HAIRDRESSERS around Exeter and across Devon will be marking the end of an era when the city's one and only "Magic Fingers" hangs up her scissors.
Jean Smell, who has run the Heavitree hair salon Magic Fingers for 43 years, is retiring - having trained scores of young hairdressers, many of whom have gone on to start their own salons.
Jean, 78, who was brought up in an pre-fab on Hill Barton Road and went to Bradley Rowe School, had been told by her head teacher to forget about her dream to be a hairdresser and become a dress-maker instead.
Said Jean: "I wish I could see her now after 43 years doing what I have loved."
It was back in 1950 that Jean set out of her remarkable career, joining the Jennifer Anne salon in Magdalen Road, St Leonard's, on 17/6 (87.5p)a week.
She left in 1957 to marry Bernard and have two children, Jackie and Phillip, before returning to the same salon, which had moved to Parliament Street.
Jean said:"We were very busy and it was an excellent grounding. It was run by Anne Gott who was very well known in Exeter and introduced the first cheap perm for ladies, at a guinea(£1.05) a time or 17/6 if you brought a friend for one.
"We were very busy carrying out perhaps six perms a day .
"It was in 1971 that I met Bernard from work and he told me that there was an advert in the Echo for a salon in Heavitree Road. I wrote to the landlord and came out to see her and decided to take it on.
"It was called Paul's then and originally had been a men's barbers upstairs and ladies in the basement.
"I kept the name for a while and then one of my customers was sitting under the drier and I asked her if she needed anything.
"She said: 'No, I'm just happy watching your magic fingers' – and I knew that was the name for the salon.
"Funnily enough when I first changed it I would get a lot of funny phone calls, particularly on Friday, from men, so I added "Hair Care" to the name and that was better."
Jean said she would be sad to retire from the business, particularly as it seemed the premises, which she rents, is likely to cease being a hairdressers and probably become flats.
"It is the end of an era in many ways and I feel quite sad about it, particularly for my many elderly customers who like to come here for their shampoo and set and enjoy the atmosphere and the friendliness of it all.
"We are one of the few salons that still do the old shampoo and sets, with the rollers and half an hour under the drier. We all chat away and regularly set the world to rights every afternoon.
"I shall miss that and it is sad that it will no longer be a salon."
Jean, who underwent a triple heart bypass some years ago, has decided to donate all the salon fittings to the British Heart Foundation charity shop in Exeter.
As for retirement Jean, who has six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, intends keeping her magic fingers busy.
"After 43 years I am not about to sit around and watch daytime TV. I have a large garden and I'm thinking of joining the local knitting club."
