50 years of style

Inside a small, white house flanked by a white picket fence, Nancy Powell continues a 50-year tradition her mother started in 1960.

Surrounded by family photos, Ms. Powell brushes a client’s hair, recalling the beginning of her mother’s business, Floye’s Beauty Salon.

“Mother always wanted to stay home with the kids,” Ms. Powell said.

Floye Van Hooser, Ms. Powell’s mother, opened the shop on Fourth Avenue in 1960 after obtaining a beautician’s license. Mrs. Van Hooser’s husband, Haskell, was the owner and operator of the former East Lake Radio and TV Repair Shop. A beauty salon beside his shop sparked the idea for Floye’s Beauty Salon, Ms. Powell said.

When Ms. Powell was 19, she decided to join her mother working in the salon that began in the home’s kitchen eight years earlier. She said it took some convincing, but after she graduated from a small technical college, she decided to attend beauty school and help her mother.

She took over the shop when Mrs. Van Hooser died in 1998.

This year will mark Ms. Powell’s 42nd working in the salon, and a steady client base of 23 women — most of whom have been coming for more than 20 years — keeps her busy.

“It’s like a family,” she said. “I’ve got several generations of family members who all come here.”

Shirley Thomas, whose 95-year-old mother has been visiting the salon since it opened, has been a client at Floye’s Beauty for the past 15 years and said the family atmosphere is what keeps her coming back. Her two sisters and her sister’s mother-in-law also go to Ms. Powell to have their hair done.

“I trust Nancy,” Ms. Thomas said. “She always makes me a pretty color, makes me look good.”

Ms. Powell said a lot has changed in the 50 years the salon has been operating.

A shampoo and set cost $1 when her mother opened up shop. Now the going rate is $10.

Hundreds of hairstyles, from the finger wave to bouffant, have been mastered inside the salon’s walls.

Staying in business in an industry where hairstyles change almost on a whim is no easy feat, and Ms. Powell said she has to keep up with what clients want. She scours the Internet, attends hair shows and listens to her customers to stay on top of trends.

Though being a hair stylist wasn’t what she intended to do forever, Ms. Powell said now she can’t think of anything she’d rather do.

“It’s home,” she said. “Sure, I could make more money working somewhere else, but it’s something you just can’t walk away from. I hope we can all just go out together, and not ever have to retire.”