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Vicki Holt, manager of Fantastic Sams on Fayetteville Road, tried to recreate that time of good friends and great hair May 4 during the Mother’s Day tea at the Garner Senior Center.
Holt and Christina Clarke brought carnations wrapped in tissue paper and homemade treats for each of the nearly 30 women that attended the event.
Holt taught the women how to use volumizing hair products and create a simple, elegant updo. She even showed them how to enhance their features with makeup as inexpensive as Wet n’ Wild and as high end as MAC.
Holt and Clarke had help from women to demonstrate each hair product and the makeup. Holt curled Frankie Brunk’s hair and added texture to Roswitha Nichols short style while Lula Mae Soward had her makeup done to bring out the color of her eyes.
“She is beautiful,” Holt said of Soward. “We’re just enhancing what God gave us.”
Holt even busted some common myths about hair styling like why thinning sheers don’t make hair thinner, but makes hair shorter and adds volume giving hair a “disco puff” look.
The event was a joy for the women from Fantastic Sams. Holt lost her 91-year-old grandmother in November. The two were very close and Holt said it’s part of her Eastern European heritage to take care of and respect elders.
“I loved her with all my heart,” Holt said.
Now, she considers the women at the Senior Center to be her adoptive grandmothers.
Holt had the idea to do a special makeover session with the women of the Senior Center in February. While the Center was booked that month, Holt worked with Senior Center Director Torrey Blackmar to set up the Mother’s Day tea.
“It was just something I wanted to do to give back,” Holt said.
Blackmar was a big help, Holt said, by making flyers and putting the event in the bulletin.
“I personally feel that the Center is blessed to have her,” Holt said.
When Kathy and Luis Lleras found out Holt wanted to hold the event, they were thrilled. Lleras told Holt to take the ball and run with it. Although Kathy and Luis have a great business know-how, they also have an incredible sense of community. Holt said her bosses care about the staff and the community both professionally and personally, which is one reason why she enjoys working with them so much.
Holt also spent time in the kitchen preparing the meal for the women, making almost all of the food herself.
“I love to cook,” she said. “So, it was a labor of love.”
Holt said she looks forward to doing more events with the Senior Center because it has such a great community feel. Holt is from New York and loves that Garner is growing and yet still feels like a small town.
The women were grateful for the afternoon of pampering and door prizes, but Holt thinks they may have been more of a treat for her.
“They’re a good group of girls,” Holt said. “I left feeling warm and fuzzy.”
The full-service, multicultural salon was named to the Best in Garner list in 2009. For more information about Fantastic Sams in Garner or to schedule an appointment, call 919-779-5454. The salon is located at 4458 Fayetteville Road.
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