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Friends who have worked in hairdressing for half a century will serve their final customers on Christmas Eve and then close the door of their salon in Clay Cross for the last time.
Georgina Skelton and Julie Heeley launched G’s and J’s Unisex Hairstyling 44 years ago after taking over the premises in The Mall, Market Street where they learned their skills.
Julie, 67, said: “The lady we worked for had two salons and she was selling both businesses. We were qualified hairdressers when we decided to buy the business and buy ourselves a job!
“I started there as a shampoo girl when I was 15 and then started an apprenticeship when I left Tupton Hall School at 16.” Georgina, also a former pupil of Tupton Hall School, began her hairdressing apprenticeship at the salon the following year.
On the day of Georgina’s 66th birthday this week, the friends shared what they will miss about the salon, their recollections of hairdressing through the decades and their plans for retirement.
Closing the door on 44 years of running a hair salon isn’t easy for either of them. Julie said: “I want to retire but I feel like I’m letting my clients down – I shall miss them terribly. It’s awful, I’ve not been sleeping well. ” Georgina said: “It’s mixed emotions. You’re looking forward to having more time, but it’s been a long time with lots of lovely people.”
Julie, who lives in Somersall, Chesterfeld said: “How many other jobs can you stand and talk to people all day? Customers are so interesting – you get something new all the time. They tell me things in confidence that they need to get off their chest. Most have been coming for many years – they are more like friends than clients.
“About 10 years ago Georgina broke her ankle and had to have surgery on it. I don’t know how many customers rolled up their sleeves and shampooed for me.”
Both agree that the Eighties were a good time for hairdressing. Georgina said: “It was the Farrah Fawcett look…… I had that. Perming was a big thing in the Eighties and Nineties and that was always nice, to go from suddenly straight to curly and looking totally different; we were doing perms virtually every day.”
Julie said: “One of the most popular was the old bubble cut with a perm. I used to enjoy perming very much. The sad thing is we don’t do many of those now. We do more colours than perming; people want to cover up the grey.”
Asked about her favourite hairstyles, Julie said: “There have been so many changes – I’m better off telling you the ones I didn’t like. Right now, the way the men are having their hair shaved around the sides and left long on top, that really irritates me!”
Their business has a loyal core of 36 clients visiting the salon on a weekly basis. Julie said: “Our client base is small – it’s never recovered since Covid. The youngsters don’t seem to go to the hairdressers weekly or fortnightly, they might go once every two months for a colour – it’s not the same as it was.
“When we started, there were perhaps half a dozen hairdressers in Clay Cross, it’s in the teens now with barbers and hairdressers.”
Georgina, who lives in Beauchief, Sheffield will pursue her hobbies of line-dancing, walking and Zumba during retirement.
Married mum of two Julie said: “I like to paint, I want to get involved in a craft club and I’d like to walk more.”
This post was originally published on here
