Family and friends gathered at Salon Studio on Friday to celebrate half a century of hard work and haircuts.
Sandy Ferguson started cutting hair professionally 50 years ago in Jefferson City. She began practicing the craft long before that, though.
"I've always done hair," she said with a smile. "I'd do it whenever I could find a victim."
The family dog, with his short coat, was spared. Ferguson picked up some early lessons from her mother, Imogene Horton, who owned a salon for a while. Horton was among several family members sipping punch Friday in the salon at 209 E. Fifth St.
"I can't believe that it's already been 50 years," Horton said.
"I think (Ferguson) has doen a fantastic job and we're very proud of her," cousin Judy Mason added.
According to Ferguson, times have changed since she first picked up the scissors. While her career started in Jefferson City, she moved to Fulton in 1971 and went to work at Jewel's Beauty Shop.
"When I first started, a shampoo, haircut and style was $5.50," she recalled.
The oddest hair trend she can remember is the beret haircut: sort of an asymmetrical bowl cut, intended to look like the classic French hat. With coloring, she said today's trendy unicorn and neon dye jobs are the wildest she's witnessed.
Ferguson plans to wait a while longer before retiring. Her customers - and coworkers, her coworkers reminded her - make her job enjoyable.
"I've joked they'll have to carry me out in a body bag," she said.