By Aila Boyd aboyd@ourvalley.org
Photo by Aila Boyd
After working out of her home for the past five months, Pat Brooks, of Hair Affair, LLC., is back where she belongs— cutting and styling hair in the heart of Buchanan.
“It’s wonderful to be back,” she said. “I love Buchanan.”
Her first official day at her new location, located at 19746 Main Street, was last Tuesday. The doors opened at 8:15 a.m. and by 10, she had already cut, washed, and styled quite a few heads of hair.
One of her first customers at her new location just so happened to be her oldest customer as well. Louise Kessler, 92 years old, has been faithfully going to Brooks for over 30 years.
“She is the sweetest lady,” Brooks said of Kessler.
Brooks said that she cares for the rest of her customers as deeply as she does Kessler.
“I love my customers. They become your close, close friends,” Brooks said. “They share personal things with me and I do the same.”
Photo by Aila Boyd
Brooks said that although she enjoyed having her clients visit her home in order to get their hair trimmed, colored, and styled— especially over the holidays when she had a plethora of decorations on display— she’s glad to have a new salon that is centrally located in Buchanan for her customers to now go to.
After several of the buildings that Brooks previously considered didn’t work out, she said that she’s “very happy to have found a new home.” The building that her new salon is located in was built in the 1800s and had previously been gutted and was used for storage.
“It’s nice to bring life to an empty building,” Brooks said. She added that over the coming weeks and months, she will continue to “beautify” the salon and the area of street that it’s located on.
Following a disagreement over the vision of the salon she had worked out of since 1986, Brooks decided to take some time and develop a game plan for how she wanted to proceed. During the time that she worked out of her Springwood residence, almost every single client she had followed her. She even picked up some new ones along the way.
Aside from the few years that she took off following the premature birth of her daughter, Brooks has been a hair stylist since 1970.
From an early age Brooks knew that she wanted to work in a salon because it combines her two great loves— hair and people.
“It allows me to be creative and to interact with people I’ve known for years, my friends,” Brooks said.
She started off in hair dressing school in 1969 at a time when “big curls, teasing, and French twists” were in style.
When contemplating whether or not she has a favorite hairstyle, Brooks said that she honestly doesn’t.
“Each person has a hairstyle that they like and that compliments them,” she said. “The important thing is that when they leave the salon, the feel good about themselves.”
Currently, Brooks works at the salon on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays during mornings and afternoons. Her business partner Kim Minnis, of Blonde & Co., works out of the salon during evening hours.