own place. It was a wonderful feeling. I felt like God had really blessed me."
Hairdressers have always been the closest confidants of their clients, whether queens or 20th century women clamoring for the latest bob, bubble cut, beehive, or braids. In Elizabethan England, stylish men and women dyed their hair red with saffron and sulfur powder to imitate their red-haired queen. Eighteenth century French ladies piled their hair so high an inventor created a mechanical coiffure so their hair could be lowered when a troublesome doorway had to be negotiated. But they all talked and talked with the people doing the combing, curling, and cutting.
"People talk to me about everything! I could write a book. One woman told me, ‘You're my psychiatrist.' I guess because I listen to them. Some people don't have anybody who will just listen. I had this one guy for years. He would tell stories about his girlfriends and his wife. I saw him out one day at a bar. And he comes up to me, ‘Linda I'm here with my wife, so don't say ...' I would never! That's like an ethic thing, like being a doctor. I said, ‘Don't worry about it.' He ended up marrying a good friend of mine and now we don't talk anymore. It ended the intimacy that we had for years."
The Hair Shack is moving to a new location about a half mile away. It's a place big enough for the business and her family. "This will be my first home in my whole entire life. I'm 55 years old and finally have my own home." But standing nine hours a day has taken its toll. "I'm feeling it now that I'm older. My knees are shot. I have carpal tunnel. I have it bad. I mean I could get it operated on, but I'm afraid. If anything happens to my hands, I can't do my job. It's a tough job, standing and talking to people all the time. By the time you get home sometimes, you're just like so mentally drained. But I'll never give it up. I love it too much. And now we've bought a new place, it's another different adventure!"
Linda Taylor's opinion of truth and beauty is very simple – it's a compromise between the experience of the hairdresser and the individuality of the customer. "I get a kick out of some of the styles today. Like one of the girls here has a star bleached on the side of her head. If I was young, I would've done that. It's nice. Some kids get the blue streaks in their hair. I like that too. The Skater cut, now I hated that. Boys wanted me to shave one side of their head up to the part and keep it long on the other side. Oh, it was ugly. But bottom line, I just really want to make every person who comes into my shop look good."
Linda Taylor will soon be living and working at 334 Haddon Avenue in Collingswood – the new location of the Hair Shack.
