Hairdresser Carolyn Rouviere has 52 years' worth of beauty shop memories with client Barb Rust

Barb Rust has a laugh while Carolyn Rouviere teases her hair at Gary & Co. Hair Designers in Cape Girardeau. (Laura Simon)

When Barb Rust and Carolyn Rouviere met more than 50 years ago, the world was a different place -- and so was the beauty shop.

Carolyn was just a teenager in beauty school when she began styling Barb's hair, and Barb was a young wife and a mother of three boys. In the 52 years since then, the women have developed a good friendship, not to mention a stockpile of memories about their adventures in haircare.

In the 1960s and 1970s, teasing the hair was big -- quite literally. Carolyn didn't even learn how to do blunt haircuts in beauty school, she says -- razored cuts were preferred, as they allowed for better teasing. And because most women couldn't do the teasing themselves, they booked weekly appointments at the salon to have their hair teased. They didn't wash their hair as often back then, either, Carolyn says -- they had it shampooed once a week at the salon.

"Everyone got to know each other because they were all there every week," she says.

Barb saw Carolyn at 8:30 a.m. Fridays, after she dropped the boys off at school and before she went grocery shopping and picked her husband Harry up for lunch.

"We talked about our kids and lots of other things," says Barb. "Some people don't even see their friends once a week!"

In the late 1960s, Barb wore her hair just past her shoulders and flipped out at the ends: "It took a lot of time before bed, and then I had to get it to do the flippy thing," she recalls.

She's also worn her hair in a very short pixie cut (ideal for the years she taught swimming lessons), a beehive and the iconic Dorothy Hamill cut. She even had a wig that she wore occasionally -- it was a "godsend" when she was traveling and didn't want to mess with her hair, she says.

At times, Barb and Carolyn experimented with haircolor. Carolyn herself has experimented with falls, wigs and all lengths and shades of red -- her favorite haircolor. As for Barb, she had been a blonde all of her life, and at one point wanted to color her hair back to the shade she had during childhood. The result? A canary yellow that Carolyn later had to tone down for her. Another time, Barb tried the popular two-toned look, with her bangs and the layers around her face a lighter shade than the rest, and her husband hated it -- but he came around, she says.

After beauty school, Carolyn worked at Styles by Judy and later opened her own salon called Carolyn's Coiffures. When she moved away from Cape Girardeau for four years, Barb had to find a new hairdresser, until Carolyn moved back in 1980 and opened a new salon at the corner of Spanish and Themis streets in downtown Cape Girardeau. She later moved her salon to a house on Independence Street.

Over the years, Carolyn traveled all over the country to participate in hair shows, and also took leadership roles in the Missouri Hair Fashion Committee and the Missouri Cosmetology Association. In 2000, she began renting a booth at Gary & Co. Hair Designers, where she still works two days a week, with no plans to retire.

"It's never boring. I love it. I've been doing it for 52 years," she says. "I can't think of anything else I'd rather do."

Now that women no longer rely on salons to style and shampoo their hair every week, the beauty shop has a bit of a different feel, but the fun remains. Carolyn has a number of longtime clients she considers friends, and she still sees Barb about every two months.

"Trends have changed a lot because people want easy care -- they don't have a lot of time," says Carolyn.

Today, Barb wears her hair in a short razored cut that's easy to take care of -- she boasts that she can get ready and be out the door in 20 minutes. Still, she has a soft spot for the high-fashion, high-maintenane looks of the 1960s.

"My favorite hair was when I was young and glamorous and looked like this and got all dressed up," says Barb, gesturing to a drawing of herself from 1969. "But my favorite hair is also right now because it suits my lifestyle, it's no trouble and I get a lot of compliments -- so this must be the real me, not that," she jokes.

Many people don't stick with the same job or house for more than 50 years, let alone a hairdresser. For Barb and Carolyn, though, good hair and good friendship are the recipe for longevity.

"I don't think many people are as particular as (Carolyn)," says Barb, who notes that she especially loves the way Carolyn shapes the hair around her collar. "She's always been able to handle my hair well and she gives good haircuts."