Couple have been at same Farnsworth Avenue location since 1960
By:Michael Maugeri
BORDENTOWN CITY – Four decades ago, satisfied customers walked out of Betty Ann’s Hair Care Salon, perhaps sporting a bouffant or beehive hairdo.
The hairstyles may have changed, but not the satisfied customers. In fact, Betty Ann Castonguay and her husband, Paul, now take care of some of their first customers’ great-grandchildren’s hair and nails.
On Aug. 29, the couple will celebrate being open for 40 years in the same location – 309 Farns-worth Ave.
"I can’t say what that shop’s going to do to celebrate," said Mr. Castonguay, smiling. "It’s a secret."
Even the building where the shop is located has a rich history. The couple also live and rent apartments there.
Mr. Castonguay produced a photocopy of a picture of the building from several decades ago.
The building, he said, was the city’s first phone company location. The first switchboard was installed in the building in 1882, six years after the invention of the telephone.
Later, he said, the phone company moved to the building which is now the City Hall.
"See the bell shapes cut out on the shutters?" Mr. Castonguay asked as he pointed his finger across the street at City Hall. "When we first started out here, this street was jumping. You should have seen it – a movie house, bars, and at that time, we had seven beauty salons on the street alone.
"It doesn’t seem like its been 40 years already. It’s been such a good life. I guess we went with the flow."
The couple have a staff of five who take care of everything from reception work to shampooing and from hairstyling to nail sculpting. One employee, Kathy Smith, has been with the shop for almost 30 years.
"Oh we’ve been very lucky with our wonderful staff," said Mrs. Castonguay. "They’re what keeps us going."
Mrs. Castonguay, who was born in Florence and raised in Roebling, said she "always enjoyed doing other people’s hair. I just loved fooling around with it. Later, I started enjoying (the beauty aspect of hairdressing) when I got into my teen-age years because I guess that’s what a lot of young girls think about."
She spent four years perfecting her craft at another beauty salon in Bordentown before she and her husband opened their own shop.
Mrs. Castonguay talked about her husband, a transplant from New England who, before getting his license to "beaut," was a steel worker at the John A. Roebling Steel Mill.
"I was a hairdresser before I met Paul," she said. "I met him through an uncle and from there, we dated about three or four years."
She said she worked very hard the first two years of the business while Paul was busy getting his beautician’s license.
"I was pulling 16- to 17-hour days," she said, with a hearty laugh. "We’d start our day at 8:30 in the morning and didn’t often close until midnight. At that time, we had a lot of customers from the Ocean Spray Plant and the Bordentown Military Institute.
"A lot of the customers couldn’t get their hair done until after work, so we stayed open for them. When I started, I earned about $32 a week, and on Fridays, I was open from 9 to 9."
Mr. Castonguay noted with some humor the changing times in regard to hair.
"People bring their children in more to the salon than ever before," he said. "Kids are growing up so fast. Maybe they’re more mature. Nowadays they ask for colorful streaks in their hair.
"A girl walked by the salon a couple of days ago. Her hair was purple and sticking straight up. She was a hairdresser.
"Men come in now, too. A long time ago, that was something you just didn’t do.
"And we never stop doing nails. Our nail technician is constantly busy. And for some reason, a lot of twins come into the salon. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s something in the Bordentown water."
Mrs. Castonguay also noted the changes through time.
"When I first started out, women wanted styles that would stay together all week," she said. "I guess women didn’t know how to take care of their hair the way they do now. Today’s woman is more casual.
"I like to keep up with the styles. I still enjoy going to an international hairdresser convention every year in New York. You have to do that to keep up, and boy, I’ll tell you, you find something new every year.
"It’s a madhouse and very crowded. When Paul and I first started going, admission was something like $5. Now, it’s $75 and some hairdressers charge you a fee there to see their work. It’s expensive, but even if you pick up one new thing you didn’t know before going there, it’s well worth it."
The Castonguays have had some interesting incidents at the salon.
"About four years ago," said Mrs. Castonguay, "we had a horrible snowstorm. We were up to our knees in snow and couldn’t even open our back door."
She said she and Paul assumed no one would keep their appointments. Most didn’t.
"But then we hear this knock on our door, and it’s a client who was standing in two feet of snow in the backyard. I looked at her and said, ‘In this snowstorm?’
"She was a woman in her late 50s and we asked her how she got here and she told us that her son had a four-wheel truck and as long as she could get here, she was going to keep her appointment.
"We were amazed, and we told her, ‘Well, come on in. You made it this far. You get the prize today!’ So we did her hair."
The couple also told of the time activity in the salon came to a standstill when customers and staff alike help a woman having a gall bladder attack in the bathroom.
And Mr. Castonguay recalled a pregnant woman who said, "I’m expecting a baby and I have to get done by 2 p.m."
"She left the salon, and wouldn’t you know it, she had the baby that day," said Mr. Castonguay, grinning. "We went to see her and the baby in the hospital around 5 p.m. We ended up being the baby’s godparents."
Mrs. Castonguay said she thought it would be exciting to have a baby born in the salon before she retires.
"I’d like to see that before we close," she said. "We had puppies born here in the back room one time. We had a dachshund and she had a litter of six puppies.
"Paul, he’s queasy about blood, but he helped. Just wait until a baby’s born here."
Mrs. Castonguay said it’s sad seeing many of her original clients get older.
"But they still come in every week for their haircuts and perms and they tell us that we treat them better than their doctors," she said. "I love seeing them smile. It gives us satisfaction to see them get such a lift from having their hair done. Their weekly visits help keep us going."