CANARYVILLE — Meet Michele Johler: The neighborhood's mobile beautician.
Sure, you've heard of doctors visiting the homes of patients who can't make it into the office because of mobility or sickness. Johler, a 36-year-old mother of four, is in the business of haircut house calls, serving people with the same needs.
Though she cuts hair at least once a day on private appointments in a basement salon she calls "The Beauty Bar," Johler occasionally treks out of the house and meets clients at their homes.
Back in June, an EveryBlock.com user named "Bridgeport Fellow" posted an ad that sent Johler, who got her beautician certificate from a Paul Mitchell Beauty School, on her way:
"Hi, we are looking for someone to who can give a haircut to a homebound handicapped person in Bridgeport."
The man behind the post — who preferred to keep his name out of this story — had trouble finding someone to make the trip to cut his handicapped brother's hair. The man is paralyzed from the chest down.
But it didn't take long before Johler's name and phone number popped up in the post's replies.
"I can do it," wrote Johler, who also runs TheWrappingStylist.com, a health supplements website.
Before she knew it, Johler was standing before a terminally ill man with hair down to his shoulders. She cut his long hair, which made him look older.
The years just fell off him, Johler said.
After the man's haircut, his family asked Johler to return the first Saturday of the month for $20.
The day after she left the man's house, she received a message from his brother:
"My Brother got nothing but compliments on his haircut yesterday. His entire mood changed and he decided to spend almost 7 hours outside ..."
The man spent time talking with the neighbors and — at times — complete strangers, something he normally wouldn't do. But it seemed his haircut changed him.
The message reaffirmed for Johler the reason she wanted to cut hair to begin with.
"His spirits were lifted," Johler said.
As a little girl, Michele Johler color her grandmother's hair at the kitchen table and dreamed of one day making a career out of beautifying the elderly. She saw the joy it brought her grandmother to look in the mirror and feel pretty.
It was a desire to help other people achieve the same feeling that eventually led Johler to beauty school.
To make a hair appointment, call Johler at 312-605-0010.
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