The brothers Mascolo - better known to the world as Toni and Guy - would be so proud of Kelly McKernan if they were alive to see what an excellent job she’s doing of making the Toni & Guy salon in Plymouth the go-to hairdresser for celebrities and the local elite.
You wouldn’t have to walk for more than a few minutes to find salons that will do your hair for half or even a third of the price, but that isn’t why we go to Toni & Guy.
It’s not unlike the difference between The Ritz and a Travelodge. They both rent you a bed and keep the rain off you overnight, but one does it in a style that makes you feel wonderful, and pampered, and special.
Toni & Guy, especially in Kelly’s hands, is Ritz rather than Travelodge, and you’ll often see TV personalities and actors from the Theatre Royal there, feeling at home in its glamorous environment.
Indeed, celebrities visiting the area often seek out Kelly personally, as did the entertainer Brian Conley of “It’s A Puppet!” fame, while he was starring in the local pantomime.
He was very happy with the result - oh, yes he was - and was probably thrilled to discover that he shared a hairdresser with me, though I might have got that the wrong way around.
The staff at Toni & Guy in Plymouth are beautifully dressed and perfectly groomed, and one of the senior stylists turned out to have an impressively encyclopaedic knowledge of hair transplant procedures that I knew was spot-on because I’d just written a website for a world-class hair transplant surgeon.
Kelly, I discovered, managed her first salon at the age of 19 - an extraordinary achievement - and impressed the powers-that-be at Toni & Guy internationally so much that they allowed her to acquire the francise for their Plymouth salon.
It couldn’t be in better hands, as are my fellow clients at this hairdressing centre of excellence.