Brian Winslow sips on iced tea and discusses shows like Jack Benny with clients. 

“I used to have three dryers and one in the chair, they’d all be talkin’ and it was a party really,” Winslow said.

After 38 years in business, Brian’s Hairstyling is closing May 28. Winslow is moving back home to Rushford, Minnesota, and retiring from hair styling. 

Pictures of old classic hairstyles and Winslow’s aunt hang in his home studio. Winslow was raised in his aunt’s beauty shop in Minnesota, sweeping and helping out. 

“Before I knew it, it was, ‘Here, shampoo this lady’s hair,’” Winslow said. 

Hairstyling came naturally to him.

Winslow moved to Topeka in second grade and graduated from high school at 16. He enrolled in beauty school and, by the time he was 18-years-old, Winslow had a shop on Main Street in Eudora, a place he could commute to while still living with his parents. 

There were four hair stylists in Eudora when he started, but rather than considering one another competitors, the others helped Winslow out.

Diana Bretthauer was a mentor for Winslow when he first started in Eudora. She taught him the flips and updos that her clientele wanted so he could become their hairstylist when she was too busy.  

Coming in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Winslow was commonly doing the Dorothy Hamill wedge cut, Farrah Fawcett looks and curly perms, he said. In his first few years, Winslow had 14 women who came every Friday and nine every Saturday — a different time in hairstyling, he said. 

Mary Kay Gregory’s mother, Helen, took Winslow in — bringing all of her family as his clientele instantly. Gregory has been a regular customer ever since. 

Gregory said she’s sad Winslow is moving, but she knows it’s been his dream to go home.  

“He’s really part of our family,” Gregory said. “Eventually all the older ladies in town started going to him and just absolutely adored him. He’s just a wonderful wonderful person.”

Winslow said he doesn’t even “talk hair” with most of his customers, they are friends. 

“They get in the chair and it’s, ‘How’s your mom?’ ‘How’s the family?’ ‘Where ya been?’ ‘What’s for supper?’” Winslow said. “I’ve been doing their hair the same way for years. I know their hair.”

Over the years, Winslow has visited the nursing home, personal homes and driven his customers to his studio to do their hair. On the weekends, Sunday luncheons, dinners and visits are part of his gig, too. During the pandemic, Winslow traveled to homes. 

Winslow has male clients who he started cutting their hair as little kids and now they are grown up, he said. But mostly, he gravitates to older people, he said, coming from a childhood of spending copious amounts of time with his grandparents. 

Bunny Chilcoat has been going to Winslow for 18 years, shortly after she moved to Eudora. 

“One of the first things I asked him today was, ‘Are you going to keep your same phone number and I want your address to keep in touch,’” Chilcoat said. “Brian can handle old ladies, which I am one.”

Janet Campbell said Winslow also offered to do hair for his clients’ funerals, another thing he learned from his aunt.

“When a client has come for many years, it’s the last thing I get to do for my friend. They’ve asked me to do their funeral,” Winslow said. “Families want mom or grandma to look like she always did.” 

For several years, Winslow and Chilcoat put flowers on a friend’s grave when her family wouldn’t. 

“He cares more about his clients — not just the ones he has now, but also about past ones,” Chilcoat said. “We did it together and it was his idea.” 

Winslow is a part-time janitor every night at St. Luke’s Hospital, vacuuming to relax. Chilcoat and Winslow’s personal relationship started with vacuums. Chilcoat gifted an old fashioned Kirby to Winslow after learning of his collection of vacuums. 

Not every day was glamorous. There were many customers who turned to the mirror and cried, and other customers who were angry, usually due to unrealistic expectations, Winslow said. 

“And many people don’t realize it’s hard work,” Winslow said. 

Gregory said she’s saddened by Winslow’s departure, but knows it has been his dream to return home.

Years ago, Winslow’s aunt made him promise to retire early enough to walk away from his hairstyling career, still loving it. And it’s a promise he is keeping. 

By leaving Eudora, Winslow will miss his friends most of all. 

“In a small town, it’s the satisfaction of becoming part of the community and it’s a joy to work. It’s not drudgery,” Winslow said. “My friends come to party, and they pay me and it’s great.” 

In his retirement, Winslow plans on being a part-time janitor vacuuming to relax and enjoy his return to home with family in Minnesota — but he said he will come back to visit. 

Reach reporter Daisy Bolin at [email protected].