This article was first published in the February 22 issue of The Mountain-Ear.
Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.
Billy Young held up the ends of Cassidy Williams shiny, brown hair and said “This will be teal, it will be brilliant.”
The 10-year-old Nederland Elementary School student said she was looking for turquoise and tried to do it herself at home. “It didn’t succeed,” she said ruefully.
That’s why on Sunday afternoon Cassidy was sitting in the barber chair at ElfLocks Hair Salon while hairdresser Billy Young applied the first step of the coloring process. Billy loves color.
He has been designing haircuts and matching hair color to personality and shape of face since 1985 and loves that people now feel free to color their hair in vivid shades of everything.
After three decades of working in Boulder, he retired and came to Nederland to set up his own shop, sharing workspace with Tracy. He has lived in Boulder County since 1975, when he was 10 years old, and IBM transferred his father to the Boulder facility. They found a home in Niwot.
When he was 14 years old, Bill went to work at Greenbriar Restaurant where he became an expert busboy, then a pastry chef.
“They taught me everything except bartending and waiting on tables. I was too young. The owners Rudy and Martha took me under their wings.”
Billy had no desire to pursue a career in the restaurant business and after graduating from High School, he met a karate instructor who was attending hairdressing school and invited him to travel with her. Alaska, Hawaii and California were just some of the places they explored. While she was in modeling school in California, Bill met two big, burly, tattooed hairdressers who put the idea to Billy that all they did was talk to beautiful girls all day.
“At that time, I had been trying to decide what to do next. I returned to Boulder and enrolled at Vo-Tech, into hairdressing school.”
He had found his niche. He was hired by Regis Salon and for the next four years he was a hairstylist. He worked in the old Crossroads Mall, now 29th Street, and moved on to The Chaz Salon in Boulder.
He also drove a snowplow for CDOT, and after seven years, he retired. By this time, he was living in Rollinsville with his wife. He had run the Nederland CDOT work shed and decided he wanted to take it easy, wanted to get back into hairdressing, be his own boss.
“I loved meeting people, having a creative outlet. I am a people person, but not your typical hairdresser. We have four Harleys and go to Sturgis every year.”
Now that he’s back on the job, Billy says he loves the color revolution that is happening, describes it an uplifting dynamic that makes people feel good and it also makes him feel good.
Some people sit in the chair and say to him, “You’re the expert.” Then he looks at the shape of the face. A long face needs a shorter haircut; a round face is complimented by an inverted bob.
Billy considers accenting the shape of the face with color. During a consultation, he pays attention to how light will react to the new hair pigment. He tries to give insight to people who haven’t changed their hair in a while and propel them to feeling stylish and refreshed.
It’s not only women who receive Billy’s attention. He also does what a barber does.
His rates are: $14.95 for kids 12 and under, $25 for women and $10 for a buzz cut.
Billy has been open for three weeks and is open on Sundays and Mondays from 9:30 a.m. to closing.
