Curls, care and community: the Chesterfield hair salon that doesn't cut corners

Mel’s Cut ’n’ Curl has been a family-run business for over 37 years, started by Mel Banks in 1985.

The former winners of Derbyshire Times ‘salon of the year’ continue to show why care should come before profit.

Situated on the top corner of Packer’s Row, it almost feels like one of Chesterfield’s best kept secrets. The salon hidden on the second floor above the old row of shops, was once a 1800s coaching inn.

But, this salon and a career in hairdressing wasn’t Mel’s original life-plan.

She said: “When I left school, my sole intention was definitely to be a dancer. I’d worked as a dancer at the Civic Theatre, the Aquarius, trying to work my way up. But Mum and Dad said the dancing lessons were getting quite expensive, so I needed to get a little job to help out. So, I got a Saturday job as a hairdresser at Jan Tone. And fortunately for me, as I was about to leave school, two of the stylists got pregnant and they were looking for an apprentice.”

And here, is where another twist of fate takes Mel to the next part of her journey.

“Because I’d been there a year, my boss Jan said she would do it without the apprenticeship fee, which in those days was about £250. Mum and Dad couldn’t really afford that, so Jan said she’d take me on.”

Looking back, Mel, 59, admits that a career in dancing was still her first choice and outside of work, she continued with her dancing lessons, and still danced in a variety of shows. Then, at the age of 17 the door of opportunity swung wide open: “I got a job offer to work in Malta as a dancer. So I handed my notice in,” she said.

Over the next few weeks, Mel focussed on getting prepared for her move to Malta and dream job when suddenly, all her plans changed.

“My mum became pregnant. I was an only child, and I was nearly eighteen then, and I’d always wanted a brother or sister. I decided that Malta was a long way to go. Jan kindly kept me on as an apprentice and that is how I became a hairdresser.”

At the age of 22, Mel bought her salon on Packer’s Row from a lady called Ann Patman, who had run a salon there for over 42 years.

There were stories of ghosts walking the hallways, a dank cellar full of swinging butcher’s hooks from long ago. The old building, part of Chesterfield’s history, is the heart of Mel’s Cut ’n’ Curl.

She said: “Some of my ladies have been coming here for nearly 40 years and we have whole families who keep coming. You see them go through so much – happy times, sad times and they’ve been through my trials and tribulations, believe me. It’s a bit like Vegas: what’s said in this salon, stays in this salon.”

During lockdown Mel and her daughter Remy, 25, kept in contact with their customers to make sure they were okay and even made shopping trips for the more vulnerable.

This community and care ethos is certainly at the core of Remy’s view of the business, as Mel starts taking small steps towards retirement - with Mel’s Cut ’n’ Curl one day becoming Remy’s Salon 23.

“I like this place being small and friendly because you’ve got so used to someone, and doing their hair for so long, you kind of know the things they’re going to like. You get used to people, you know them, it’s like knowing what someone likes to eat,” said Remy.

"My first customer, a girl called Lucy, I’ve seen her go through uni, graduate, get married and she still comes now,” she added.

Mel said: “And I did Lucy’s mum’s hair, who I remember telling me she’d met someone she really liked, who she married, and then they had a baby, which was Lucy.”

Many of the salon’s customers have known Remy since she was a baby and even though she decided she wanted to become a hairdresser like her mother, Mel nudged her to try a couple of other jobs first. “As my first boss said to me,” said Mel with a smile, “it’s long hours, poor pay, and all you’ll get out of it is varicose veins and a pot belly.”

Remy added: “Well some days I’m standing from nine o’clock in the morning until eight at night. And your ‘days off’ and your ‘nights off’ you’re still working, so yeah, make sure it’s something you really want to do.”

Mel, describes herself as ‘old school’ using hair styling techniques that aren’t taught anymore: certain perms, back combs, using rollers and the like, while Remy is most definitely ‘new school’. “I love doing my crazy colours, seeing the before and after, and it’s completely different,” she said.

The small family business, half-hidden in an upstairs room of an age-old building in the middle of town has thrived and survived for nearly forty years because of its sense of community and care, a place where the customer certainly comes first.