Having Fun in Style
JEFFERSON TWP — Standing appointments are good for more than a shampoo and set at Bobbie's Beauty Shoppe, which has been in business for 50 years.
Many clients have shown up promptly for decades to catch up with friends and meet for appointments with owner Bobbie Taylor or stylists Sarah Braden, Evelyn Gallagher and Tracy Boice.
"We've had a lot of fun in this shop," Taylor sighed, shielding client Della Jones's face while spraying her white curls. "It's a wonderful way to meet a lot of good friends."
Jones, 97, of Butler is close friends with Taylor's mother Gladys Blain and was one of her first customers.
Jones drives herself to her weekly appointments and abandons her walker in the shop's upper parking lot before walking down a few brick stairs to the door.
"She's made out of tough stuff," Taylor said.
Blain encouraged her daughter to learn a trade, and Taylor said she gravitated toward beauty school because of her creative streak.
"It's been a good decision. I couldn't have picked anything I enjoy more," she said as she twirled sections of client Garnet Kriley's hair around her fingers and pinned them in place. "I love the people who come here because it's like a large extended family."
Taylor and Braden graduated in 1960 from Knoch High School and attended Maison Felix Beauty School in Pittsburgh. After graduation, Taylor thought she'd teach at the beauty school until her mother's close friend Marion McElroy stepped in.
McElroy loaned her $1,000 to start her first shop, which was at her mother's home, Taylor said.
"She said, 'You can pay me back if you make it; if not, you can do my hair for the rest of my life,'" Taylor said. "I made it, and I paid her back!"
Ten years later, business was booming, and Taylor outgrew her original shop. Again, McElroy stepped in and lent her the funds to construct a new shop at her own home, just down the street from her mother's house.
Bobbie's Beauty Shoppe has been in its current location on Mushrush Road ever since.Inside the shop, styling chairs are arranged around a brightly lit multisided mirror, and ruffled white curtains are tied back to let in sunshine.Customers talk and laugh as they wait their turn, seated under the bubble-shaped dryers.The beauty shop serves as part hair salon, part social club for the close-knit clientele, and framed family photos and newspaper clippings of her customers adorn a shelf in the corner."I'm proud of my ladies," Taylor said.Her customer base has changed somewhat over the years. In addition to her regulars, she keeps busy with men's haircuts and special occasion hairdos for proms and dances."It's different from how it was in the first days," she said. "It used to be that people would come in once or twice a week for fancy hairdos that they had to keep in place."Marian Cunningham of Butler makes the trip each week not only for the hair style but also for the conversation."I live out by all those mall beauty shops, and I drive 12 miles to get here," Cunningham said.Taylor said she still benefits from her training, which taught a valuable mix of old-fashioned and modern techniques, from finger waves and pin curls to teasing and razor cutting.Nonetheless, she said it's all about pleasing the client."Bobbie has the talent to make everyone beautiful," said customer Allene Luppe of Butler. "When they walk out the door, they feel beautiful."In the early years, there was a time when Taylor worked 90 hours a week to meet demand. She cut back to about 60 hours when she hired more staff.These days, Taylor works about 25 hours a week, and the pace suits her fine."It's plenty; it's a nice amount of time," she said.Even after hundreds of hairdos, Taylor said she still loves hairstyling as much as when she started."I don't think of myself as working when I'm here," she said. "It's been a nice life."
