COSMETOLOGY THRIVING: COUNTY HAS 481 LICENSED HAIRDRESSERS

If you're looking for a haircut or new hair style in Cape Girardeau County, chances are you'll have a short wait, if any at all.

The county has 481 people who are licensed for both hairdressing and manicuring, said Mary Neutzler, research analyst with the Missouri Department of Health, the state Board of Cosmetology's data gathering agency. Sixteen additional people are licensed as hairdressers only, she said, and four more are licensed only as manicurists.

Across Missouri there are 4,065 licensed cosmetologists, said Emily Tuschhoff, president of the Missouri Cosmetology Association region that includes Cape Girardeau. Betty Wilson, a spokeswoman with the state Board of Cosmetology, said a cosmetologist is anyone who works with a person's hair, such as in arranging, cutting, or dressing it.

Tuschhoff said she believes the large number of cosmetologists has in part to do with working women who don't have the time to spend working on their hair.

"What used to be a luxury is now more than a necessity because of more woman ... in the work field," said Tuschhoff, one of four cosmetologists at her beauty salon, Select-A-Style at 129 S. High in Jackson. "Personal appearance is more important to them by being out in the public every day, maybe."

She said she also believes that a large number of cosmetologists exist because becoming one doesn't take as long as getting a four-year college degree, and a person can get out into the workforce quicker. "That might be part of the reason and then you're still a professional person," she said.

But with the business comes a high drop-out rate, Tuschhoff said. A large percentage of people who graduate from cosmetology school wind up getting out of the business, she said. She attributes the high drop-out rate to the competition posed by the high number of salons.

"It takes a while to build your clientele," she said, "and, therefore, a lot of them don't stay with this profession and they try something else."

Tuschhoff, who has worked in the business going on 29 years, trained at the Cape Girardeau School of Beauty Culture. The school, at 904 Broadway, is now Stage One The Hair School.

Susan Koepp owns the school with her husband, Keith. The school has existed for 65 years; only the name has changed, Susan Koepp said.

About 40 people are graduated from the school each year, said Koepp. Students take about nine months to graduate as a cosmetologist, she said.

With the number of local cosmetologists, Tuschhoff said she doesn't believe anyone has any trouble getting into a salon. Some people, though, may have trouble getting in to see a certain cosmetologist, she said.

Reba Jean Thompson, the state Board of Cosmetology inspector whose area covers Cape Girardeau County, said the city of Cape Girardeau has 102 beauty shop licenses, which would include any salon spaces rented by operators for chairs. An additional 54 licenses exist in the remainder of the county, she said.

Rhonda Pobst has worked as a hairdresser since 1979, right out of high school. For the past six years, she said, she has owned the Hair Force at 1 N. Sprigg.

Pobst said the "glamour" of the business is what appeals to her.

"The artistic part of it probably is my favorite part of it," she said. As well, Pobst said, she likes being her own boss and setting her own hours, being of service to people, and "meeting different people every day." Plus, she said, she makes good money.

Her mother, also a hairdresser, taught her as an apprentice, she said.

"My mother's very influential. She's been (a hairdresser) since I've been a little girl, and I kind of just followed in my mother's footsteps."