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Scissors, Perms And Wisdom Celebrating Business with Carol Boise

photo provided Carol Boise looks at each customer as extended family and friends when they come for a cut, set, perm or style.

Tuesday August 13, 2013

By Cookie Steponaitis

You know someone has reached icon status in Addison County when their workplace is not listed in the phone book, does not have a sign and is still a destination for three generations of locals. In the case of Carol Boise people have been coming to her New Haven home for forty one years to get their hair done, have a great conversation and share stories of their lives and heart with her. Carol advertises the way she always has by word of mouth and reputation and now in the forty sixth year of her career Carol needs no introduction. She is a local institution and one that defies time with her down home rates and caring personality.

Carol started her life with plans of being a nurse and while living with her great- grandmother and great-grandfather learned to care for many illness and ailments growing up. When her great-grandmother passed and left Carol $500.00 to go to beauty school and the car to get there events were set in motion to put her path where she still is today.  Carol graduated from Beeman Academy in 1964 and her husband Tom in 1962. She began her career after graduating from hair dressing school working first in Richmond, Vermont for seven or eight months where she was paid $45.00 a week and room and board. She then moved to Vergennes and worked at Eleanor Danyow’s Beauty Shop for four years before opening her own shop in her home. “Beauty shops have a reputation of being gossip centers,” grinned Carol while cutting hair for a customer. “But in reality we are more therapists for our customers and ourselves. No matter how bad you think your day is there is someone else who is struggling with far more on their plate. People just enjoy sharing parts of their lives with you and how they feel that day. Over time, they are not customers but extended family.”

One trademark of Carol’s career has been her devotion to the elderly people of the area. Carol travels to local nursing homes and even goes to shut-ins to do their hair keeping prices in a range more in keeping with what things cost when she started than today. “I love hearing stories from the elderly of the community,” remarked Carol. “They enjoy having their hair done and it gives them a boost. Going to them at their homes is almost a lost art today but not one I plan on giving up anytime soon.” While Carol’s customers range from youngsters to a local woman who is 101 years young she often puts her foot down when the haircut request is a bit off the grid. “I once told a young woman who came in with her boyfriend no when she wanted a Mohawk hair cut,” chuckled Carol. “I told them if I was this girl’s parent I would be horrified if she came home with that cut so the answer is no, she wouldn’t be getting that cut from me. To this day when I see her, now a parent herself, she reminds me of the haircut she never got.”

Entering her forty sixth year as a beautician and celebrating their forty ninth year of marriage, Tom and Carol Boise are still delighted to call Addison County and most importantly New Haven their home. Carol has a son, daughter and two grandsons close by and is very content continuing on as always, balancing her business and customer family with her own family. It is a labor of love and one that shows no sign of changing in the foreseeable future. After the conclusion of the interview this reporter plopped into the empty chair at Carol’s Beauty Shoppe and said with a smile, “Fix my hair please and give it a cut.” Carol happily picked up the sheers and conversation flowed as she continued to blend what she does best, a caring personality, a crackerjack set of hair cutting skills and an old fashioned approach to business and work that rivals the generation she learned from. So, if perchance you have never heard of her business it is Carol’s Beauty Shoppe and she can be reached at (802)453-3295 for an appointment. No flyers, no advertisements and none planned. Carol is her own advertisement and if you do not believe it just ask the three generations of patrons who know the way to her shop at her home by heart. No sign, directions or GPS required. Vermonters know a good thing and keep it close to their hearts.

The Valley Voice salutes Carol Boise for being an original and bringing to the fabric of life of Addison County a continuity of caring, sharing and working with people not to get rich but to offer a service for a reasonable price and to be there for the long haul.

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