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Okanagan senior gets drive-thru haircut

Lumby’s Jesse Blades brought the clippers to the car for her client with mobility issues
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When a senior client couldn’t leave his car for a haircut because of mobility issues, Jesse Blades of Lumby’s Beauty and the Barber brought her clippers to his car Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020. (Francis Cooney/Facebook)

When a senior client couldn’t leave his car for a haircut, a Lumby hairdresser brought the haircut to him.

Jesse Blades has been cutting Glen’s hair for a few years now. When she first met her elderly customer he was able to walk into her Beauty & the Barber salon on Shuswap Avenue, but as his health declined, she started going to his house for his appointments.

“And then he was put into a home just before COVID, so I hadn’t seen him in a long time,” she said.

Glen’s wife, who still pops by the salon to say hello from time to time, recently asked Blades if she could cut his hair, which had grown long over the months of the pandemic.

Because Glen isn’t able to walk, he wasn’t able to leave his car outside the salon. So Blades brought her clippers and a bib out to his vehicle.

“It was really hard,” she laughed, referring to the cramped space without a swivel chair or her usual setup. “But we joked around quite a bit and we had fun with it.”

Photos of the passenger-seat haircut garnered heaps of praise on the Around the Block Lumby Facebook page.

Glen, too, was appreciative of the gesture.

“He doesn’t talk a lot anymore, but he realized who I was and he just kept smiling,” Blades said. “There’s one picture where we’re staring at each other and I tear up every time I see it because he’s just got a little gleam in his eyes.”

It’s not the first time Blades has taken her clippers outdoors for the sake of a client with mobility challenges. A year ago she had a client whose wheelchair couldn’t fit inside her shop, so she gave him a haircut on the side of the road.

Blades said it’s been a challenge for Glen to access hairdressers and other services during the pandemic. That goes for many others at local retirement or long-term care residences, according to one of Blades’ clients who is a caregiver.

“Last week, I was trying to give her tips on how to cut hair because she’s trying so hard to keep all of the clients in there looking fresh,” Blades said of her caregiver client.

Blades said she was glad she could help her senior friend stay looking fresh — just in time for World Kindness Day (Nov. 13).

“I want the world to see a little bit of kindness right now,” she said.

READ MORE: Penticton man goes all out to celebrate World Kindness Day

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Brendan Shykora
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Brendan Shykora

About the Author: Brendan Shykora

I started as a carrier at the age of 8. In 2019 graduated from the Master of Journalism program at Carleton University.
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