As in their twenties, Greet (64) and Gerben (65) van Helden took over a hair salon in Den Bosch in 1985, without knowing what to expect. Now, forty years later, their business has become a real family business. A lot has changed in the hairdressing world, but one thing is always the same: the passion for the profession.
Greet and Gerben both do not come from a hairdressing family. “My mother used to do a hairdressing course, but she actually didn’t do anything with that,” says Greet. Unlike her mother, she discovered the beautiful side of the hairdressing profession at the age of sixteen when she started cutting. “You have contact with people while you make them beautiful. And when customers are satisfied, you are also happy.”
She soon passed on the love for the hairdressing profession to her husband Gerben. After his education, they started working together at the Gigi Capelli Coiffures hairdressing store in the Bossche district De Rompert. They were in the early twenties when the previous owners suddenly decided to stop. “We had the opportunity to take over the business. At that time it was not obvious that you had a job, so we thought: we venture it.”
“We have become a close hairdressing family.”
What started as a jump in the deep, grew into a family business in De Rompert. “As a child, my daughter was always busy with the hair of her dolls and said she wanted to work later in the hairdressing profession,” says mother Greet while daughter Gigi is working in the case.
Their son Gideon wanted to be anything but a hairdresser. “But when he wanted to earn extra money, he came to help and sweep towels in the case. After three days, he suddenly said:” That hairdressing profession seems like something, but then the men’s hairstyles. “In the first instance I didn’t believe it, but he stayed there.”
In the meantime, not only the son and daughter of Greet and Gerben are cooperating, but also their daughter -in -law and sister -in -law. “We have become a close hairdressing family,” says Greet.
“We can’t live without each other.”
It turned out that their love for the hairdressing profession is strong again two years ago. Gerben became seriously ill, but even that didn’t keep him out of the case long. “Three weeks after surgery and irradiation, he was already in the case,” says Greet as she watches her husband cuts a customer.
“I was worried at the time, because I think it would be very tough if one of us would fall away. We can’t live without each other.” But even in difficult times, the couple never thought of stopping.
“There are people I have been cutting for thirty years.”
On April 1, their business in the De Rompert shopping center is exactly around forty years. A lot has changed in the hairdressing profession at that time: the fashion of permanents to hair colorings for example. But the workload is also higher and customers have more requirements. “They used to ask:” What do you think? What is your advice? ” But now they come in with their phone, show a photo and say: “I want this, but you get used to it,” says Greet.
One thing has never changed in all those years: the bond with their customers. “People I have been cutting for thirty years. I have cut their children and now even their grandchildren. That is special,” says Greet. “We have customers who call:” I never leave you “. Very nice to hear, of course.”