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Years ago, before Great Clips, Leon's and so many other beauty salons came on the scene, people had shops in their homes. One of the earliest home beauty shops in Summerfield was opened by Helen Ayers in 1936. It was upstairs in the Ayers' brick home, near the present Town Hall. I remember being in her shop one time when she was shampooing someone's hair and the water stopped running. She went to the door and yelled downstairs, "Cut the water off — I can't get any water up here!"

Lots of people remember going to Helen's shop but not its name. Summerfield Beauty Shop was advertised in the 1948 school annual. That could have been Helen's, which closed in 1950.

Ruby Price had a shop in her house. Frances Belton Angel said Ruby did her hair when she got married in November 1938. Polly Hendrick Irby remembers getting a perm there about 1947.

After a few years, Ruby closed her shop and started selling Stanley products.

Lib Angel opened a shop in her home in about 1961.

Advertised in the 1962 school annual were Jones Beauty Shop and Anna Lou's Beauty Shop, operated by Anna Lou Preston.

Fentress Beauty Salon was opened about 1961 by Izula Fentress.

Others who had shops were Maedell Norman, Florence Stafford Westmoreland, Sheila Key, Barbara Heath and Sue Atkins.

Novella Watkins remembers that Esther Ogburn in Summerfield and Pauline Crutchfield and Pearl Watkins in Oak Ridge were among the black women with shops in their homes.

When Billie Lou Everett was a little girl, she and her cousins played beauty shop when they went to visit their Grandpa Smothers. They finger-waved each other's hair using sugar water. Sybil Neal and Everett grew up and became beauticians. Everett also taught cosmetology for 15 years at GTCC.

A shampoo and set was 50 cents when Everett opened her shop in 1949. She had customers from Oak Ridge to Stokesdale to Browns Summit. One day she did 10 perms - for a grand total of $50!

Sometimes while Bea Stafford Curtis was sitting under the dryer, she'd give Everett's small daughter, Mary Lou, her bottle. Thelma Bray sometimes came at 6 a.m. for a shampoo and set before she went to work at 8. Everett fixed some breakfast for Bray to eat while her hair dried.

Some, if not all, of these beauticians went the extra mile for their customers. Everett remembers going to customers' homes, the nursing home, or even the funeral home to do hair. Dianna Scarlette remembered Lib Angel doing a shampoo and set free if there was a death in the customer's family.

Even though the men didn't get shampoos and sets, they had to have their hair cut. In the 1930s Charlie Everett would go to the Old Brick Store, now called Hillsdale Brick Store, on Saturday afternoon to operate a barbershop on the porch. He carried his hand clippers, scissors and a cloth to put around their necks; and with a straight chair from the store, he was ready for business.

Charlie "Ed" Warren in Oak Ridge and Jim Hall and Zebedee Frazier in Stokesdale were black barbers with barbershops in their homes, Watkins remembered.

Ira Johnson had a barbershop over Brittain's Store in 1911. Dura Mae Ayers remembered that in 1938, Edward Combs had a barbershop, and his wife, Catherine, had a beauty shop in the back of the Brittain Store. Dura Mae also remembered that Helen Ayers had a shop there at one time.

The Rev. Settlemyre was said to have operated a barbershop there before Combs, and Walter Rice is thought to have had a shop there at some time.

Gladys Murphy remembered that her father, "Sam" Case, had a barbershop at the side of Ellington's Store. "Pick" Kirby and Kenny Price had a barbershop in the Winfree Shopping Center.

Ernest Fletcher had a shop at the back of the old garage on Summerfield Road, next to Tuttle's Supermarket. He not only cut hair but offered shaves. In earlier years, before many people had indoor bathrooms, Dewey Trogdon said, you could get a shower there for 15 cents. Trogdon said he and "Jack" Winfree shared a shower once. Now that was a cheap shower!

Now home beauty shops and barbershops are mostly a thing of the past.

Thanks to all those mentioned and to Linda Southard, Barbara Trogdon, Ruth Chambers, Bob Brittain, Robert Morton, Alma Tilley and Hilda Pegram for sharing their memories.

Gladys Scarlette is a local historian and a lifelong resident of Summerfield.