Prairie Grove Stylist Tends To Hair For 60-Plus Years

LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Ruth Dial of Prairie Grove gives a permanent to Louella Yates. Dial, 90, has been a hair stylist for about 60 years. She's at Touch of Color now and has been working in Prairie Grove since 1974. Yates of Fayetteville has come to Dial for 40 years.
LYNN KUTTER ENTERPRISE-LEADER Ruth Dial of Prairie Grove gives a permanent to Louella Yates. Dial, 90, has been a hair stylist for about 60 years. She's at Touch of Color now and has been working in Prairie Grove since 1974. Yates of Fayetteville has come to Dial for 40 years.

PRAIRIE GROVE -- Ruth Dial of Prairie Grove turned 90 years old last week and she still works as a hairstylist five days a week.

Dial counts up that she's been working in hair salons for more than 60 years. She's been in Prairie Grove since 1974.

She doesn't have any plans to retire.

"I guess I'll keep working until my body tells me I can't do it anymore or my customers quit coming to see me," Dial said as she gave one of her long-time clients a permanent on a Tuesday afternoon.

Louella Yates of Fayetteville has been coming to Dial for more than 40 years and that includes when Yates lived in Little Rock for about five years. Yates said she would make the three-hour drive to Prairie Grove to keep her hair appointment with Dial.

"I followed her everywhere she went," Yates said. "She just does my hair better than anyone else, especially my perms."

Besides being a hairstylist, Yates has worked for the telephone company. Her first job in the hair business was at a salon in Fayetteville in the 1960s and then she had a shop in her home. In Prairie Grove, she's worked at several salons, including Fern's, Country Classic and Valerie's.

Now, she is at Touch of Color on East Buchanan Street.

"I've worked all over town," Dial said, noting that many of her clients have stayed with her through the years.

Yates has stayed in the profession because she likes doing hair and being around people. She said one reason she's been able to do it for so long is that she's always invested in a good pair of shoes to support standing on her feet for many hours each day.

Her advice for being healthy at 90 years of age is to take good care of yourself.

"I take natural food supplements and don't smoke or drink," she said. "When you stop and do too much sitting around, you lose interest in things."

Bethany Farmer, who owns Touch of Color, said Dial started working in the salon when it opened two years ago.

"She's just a blessing to our team and she's really, really sweet," Farmer said.

Farmer also is amazed at what Dial can do.

"She'll do circles around us. She never takes time off."

Dial said it is true that people tell their hairdresses stories about what is going on in their lives.

"Yes, people tell me their problems," she said. "I just listen."

Dial celebrated her 90th birthday on Jan. 8. She and her husband, who passed away about 17 years ago, have four grown children, eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

General News on 01/17/2018