Teal, Bruns retire from salon

Over the last half-century, hairstyles and the methods used to create them have changed, and Shirley Teal and her sister-in-law, Lynnette Bruns, have seen them come and go.

“Not many people get their hair rolled on rollers anymore,” Teal said last Friday while styling a customer’s hair with hair curlers. “They’ve gone to blow-dry and curling irons. That’s probably the biggest change. I don’t know if it’s the best, but it’s certainly the biggest.”

But one thing that’s stayed the same over the years for Teal and Bruns is how well they get along with their customers at Shirley’s Beauty Salon at 309 New York Ave. in Holton, where Teal has been working since 1975 with Bruns joining her three years later.

“We’ve just had the nicest, nicest people,” Bruns said of the salon’s clientele.

“That’s probably the best part,” Teal added. “We’ve had nice customers, and we’ve gotten acquainted with their families, also.”

On Friday, July 3, however, that comes to an end for the ladies, who recently announced their decision to retire.

“We might ride off into the sunset, but it’s going to take me a while to get the place emptied out!” Teal joked.

But although Teal’s been at the salon the longest, it was Bruns who inspired her to become a beautician. Bruns graduated from “beauty school” in 1968, then Teal went to school and finished in 1970.

In the mid-1970s, Teal worked for Holton beautician Doris Law-Urish for a couple years, then bought the shop from her in 1975.

“She was here when we were in high school,” Bruns said of Law-Urish. Bruns graduated from Holton High School in 1967; Teal graduated from HHS two years later.

Back in those days, many of the hairstyles involved rollers, curlers and a hair dryer that covers the entire head, which is still in practice with some of their older customers.

“They’d sit in the center of the dryer for a little bit, then get it combed out with a French roll and all the fancy stuff,” Teal said. “Now, they just get it cut, blow-dried, colored and gone.”

One practice that’s gone from the old days, they noted, is having to wear “uniforms,” while other practices have been added over the years, they said.

“Pedicures weren’t even legal in Kansas when we went to school,” Bruns said. “Manicures were, but not pedicures.”

Some of their customers have been coming to the salon just about as long as it’s been in business.

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