A much-loved Dumbarton hairdresser has said she has no plans to retire, after marking 30 years in the town.
Barbara McGowan opened Snip Snap in Dumbarton East back in 1991 shortly after returning from running a salon in South Africa.
And after three decades, she has loved building relationships with clients who have become friends, joking that they have warned her she can’t retire when she hits 65 next year.
Barbara told the Lennox: “It’s fabulous. It’s been a social place above all else.
“You try to help people with their worries. People are maybe worried about bills and don’t want to speak to their family about it. It’s a very personal service, that’s what I love about it and why I don’t think I’ll retire.
“It’s amazing, you wouldn’t believe the relationships I’ve built up.
“I don’t know how I take on all the problems right enough, but a couple of drinks and I’m alright again.
“I want to make people feel good about themselves. The chat is unbelievable at times, and it can be so fun and uplifting. Which is something amazing.
“I’m 65 in April and I keep being told that I’m not allowed to retire!”
Having started hairdressing as a teenager, Barbara says her love for her job has never been stronger.
She continued: “I started when I was 15. Before I worked in Fraser’s on Buchanan Street.
“When I got married I moved to South Africa and had a salon there with a friend for 15 years.
“I came back to Dumbarton in 1991 and have had the salon ever since.
“I don’t advertise anymore, I only do my own clients. People come in whose hair I don’t even do just to have a wee chat. I think it’s important in this day and age that people have that contact.
“During the pandemic I missed clients massively, and they said they were missing me. You play such an important role in people’s lives and you don’t realise it.
“It was hard at the beginning because I had two wee boys. But now it’s amazing the satisfaction you get from seeing everyone. They are friends. I can’t even say they’re clients, we have a special bond.
“Now I go in on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I take a month’s holiday at Christmas. My clients come and go with me and I come and go with them, which is fabulous.
“I’m exactly the same as I was 30 years ago. That’s what everyone says. People will come in, have a wee brandy and we’ll have a chat.
“I just do hair in the way I was taught over the years. I don’t do fancy, I do everyday styles.
“I did all the weddings years ago. Getting on now I just do what I can, and if I make people feel better then I feel great myself.”
And to mark her third decade in G82, Barbara held a party at the salon last weekend, admitting it was an emotional day.
She added: “To celebrate 10 years we had an event at the stadium. For 20 years we marked it at Eastfield Bowling Green, but after Covid I thought that some people maybe wouldn’t want big crowds.
“People like my shop because it’s like a wee party shop. I put a gazebo out the back so that people didn’t feel threatened inside.
“Beth Turner came in playing the bagpipes, which was very touching. I used to do her mother’s hair, and she was very young, 40 odd, when she died.
“It meant so much that she remembered me.
“We had drinks and Gayle from You’ll Love Our Home Bakes did the catering. We turned the reception into a bar, so the whole thing was amazing.
“I couldn’t have done it without all the support I’ve had. Everyone knows exactly who they are, I don’t have to mention names.”
