Care home builds salon for resident who misses trips to hairdressers

A care home undergoing refurbishment took the opportunity to add a hair salon, utilising a room originally used as a shared bathroom, in a bid to please one of its long-term residents.

Staff at Bernadette House in South Park, Lincoln, knew resident Yvonne Radford would love to have a salon in the home as she had spoken about how she missed regular trips to the hairdressers.

Wanting to fulfill Ms Radford’s wish, they decided to build a salon in the shared bathroom space left over from the addition of en-suites.

Ms Radford was taken aback by the gesture. She said: “I’ve always loved having my hair done and now it feels even more exciting. Everyone loves the salon.”

The contemporary grey brick effect walls and wood effect vinyl flooring gives the salon a contemporary feel.

The residents had a hand in choosing the décor and the home’s resident hairdresser Diane Bird, has stepped in to run the salon.

Ms Bird has worked at Bernadette House for six years and was particularly enthusiastic about how the salon was specially adapted to cope with the needs of residents with dementia.

She said: “The salon is lovely. It has the feel of a real hairdressers and has all the features you need to ensure residents living with dementia feel comfortable.”

Elizabeth Stephens, the owner of Bernadette House, was pleased that she could accommodate the new salon due to the existing refurbishment project.

She said: “We’ve wanted to build a hair salon for some time, but it was always a question of space. Adding en-suites to all the bedrooms enabled us to convert a communal bathroom into the salon.”

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