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Murray Shaikin has been a hairdresser for 53 years and, at 70, hopes never to retire.
“I have no hobbies,” he said one day this week, putting his scissors down for an hour after a busy morning with seven customers. “I tried golf; I hated it. I tried curling; I hated it.”
He’s had some of the same clients for 30 and 40 years, one for 51. They have, literally, grown old together, from platinum blond and fiery red to fifty shades of grey. He mentioned a family for which he has cut five generations of hair. He has done their weddings, both mothers and daughters, set their hair for wakes. Reluctantly, he has worked on a client in a coffin.
So the next step was a natural, seeing as the old clients are nearly family. For a handful, he will pick them up, then take them home — at no extra charge, free Uber with a blow-dryer.
“I don’t call them clients. I call them my girlfriends,” and he proceeds to rattle off the names and ages of his most loyal: 91, 93, 90 and 88. And, of course, he knows their secrets. (A demand for a radical new hairstyle, for instance, almost always signals a major life change.)
Murray Shaikin, 71, has been styling hair for over 50 years and he’s had some of his clients for over 40 years. He’s so dedicated to his customers that for some he’ll drive to their retirement home every week to bring them to his salon. Client Peggy McDonald has her husband, Robert, left, drive her to the Richmond Road salon.
They’ve stayed loyal to each other as he moved from nine different salons in town, the longest stay at Sears in Carlingwood, where he worked for 27 years. He now has his own shop, on Richmond Road just east of Woodroffe Avenue, called Crave but soon to be renamed Murray’s Hair.
“We keep saying we’re never going to get a divorce.” This is not his wife speaking but Jeanette Finkelstein, 71, who has had her hair cut, coloured and styled by Shaikin for 34 years. “He and I have grown up together.”
Women and their hairdressers: what a deep, mysterious relationship it can be. Other than husbands, what other man would be permitted all this touching, massaging, image-altering? “I affect how you’re going to look for the next week or the next month,” says Shaikin. “So we have to have a bond, a trust.”
Murray Shaikin, 71, has had some of his clients for over 40 years. For some, like Audrey Henry, 88, he’ll drive to her retirement home every week to bring her to his salon.
The other day, while waiting for Shaikin to finish with a client, Finkelstein picked up a broom and swept the floor. Once, when she was sick but having a bad hair week, Shaikin drove to her house and worked his magic.
“He’s fun. He’s just a happy kid,” she said. “He just makes me feel good.”
Dorothy Oikle, 88, has been a client for about 45 years. Shaikin also did the hair at both her daughter’s weddings, and was a guest at one. She has entertained Shaikin and his family at Christmas, though he is Jewish, and they’ve watched their children grow up, marry and move out.
Just over two years ago, she settled into a retirement home on Richmond. Not a problem. Shaikin picks her up every four weeks, does her hair, then takes her home. “It’s his whole attitude,” said Oikle.
Murray Shaikin, 71, has had some of his clients for over 40 years. For some, like Audrey Henry, 88, he’ll drive to her retirement home every week to bring her to his salon.
Judy Miller, 56, has often confided in Shaikin, about work, family, what-have-you, as her hair style changed “about 30 times” over the last 28 years. “He loves his job. He’s very passionate about it.”
She too has become more than just another haircut. “When my mother passed away, he called me at home just to see how I was doing.”
Shaikin is originally from Montreal. He says he loved hairdressing from the moment, as a teenager, he began practising on a mannequin at beauty school. Times were different, for sure. He remembers “ladies of the night” coming in two or three times a day from St. Catherine Street for a touch-up between customers.
He admits to being old school, from the era when women had their hair “done” or set once a week. He is proud to neither own nor operate a computer. When he does his daily power walk of 90 minutes, he listens to a Walkman, the kind that uses a cassette tape. He watches Miami Vice reruns, ritually. “I don’t do any of that Zumba stuff.”
He is particularly good at colouring — “I had a lady, her hair went green. She wasn’t happy. But that was 30 years ago”— as though deputized in an aging woman’s war against grey hair. Unless: “If you have beautiful grey hair and want to colour it, I will talk you out of it.”
Shaikin, married for 47 years with two grown children, is very happy to be running his own one-man shop, taking appointments mostly in the mornings, mostly when it suits him.
“This is heaven. Owning this place is like I won the lottery.”
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@ottawacitizen.com.
twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
“I have no hobbies,” he said one day this week, putting his scissors down for an hour after a busy morning with seven customers. “I tried golf; I hated it. I tried curling; I hated it.”
He’s had some of the same clients for 30 and 40 years, one for 51. They have, literally, grown old together, from platinum blond and fiery red to fifty shades of grey. He mentioned a family for which he has cut five generations of hair. He has done their weddings, both mothers and daughters, set their hair for wakes. Reluctantly, he has worked on a client in a coffin.
So the next step was a natural, seeing as the old clients are nearly family. For a handful, he will pick them up, then take them home — at no extra charge, free Uber with a blow-dryer.
“I don’t call them clients. I call them my girlfriends,” and he proceeds to rattle off the names and ages of his most loyal: 91, 93, 90 and 88. And, of course, he knows their secrets. (A demand for a radical new hairstyle, for instance, almost always signals a major life change.)
Murray Shaikin, 71, has been styling hair for over 50 years and he’s had some of his clients for over 40 years. He’s so dedicated to his customers that for some he’ll drive to their retirement home every week to bring them to his salon. Client Peggy McDonald has her husband, Robert, left, drive her to the Richmond Road salon.
They’ve stayed loyal to each other as he moved from nine different salons in town, the longest stay at Sears in Carlingwood, where he worked for 27 years. He now has his own shop, on Richmond Road just east of Woodroffe Avenue, called Crave but soon to be renamed Murray’s Hair.
“We keep saying we’re never going to get a divorce.” This is not his wife speaking but Jeanette Finkelstein, 71, who has had her hair cut, coloured and styled by Shaikin for 34 years. “He and I have grown up together.”
Women and their hairdressers: what a deep, mysterious relationship it can be. Other than husbands, what other man would be permitted all this touching, massaging, image-altering? “I affect how you’re going to look for the next week or the next month,” says Shaikin. “So we have to have a bond, a trust.”
Murray Shaikin, 71, has had some of his clients for over 40 years. For some, like Audrey Henry, 88, he’ll drive to her retirement home every week to bring her to his salon.
The other day, while waiting for Shaikin to finish with a client, Finkelstein picked up a broom and swept the floor. Once, when she was sick but having a bad hair week, Shaikin drove to her house and worked his magic.
“He’s fun. He’s just a happy kid,” she said. “He just makes me feel good.”
Dorothy Oikle, 88, has been a client for about 45 years. Shaikin also did the hair at both her daughter’s weddings, and was a guest at one. She has entertained Shaikin and his family at Christmas, though he is Jewish, and they’ve watched their children grow up, marry and move out.
Just over two years ago, she settled into a retirement home on Richmond. Not a problem. Shaikin picks her up every four weeks, does her hair, then takes her home. “It’s his whole attitude,” said Oikle.
Murray Shaikin, 71, has had some of his clients for over 40 years. For some, like Audrey Henry, 88, he’ll drive to her retirement home every week to bring her to his salon.
Judy Miller, 56, has often confided in Shaikin, about work, family, what-have-you, as her hair style changed “about 30 times” over the last 28 years. “He loves his job. He’s very passionate about it.”
She too has become more than just another haircut. “When my mother passed away, he called me at home just to see how I was doing.”
Shaikin is originally from Montreal. He says he loved hairdressing from the moment, as a teenager, he began practising on a mannequin at beauty school. Times were different, for sure. He remembers “ladies of the night” coming in two or three times a day from St. Catherine Street for a touch-up between customers.
He admits to being old school, from the era when women had their hair “done” or set once a week. He is proud to neither own nor operate a computer. When he does his daily power walk of 90 minutes, he listens to a Walkman, the kind that uses a cassette tape. He watches Miami Vice reruns, ritually. “I don’t do any of that Zumba stuff.”
He is particularly good at colouring — “I had a lady, her hair went green. She wasn’t happy. But that was 30 years ago”— as though deputized in an aging woman’s war against grey hair. Unless: “If you have beautiful grey hair and want to colour it, I will talk you out of it.”
Shaikin, married for 47 years with two grown children, is very happy to be running his own one-man shop, taking appointments mostly in the mornings, mostly when it suits him.
“This is heaven. Owning this place is like I won the lottery.”
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@ottawacitizen.com.
twitter.com/kellyegancolumn
查看原文...
