You won’t find a whole lot of gossip and tall tales at Mr. T & Co. Hair Design Studio on East 71st Street.
Oh sure, at Mr. T’s, you can always hear the occasional sob story of love done wrong by a man gone bad.
But advice to the lovelorn is just part of doing business at Mr. T’s. And make no mistake about it, Mr. T’s is about the business of doing hair.
Monday through Sunday, roughly 500 heads come through the doors, ready to be processed, wrapped, pressed and curled.
If you want a wash-and-wear `do, Oak Street is north a ways along Lake Shore Drive.
If you want serious hair–fried, dyed and laid-to-the-side hair that takes hours to do–Mr. T’s is the place for you.
It is here that you can get a towering French roll. Freeze-dried Finger Waves. The roller-free Wrap. Jamaica braids a la Janet Jackson–aided, of course, with a generous helping of synthetic tresses.
On Monday–50 percent off day–about a half-dozen women dressed in jeans and sweat suits huddle under the dryers, purses clutched in their laps as they stare impassively into space. WCGI’s Crazy Howard McGee raps unnoticed on the radio.
There are those who expect miracles.
They are quickly disabused of that notion.
“People come in with a Halle Berry `do and want to leave looking like Diana Ross,” says hairstylist Carolyn Brown as she combs a relaxer through 12-year-old Ebony’s hair.
“This is a beauty shop, not a magic shop.”
Maybe so, but the stylists at Mr. T’s are experts at sleight of hand–and hair.
A woman slinks into the salon, her tired hair hidden under a scarf. By the time she leaves several hours later, her hair is sleek, glossy, bouncin’ and behavin’.
“I like the different ways that I can create,” says hair weave expert ClairWilkerson, as she expertly slices her scissors through Roz Minor’s hair. “But I’m slow. It’s in my blood. You can’t come in here with me in no hurry.”
Especially if you’ve been foolish enough to do your own hair. “When they’re being cheap, they do it themselves,” Brown says. “Then they come to us to save them.”
Outside, a Metra train whizzes by, dividing 71st Street in two: On one side, there’s the stereotypical South Side that gets bad press, namely liquor stores, seedy characters and an endless parade of patrol cars.
On the other side–Mr. T’s side–there is the South Side few pay attention to: manicured lawns, mansions and Mercedes.
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In case you’re wondering, the mysterious Mr. T–owner Thomas Hayden–doesn’t have a mohawk. And he never starred on “The A-Team.”