[h=1]Hair she goes again! Loyal customer travels 400 miles six times a YEAR for a trim after favourite stylist moved to new salon[/h]
By Damien Gayle
PUBLISHED:18:41 GMT, 20 September 2012| UPDATED:22:53 GMT, 20 September 2012
Ask any woman, a good hairdresser can be hard to find.
So who can blame one loyal customer for driving the equivalent of the Earth's circumference to return to the one stylist she trusts with her locks.
Susan Parker-Jones from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, has just clocked up a phenomenal 24,000 miles visiting the same hairdresser for the past 37 years.
A good haircut can be hard to find: Hairstylist Jo Sparks, left, poses with her daughter Georgina Arnaoutis, right, and most loyal customer Susan Parker-Jones, centre, at her salon in Kettering, Northamptonshire
The guest house owner embarks upon her four-hour 400 mile round trip at least six times a year to get her hair-styled by talented Jo Sparks, who has been cutting her hair since 1975.
Ms Parker-Jones has been making the journey the past two decades after Ms Sparks moved from Shrewsbury to Kettering in Northamptonshire.
She has spent thousands on fuel travelling to and from Ms Sparks's salon - paying £12.99 each time for a cut and blow-dry.
Ms Parker-Jones reckons Ms Sparks has teased her tresses into around 200 different styles - from the Eighties perm to the 'Lady Diana' in the Nineties, via bobs, crimps and the famous Jane Fonda ‘Barberella’ cut.
Worth travelling for: Six times a year for over two decades Ms Parker-Jones, a guest house owner, travels 400 miles from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, to get her hair cut at Ms Sparks's salon
'I wanted someone who understood how I wanted my hair,' she said. 'The first time Jo cut my hair, from that moment I knew that she knew what she was doing.
'I wanted a long, short hair cut. My hair was down to my shoulders but she feathered it all the way up. From a long, limp amount of hair she created this fantastic cut.
'It’s worth the trip because the standard of the cut just pays for itself. Everything Jo does she puts 150 per cent into.
'She always goes that extra mile and that’s why she’s so successful.
[h=2]'Hollywood stars would be happy to go to her - I think she’s that good.[/h]
'You can take a copy of a fashion magazine in to Jo and say “that’s how I want it” and you’ll come out with that exact hair cut.
'She can do anything - I’ve probably had about 200 different hairstyles from her.'
Ms Sparks, 58, who has been a hairdresser for over 40 years, said: 'Susan has got to be one of the most loyal customers I’ve ever had.
'She really shows a great deal of dedication and we’ve gone through a lot of hairstyles over the years.
'She has about three of four styles in one so even now she still provides a welcome challenge for me.
'We have become really good friends since I first cut her hair way back in 1975.'
[h=2]NOW SEE SUSAN PARKER-JONES'S HAIRCUTS THROUGH THE YEARS[/h]
Flower power: A headband completes the look for Ms Parker-Jones early-Seventies hippy look in 1972, left. By 1975, right, Ms Parker-Jones was rocking a wavier version of a similar style - still complete with headband
Attitude: With the hippy era fading, Ms Parker-Jones by 1976 switched to this rather more severe choppy look
Changing needs: The last gasp of flower power came in 1977, left, with Ms Parker-Jones wearing this shoulder-length straight cut as she stares thoughtfully into the middle distance. By 1979, right, now fully embroiled in the strains of adult life, Ms Parker-Jones was wearing this practical short style, curled upwards
Early Eighties: These two cuts from the beginning of the Thatcher decade show hos British fashion was veering more towards the tightly controlled and practical
Shoulder length: Ms Parker-Jones's haircuts models another style as she puts on an LP in 1982
As the Eighties wear on, Ms Parker-Jones tries out curls in '86, and a fringe in '87
Carefree: By 1988 she has discarded the fringe but kept the same length for this low-maintenance style
Maturing: Ms Parker-Jones channels Murder She Wrote's Jessica Fletcher in this 2003 look
By Damien Gayle
PUBLISHED:18:41 GMT, 20 September 2012| UPDATED:22:53 GMT, 20 September 2012
Ask any woman, a good hairdresser can be hard to find.
So who can blame one loyal customer for driving the equivalent of the Earth's circumference to return to the one stylist she trusts with her locks.
Susan Parker-Jones from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, has just clocked up a phenomenal 24,000 miles visiting the same hairdresser for the past 37 years.
The guest house owner embarks upon her four-hour 400 mile round trip at least six times a year to get her hair-styled by talented Jo Sparks, who has been cutting her hair since 1975.
Ms Parker-Jones has been making the journey the past two decades after Ms Sparks moved from Shrewsbury to Kettering in Northamptonshire.
She has spent thousands on fuel travelling to and from Ms Sparks's salon - paying £12.99 each time for a cut and blow-dry.
Ms Parker-Jones reckons Ms Sparks has teased her tresses into around 200 different styles - from the Eighties perm to the 'Lady Diana' in the Nineties, via bobs, crimps and the famous Jane Fonda ‘Barberella’ cut.
'I wanted someone who understood how I wanted my hair,' she said. 'The first time Jo cut my hair, from that moment I knew that she knew what she was doing.
'I wanted a long, short hair cut. My hair was down to my shoulders but she feathered it all the way up. From a long, limp amount of hair she created this fantastic cut.
'It’s worth the trip because the standard of the cut just pays for itself. Everything Jo does she puts 150 per cent into.
'She always goes that extra mile and that’s why she’s so successful.
[h=2]'Hollywood stars would be happy to go to her - I think she’s that good.[/h]
'You can take a copy of a fashion magazine in to Jo and say “that’s how I want it” and you’ll come out with that exact hair cut.
'She can do anything - I’ve probably had about 200 different hairstyles from her.'
Ms Sparks, 58, who has been a hairdresser for over 40 years, said: 'Susan has got to be one of the most loyal customers I’ve ever had.
'She really shows a great deal of dedication and we’ve gone through a lot of hairstyles over the years.
'She has about three of four styles in one so even now she still provides a welcome challenge for me.
'We have become really good friends since I first cut her hair way back in 1975.'
[h=2]NOW SEE SUSAN PARKER-JONES'S HAIRCUTS THROUGH THE YEARS[/h]
Flower power: A headband completes the look for Ms Parker-Jones early-Seventies hippy look in 1972, left. By 1975, right, Ms Parker-Jones was rocking a wavier version of a similar style - still complete with headband
Changing needs: The last gasp of flower power came in 1977, left, with Ms Parker-Jones wearing this shoulder-length straight cut as she stares thoughtfully into the middle distance. By 1979, right, now fully embroiled in the strains of adult life, Ms Parker-Jones was wearing this practical short style, curled upwards
Early Eighties: These two cuts from the beginning of the Thatcher decade show hos British fashion was veering more towards the tightly controlled and practical
As the Eighties wear on, Ms Parker-Jones tries out curls in '86, and a fringe in '87
