Tales of the Village - Hair today, Hair tomorrow

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Our village of 5000 inhabitants has three pubs and three hairdressing salons. I'm not sure quite what that says about the people who live here but I've been loyal to my salon for 11 years now and it really is a community 'hub'. The owner of the salon died back in January after over a year of being ill. The staff didn't like working with him much and they and their customers were all a bit unsure what would happen when he died. Today the salon held a party to relaunch themselves with new furniture, new decor and - after 11 years of never knowing quite what temperature we'd get - new sinks with water that stays at a constant temperature. The biggest change though is the name; it's now named after the deceased owner. His daughter Charlotte is working in the salon 4 days a week managing the place and she has been a breath of fresh air. After years of being treated to a 6-weekly moan about everything that was going wrong, I now get to see a hairdresser who is happy and much more positive about life and work than ever before. Charlotte is not a hairdresser - she's a florist - and she chose not to go into her father's trade because she didn't want to be in his shadow. Her brother is the 'sleeping' partner and both are quite surprised that their father's death brought them into business together, and into the hairdressing trade against all odds. They have an amazingly loyal customer base. Despite the place being scruffy, the water never being at a good temperature and the staff often being miserable, many of us have stuck with them for many years. And finally it's lovely to see the old place get a makeover and a new lease of life. It's not easy to keep a salon going against two others in a village the size of ours but the place is looking stronger than ever. The old man would have been so proud to see his family pulling together with his staff.