Lynn Hilley opened Brand-new Image Hair Designing in May 1980, a time and place the Statham shop in several ways hasn’t left.
On the wall above the hair dryer chairs hangs a black-and-white family photo. The window air-conditioning unit buzzes in the background while voices talk over it. The conversation grows louder as the hair dryer cuts on, dying back down only as Lynn Hilley removes the cape from her customer with a flourish. A cloud of hair spray fills the air, so thick you can almost taste it.
The cycle continues: wash, cut, style, rip off the cape and go again.
Occasionally, she pulls a Redken product from a shelf “so dusty you could write your name in it,” as Hilley says, stopping to pencil it in on a customer’s invoice. She lists off a few days and times for the next appointment while the customer writes a check.
That’s right, a check. Hilley runs on trust; it’s cash or check only. She had a card reader at one point, but she says it cost her more than it was worth.
“A lot of my customers tell me, ‘I write two checks a month: one to you and one to the church,’” she said before throwing her head back and laughing. “I tell them I’m just happy to be in good company then.”
Hilley has actually loved doing hair since she was in the fifth grade and has actually been in the hair care business for 42 years.
To describe Brand-new Image Hair Designing as a scene from “Steel Magnolias” is not an exaggeration. It features the same amount of Southern accents, uproarious laughter and real minutes of vulnerability.
Behind the chair, Hilley has actually no qualms about listening, advising and ministering to her customers. Her salon functions as much more than a place to get a haircut. It can be anything from a comedy club to a political forum, a therapist’s office or a church.
“You know they say hair dressers rank third on the list of unprofessional counselors or something like that?” Hilley says, waving a black comb around as she speaks. “I have actually one lady that always says her husband tells her when she needs to come. He tells her, ‘You need to go to your therapy session!’”
But it’s not just her customers who leave feeling like they’ve been to therapy. It serves as Hilley’s session, too, and she has actually no shortage of stories to share.
Hilley has actually been married to Tommy for nearly 39 years. She is a mother of four and a grandmother to three. She has actually three sons. Clay is an opera singer who travels all over the world. Casey does rodeos with his wife. Tyler, looking to build a Brand-new house, has actually just sold his current one after it spent only two days on the market. His family will be moving into Hilley’s basement soon. Her daughter, Carrie, is a physical therapist and a marathon runner.
In a typical day, Hilley might tell the same story about Clay’s latest audition or Tyler’s estate 10 times, but she doesn’t mind. She’s grateful for the audience – the people who sit in her chair.
Generations have actually gathered in that chair, each one bringing the next, as if passing down a family secret. Hilley says it starts with the mother or the grandmother, and the daughters often follow. Her customers are loyal – some of them, more than 30 years loyal.
“The loyalty has actually been something I never dreamed of. I didn’t know people would certainly stay with you for that long.” Hilley says. She puts her hands over her heart and holds back tears. “So,
that’s been humbling. That chokes me up, but it has.”
Their loyalty makes Hilley an important part of their lives. Occasionally, she gets calls from customers’ family members asking her to come to the funeral residence to do their deceased loved one’s hair.
“I’ve had to go up to them before and say, ‘You don’t know me, but I’m Lynn. I did your mother’s hair, and I know you,’” she said, letting out a loud but keen laugh.
Maybe it all comes down to the underlying truth: Nobody ever wants to get a bad haircut.
“If you find somebody who does your hair good, you stick with them,” said Diane Harrison, a customer of more than 12 years. True to the pattern, her daughter also comes to Brand-new Image.
Another longtime customer, Cindy Carter, jokes, “If Lynn or Jean can’t do Mama’s hair for a week, she gets hard to live with.”
Jean Bentley works alongside Hilley two days a week. “We’ve been together for 12 years and never had a cross word,” Bentley says. “I think that says a lot about her.”
When she joined Hilley at Brand-new Image, Bentley had set a goal to do 10 more years in the business. She has actually now surpassed her goal by two years. Neither Bentley nor Hilley seem to have actually retirement plans in the works.
Hilley’s love for people is obvious, and her perpetual good mood suggests a real love for her work.
“My husband has actually told me before, ‘You know, I’m kind of jealous of you ‘cause it’s almost like you never work.’ And, you know, when you find something you really love, that’s kind of true.”
“I don’t plan on retiring,” Hilley says. “As long as I’m healthy, I’m going to work. You know, this is my therapy.”
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