Everyone needs their hair done at one time or another, and one woman has pleasant memories of a famous Canadian woman.
Samantha Loney says her great aunt, a humble Métis woman and talented hairdresser, Barbara Schawalder reminisces about the time Lester B. Pearson’s wife came into her hairdressing studio for a haircut during their visit to his home district of Algoma East while serving as Prime Minister.
Schawalder grew up in Espanola, where her career as a hairdresser began by cutting the hair of her neighbours for free in her mother’s kitchen.
“My mother said, ‘If you’re going to cut everyone’s hair in my kitchen, at least charge them for it’, “ says Schawalder.
Thus began Schawalder’s hairstyling career. She would later move to Elliot Lake in the 60s after marrying her husband, a barber. That is where the two opened up a hair studio, and to their surprise, would become the stop for Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson’s Wife, Maryon Pearson, to get her hair cut.
According to Schawalder, the other hairdressers in her shop were nervous about cutting the PM’s wife’s hair, not only because they didn’t want to mess up the hair of the leader of the country’s wife, but be responsible for ruining the hair of such an outspoken woman.
As you may remember, Maryon Pearson was best known for her sharp-tongued wit and was once quoted as saying, “Behind every successful man, there stands a surprised woman.”
A no-nonsense woman herself, Schawalder stepped up to the challenge.
“I saw her as just another woman,” says Schawalder. “Famous people are no different than the rest of us.”
Schawalder would cut Maryon Pearson’s hair with no complaints and remembers the visit fondly. While Mrs. Pearson sat in Schawadler’s chair, the two discussed politics, ladies’ fashion and gossip protected by hairstylist client confidentiality.
Barbara Schawalder has since set down her scissors and is now retired living in Barrie, Ontario.
