FOR the past decade one stylist has been zipping around the dale providing a mobile hairdressing service to men and women in Teesdale, however this week she is swapping her car keys for shop keys, opening her very own salon.
Nic Gaskin, 43, qualified as a hairdresser 27 years ago and has always dreamt of setting up her own salon. That dream has now come true with the opening of her salon in Star Yard, Barnard Castle.
Mrs Gaskin said: “I suppose it’s the dream of all hairdressers once they’ve finished their training to want to open their own salon, it’s been my dream. When the opportunity came I grabbed it. I have always wanted my own.
“We got the keys to the shop on a Wednesday but because we were both still working we weren’t able to get in until four days later to start decorating and sorting out. For the first time in 10 years my car boot isn’t full of equipment.”
Mrs Gaskin and her husband Carl have spent a week getting the premises ship shape, sometimes working into the early hours of the morning to get everything ready.
The salon, which Mrs Gaskin has named Elizabeth James Hairdressing, will be unisex and offer colouring, perming as well as cut and blow dries and styling. It will be open four days a week with evening appointments available every Wednesday.
She added: “I’d always joked with my children, Elizabeth and James, that if I did ever get a saloon I would name it after them.
“They thought I was joking, but I have sent them photographs as they are away at university.
“I have always done evening appointments as it’s not always easy to get to the hairdressers during the day. But the problem I found when I was mobile is the time it took to get to different appointments.
“If I did a colour I couldn’t leave to do a cut, whereas here I will be able to deal with more than one customer at a time, which is great.
“Often when I was mobile I would find I was working three or four nights a week to fit everyone in.
“So having the salon is going to be great as it means I can spend more evenings at home.”
Mrs Gaskin is holding a grand opening on Saturday, October 27, at 2pm, and is inviting old and new customers along for drinks and nibbles though says her diary is already filling up with appointments.
