In 1963, my Aunt Kathy opened Kathy's Beauty Nook in my hometown of Haverhill, Massachusetts. There, you can get a haircut for $12.00, a perm for $50.00 or a new hair color for $30.00. Kathy has never advertised her salon, and her prices have increased less than $5 in the past 43 years.

As a young boy. I enjoyed spending time at Kathy's. I loved watching the ladies who were getting their weekly $7.50 roller-sets & comb-outs. The ultimate results were the quintessential hairstyles of the times: the Flip, the Beatle, the Bubble, or the timeless and classic Up-Do with Grecian curls.

Influenced by Aunt Kathy and her salon, I decided to become a hairstylist myself. At the age of 19 (incidentally, the same age she was when she opened the salon), I was chosen to apprentice at the prestigious Vidal Sassoon Salon. I worked there for three years, but then decided it was time to pursue my dream of a career in photography. In the years that have followed, I have continued to cut hair on the side while working as a photographer.

In May of 2004, I decided I would like to capture Kathy and all of the loyal women who still frequent the Beauty Nook. Many of these woman have been faithful clients for my aunt, coming on a weekly basis for over 40 years. Many of them have brought daughters and grandchildren, some of whom are all now clients as well. Over the years, I've heard numerous stories of the women's marriages and divorces, the births of great-granchildren and so many more stories of their lives and loves. Sadly, over the last five years some of these women have died.

I have grown into a man along side these women; they know my whole life story. They are part of my history. While I have countless albums of family photos, I have none of these memorable women. I knew I had to start taking portraits of these women to add to my family images. My goal was, and remains, to capture them with dignity and respect, and with their well-coiffed heads held proudly. And rightly so.