A lady with beautifully coiffed gray hair looks into the mirror and smiles. She is pleased with her new hairdo and lets her hair dresser know.

“You’ve taken all the puffiness out,” she says in between a sip of diet cola and a double take into the mirror. Her stylist takes a step back and admires it too.

Taking pride in her work is very important to Mindy Taylor, the owner of Ringletts Hair Salon. Located in the heart of Mid City at 4305 Canal St, Ringletts specializes in curly and textured hair.

Clients come in from all over the city and nearby communities to enjoy the special attention they receive at Ringletts. In fact, it was her clients that persuaded Taylor to reopen the salon after Hurricane Katrina. She had opened her first salon on the lakefront three months before the hurricane struck. Located not quite ten feet from the water, her new salon and business venture were a total loss for Taylor who did not have flood insurance.

With only an overnight bag and her cell phone, Taylor evacuated to her father’s home in Glynn, La, a small town 102 miles from New Orleans, when Katrina threatened.

It was in her father’s garage that Taylor started seeing clients who were contacting her by cell phone from all over the south. Clients drove in from Houston and Atlanta to the garage in Glynn. People wanted something familiar, someone they knew. Taylor never stopped working. Her calendar was full and her business flourished.

The garage was sparsely furnished. She had one mirror, a chair and a bowl. What she lacked in space and equipment, however, she made up for spirit and determination.

“It was by the grace of God that I was enlightened after all the devastation,” says Taylor. “I didn’t feel like I could start over but my clients needed me.”

Taylor provides her clients with ambience and comfort as well as beauty. The atmosphere in her salon can best be described as serene. Soft colors and the plain lines of the furniture suggest peace and tranquility.

She says she takes time to listen to her clients, to the stories about rebuilding their houses and their lives–from the tales of contractor fraud to the triumphs of finally moving back into their homes.
Business has been good for Taylor since reopening the salon on Canal Street, so good that she recently had to expand the operation into the building next door. She has eight stylists working for her. Her next step is to combine both buildings to create one big salon. The expansion has been good for business, but Taylor says she misses working closely with the entire crew and they miss working with her as well. She finds the two seperate spaces detract from the comraderie and esprit de corps that were present before Ringletts, Too.

Tracie Barbre, a stylist at Ringletts worked with Taylor at the original salon before the storm. She started as a shampoo assistant at the age of seventeen. The effects of Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath still take a toll on Barbre who says it is hard to not to think about what happened. She is grateful that Ringlettes reopened, and she is happy to be back servicing her clients.

“At Ringletts our customers come in to relax and share stories, we have a ball at work.”

Barbre credits Taylor for influencing her decision to attend beauty school. She calls Taylor a great leader.

Though Taylor has a young daughter of her own, she also has special relationships with her stylists whom she calls “her girls.” She encourages them all to be successful and would like to see them make great incomes. She reprimands them when they need it but only because she loves them, Taylor says.

“I just want to share with them what I have learned,” she says. “I am constantly growing, even with more than 20 years of experience, I still take classes and attend workshops. We go to shows and are always excited about education and learning new styles and trends.”

Taylor takes a look at her Blackberry and glances down at a beauty supply sales ad that sits on her desk. She is beautiful woman, yet approachable and easy to talk to. She laughs and pulls her short hair into a tiny pony tail. There is a glow about her. It's obvious that she loves what she does.

Taylor and her staff use the latest methods and techniques to give their clients the best results in the shortest amount of time possible. But for those who are not in much of a hurry, Ringletts is a meeting place. Many reunions take place as more and more women come back to New Orleans or visit family and stop to get the hair done while in town.

Jill Coleman, a regular client, has recommended the salon to her sisters, cousins, aunts and friends. She says she loves the service and the way the staff makes her feel like family.
Generations of women sit in line under the hair dryers.

“Nanan, I want my hair to look just like yours,” a child announces to a room full of smiling faces. A grandmother sits at the shampoo bowl while her daughter is getting her lovely ringlets sprayed with oil sheen.

The daughter looks in the mirror, smiling. She picks up her diet cola can and tosses it into the trashcan. She turns back around for one more glance into the mirror.
She is pleased.