Suave beauty salon donates time and skill to the elderly

Three young entrepreneurs — a stylist, a barber and a nail technician from ‘Suave’ salon, donated their time and skill to the elderly residents of the Lewis Punnett home last week.

On December 12, hair stylist Rotica ‘Tica’ James, barber Alex ‘Lep’ Yorke, and nail technician Gaylene ‘Gayle’ Gardener, packed up their tools, closed the salon for the day, and headed out to the home for the elderly poor in Glen.

SEARCHLIGHT caught up with the three at ‘Suave,’ which is located at the Kenmars mall last Friday.

The trio commented that it was a way for them to give back and that it had always been planned for them to go to the home, as one of their customers used to work there and suggested it.

“We always plan to do it, but then this is the first year we actually got to go out and do this kinda thing,” Yorke stated.

And so at 10 in the morning, the three went to the home, gave haircuts to the male and female residents, did their nails, and pampered them, until they left at around four in the afternoon.

The stylist, James, said that she probably attended to eight persons, and “most of them out there, they have natural hair, so I braided the older folk and some of the ladies took haircuts.”
Yorke clarified that he cut hair for more than 10 of the male residents.

Finally, the nail technician, Gardener says that she attended to about 12 or 13 persons, “I did what I could have done because the time was against us… We just did what little we have to do.”

She explained, “We did nails, some of them, they couldn’t have done their toes and their hands, because some of them are diabetic. So I tried to treat them a little different, I just did a little scrub, and I just paint their nails.”

All three insisted that the experience was a very good one.

“Everybody was a little bit loving,” Gardener noted.

The trio have apparently been asked to come back to the home by the residents, but while they are keen to repeat the experience, they also have other places in mind.

“Hopefully next year we will do it again, but next year we’re hoping to do other places also, like, go to, maybe the mental asylum, or hospital…or the prison,” Yorke stated.