By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Annette Dewar has a way with hair that has kept her clients at A Cut Above coming back for haircuts, trims, color, styles, and perms for decades.
Her customers say they have been loyal visitors to her salon chair because, not only is Dewar skilled with the tools of her trade, but she also has a way of making everyone feel special and beautiful when they get up from her chair.
So imagine the devastation they are feeling from her recent retirement announcement. After 42 years uf cutting and styling hair for 42 years in Bowling Green, she will put down her shears today (Friday, Oct. 31).
Faced with needing hip surgery to deal with a hairdresser’s common occupational hazard—from long hours on their feet and adjusting the hydraulic client chairs up and down—Dewar decided the timing was right to step away from the salon and get her health back.
At 62 years old and with four decades of working long days, she decided to retire instead of risking injury again. Though she joked that many clients tried to convince her they would let her sit down to cut their hair if she would come back. Her surgery is scheduled for Nov. 4.
She sold the shop’s assets to Zach Gercak and Angelino Vasquez, who will offer full-service hair care in the same location.
Hair was her destiny
Dewar said she was destined to work and own a salon.
“Growing up, I was always the one running around doing everybody’s hair— braiding it, curling it, whatever they wanted,” she said. “When it came to proms and homecomings, I was the one styling everybody’s hair.”
Her work ethic came from starting to work at a young age in the IGA store her father owned for 45 years in Leipsic. He was also the source of her business acumen and the inspiration for owning her own business.
To enhance and finesse the natural skills she had, Dewar attended both barber school in downtown Toledo and cosmetology school in Columbus. The dual licenses as a barber and a cosmetologist allowed for a more diverse clientele, she said.
In 1983, Dewar started working at The Arrangement in downtown Bowling Green.
Among her earliest clients was Wendy Headly, who had two young sons, a demanding job, and thick, waist-length hair that was her signature but also had become burdensome to care for. Knowing it was time for a change, she sought out people with beautiful hair and asked them who did their hair.
“Whoever I talked to, Annette Dewar’s name came up,” Headley said. She scheduled an appointment to interview her. “Immediately, she was so gracious and knew where I was in life. She was gentle, she educated me and said, ‘We can do this.’”
Over time, the cut would be another inch and another inch, and often Dewar would tell Headley she had perfect hair for the style.
“She has what I call ‘magic fingers,’” Headley said. “It’s a fluff here and a fluff there. She doesn’t use a brush, it’s just fluff, fluff, fluff” to perfection.
In 1989, Dewar was ready to own her own salon. She fulfilled the dream of being a business owner when she founded A Cut Above on West Wooster Street.
She kept up with hairstyle trends and changes over the years. Like clothing, hairstyles come back into fashion. “I’ve been in this job long enough that things recirculate back,” she said. “They might call them different names. For example, the Dorothy Hamill style of the late 1970s is now kind of a higher-elevated bob cut that pretty much started from Dorothy Hamill.”
Perms have been renewed, not as much of the tight curls of days gone by, but more of beachy wave looks. And hair color continues to be a must have for many of her clients. “They aren’t ready to be gray,” she said.
Her client list grew to over 350 regulars, many who had found her, loved her and stayed with her for decades.
The reality is they are more than clients. They are friends, she said. “I’ve known them for so long. I’ve seen them have kids and their kids come in. I’ve been to many weddings and lots of fun things that involve my clients because I’ve been with them for so long, and it’s a good thing.”
Cathy Wagner, who has been Dewar’s client for 37 years, started with her when her previous stylist often took three hours to finish a perm and cut.
“I didn’t have that kind of time because of work and family,” Wagner said. “A friend recommended Annette, and I had an immediate appreciation for her because she was always on time, fast and did a great job.”
“Annette took time to get to know me and my family. She always asked about them and made you feel like you were special,” Wagner said. “She did that for everyone, which is probably one reason people stayed with her for so long.”
She gained more trust when Dewar went above and beyond after Wagner’s hair seemed to be reacting to a chemo pill she was taking. “It wasn’t falling out, but it was breaking off,” she said. “My doctor said it wasn’t the chemo pill, so Annette spent a lot of time trying to figure out things to do to improve my hair.”
Headley had similar praise for Dewar. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Headley went through serious health issues with blindness and Sjogren’s Syndrome.
“Annette would come to my house to cut my hair and check on me. She stuck through it with me,” she recalled. “That is who she is. She’s kind, compassionate and gracious.”
She’s been through a lot in her life, having lost her daughter Haley at a young age and her son Cameron a year ago, Headley said. “But with her faith and her strong family, she has always been there for her clients with a listening ear and unending support.
“She is one of those people that we need to respect and honor, honor more than anything and be so thankful that they’ve been in our lives and how much they’re going to be missed,” Headley said.
At Wagner’s most recent appointment, she learned of Dewar’s looming retirement. As she left, Dewar handed her a card with her hair color combo to share with the next stylist, and added Wagner’s sister’s color numbers.
She wasn’t just a stylist to me. I consider her a dear and cherished friend,” Wagner said, holding back tears. “I just trusted her. She was so kind and considerate, and so good at her job.
“She loved to cut hair. I hope she can find the same kind of joy in retirement as she had in her salon with her clients.”
Dewar said she has always known how to stay busy and plans to keep up her passion for yardwork, cooking and travel with her husband Doug.
“I always liked the work,” she said. “Not many people can say it, but I will always say: I started out doing something I loved, and I’ve loved it every single day.”
