Queen of the chair: The legend of an Edmonton hairstyling icon known as Auntie Shirley

Shirley gypsy welcomes people into her Edmonton beauty parlor the path she welcomes them into her bosom — with warmness, dignity and the unwavering belief that everyone belongs.

Over nearly 60 years of entrepreneurship, the Trinidad-born hairstylist and owner of Ebony and Ivory Salon has quietly become a legend in Edmonton’s Black community.

On a recent afternoon, the light-hearted banter of stylishly dressed women of various ages and backgrounds mingles with the hum of a blow-dryer at the salon. 

At the centre of it all is “Auntie Shirley” as she’s known, a gutsy, queenly but girlish 82-year-old woman with a sassy pink bob, dishing out spicy jokes and sought-after advice.

“Where I came from, Trinidad, we don't know colour," Romany says, while gluing a toupee to the head of a young brown customer. "Black, white, yellow, pink, ... All of us live together.

“One love — we unite as one.”

Romany’s calling took root at seven years old under a mango tree in Trinidad.

“I started cutting my sister’s hair in lumps all over, jumping into the window so my mother wouldn’t beat me,” Romany recalls, cracking up her clients, who know the story well.

At 16, with just $100 in her pocket, she moved to New York City where her work caught the eye of famed hairstylist Vidal Sassoon.

"He took me with him to England. I was his gofer," Romany says. "He took me to all over Europe, may his soul rest in peace."

But her journey was far from over. In the 1960s, a scholarship at Marvel Beauty School brought Romany to Edmonton.

Settling in Jasper Place, Romany managed to borrow and save enough to open her first of several salons in the area. The name Ebony and Ivory symbolizes her expertise in cutting both Black and white hair. 

Occasionally, white people who turned up for appointments made excuses to leave as soon as they saw her. She says it still happens.

“At first it used to bother me,” Romany says. “Now, if they say anything, I open the door, I say, ‘Don't let it hit you as you walk out.'”

But many more kept coming, including members of the nearby Enoch Cree Nation, some who arrived by bicycle.

"I love that place," Romany says of the First Nation. "I went to all their powwows. I have so many godchildren out there. They're the ones who supported me."

Her chair has drawn some big names over the years like CFL football star Johnny Bright and singer Gladys Knight.

Famous or not though, everyone gets the royal treatment.

"The way she would do my hair and the way she made it look, it was just amazing," says Glenora Whittaker, a regular for nearly 40 years.

"She just has a way to draw you in and you feel so comfortable. She's the only person who has ever done my hair."

In the 1970s, five-year-old Dawn Carter and her mother began dolling themselves up and driving to Ebony and Ivory from Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., nearly 45 minutes away.

Carter was thrilled to be surrounded by so many Black women in one place, and she was dazzled by Romany.

Carter recalls Romany’s gentle touch, rinsing her hair as she leaned back from a makeshift high chair that allowed her to reach the sink.

In high school, Carter would faithfully bus across the city to see Auntie Shirley, walking out rocking a fresh new look from Grace Jones spikes to a mushroom cut popular in hip-hop culture at the time.

Carter says she can still hear the advice Romany imparted over the decades sitting in her chair: "Wear big earrings with short hair, make sure you check the back of your head before you go outside ... "

“It was very rare for me to see tall, Black, beautiful women who just own their own style, and I took that with me because I have my own style and I know that surely was an influence,” Carter says.

“I don't think we talk about how women like Shirley have contributed to the uplift of our community by taking care of women and girls."

Romany plans to retire later this year, but her legacy will live on through all the stylists she's mentored over the years, passing down her legendary cut and colour secrets, and of course her trademark wisdom.

“My final word is don’t judge people if you don’t know them,” Romany says. “Just spread love.”

Reporter

Andrea Huncar reports on human rights and justice. Contact her in confidence at andrea.huncar@cbc.ca

Add some “good” to your morning and evening.

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