A HAIRDRESSER is finally putting down her scissors after 50 years in the one Port Glasgow salon.

Mary Blair, 67, started her career in 1965 when The Beatles topped the charts and French roll hairstyle was all the rage.

She left school as soon as she could and started as a trainee at Baxter and Sturrock in Greenock’s Grey Place, where Stewarts’ Hairdressers is now.

John Holmes took over the business and as a Port girl Mary wanted to return to her home town and she moved to Fringes in Princes Street.

She said: “My first wage was about 75 pence in today’s money.

“I came up here to finish my apprenticeship and I’ve stayed ever since.

“I’ve owned the salon for 30 years and ran it with my late husband Joe until he moved on to work as a barber.

“It was a family affair.

“My daughter Kim served her apprenticeship in the shop.”

Mary says she will have mixed feelings about locking the door for the last time on Friday.

She said: “It’s the end of an era.”

The council has bought the building in Princes Street and it is earmarked for demolition to create a new civic space in the town.

She said: “I think it’s the right time to go.”

Mary says many of her clients have stayed customers over the years and she has grown up with many of the ladies.

She said: “You can be a great confidante and what gets said in the chair stays in the chair and people are quite comfortable with that.

“It’s amazing what goes on in everyone’s lives — we’ve all got similar groans and grumps, some more than others.”

Mary and her staff have seen many changes over the years and her salon was literally a window on the changing world outside.

Hairstylist Margaret Rodger, who has worked at the salon for 37 years, said: “We’ve seen a lot of changes with the shipyards closing down and Tesco being built. We’ve seen a massive change.”

Mary is planning to spend more time with her family when she leaves.

As well as daughter Kim, 43, she has a son Lee, 45, three grandchildren Sol, Rhys and Hannah and two great-grandchildren — Lacy, six, and Jaxon who is 15 months.

She said: “I’m looking forward to retirement but I don’t know how I will feel when I close that door for the very last time.”