For the last ten years, she had been at the helm of her very own salon, Cherine’s Pure Hair, with the aim to concentrate on her own style of hairdressing, with less stress.

“To own your own salon you’ve really got to have a burning desire,” Mrs Hitchcock said.

“Now it’s 50 years and my body’s telling me to stop work.”

And, Mrs Hitchcock has a lot to share from her time cutting the hair of some colourful characters.

One humorous event occurred during her time working at Anthony Sparks’ hair studio in Griffith.

“One lady came in – she was rather elderly – and she coughed and her false teeth came out,” Mrs Hitchcock said.

“They slid right across the salon, and the poor lady just picked them up and put them straight back in her mouth.”

Another lady, who used to love a beer, came into the salon for a hair cut.

“She was a long neck drinker – and in those days we just gave the ladies coffee. She takes out the long neck, bottle opener, takes a glass, and starts drinking beer,” Mrs Hitchcock said.

“She just wanted to have a beer while having her hair cut. And this was way back in 1973.”

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Mrs Hitchcock recalled another story where a playful Mr Stevens, bearing a bald head, came into her salon one day and asked to have his hair cut and styled.

“Whenever Mr Stevens came in, he’d always make a joke,” Mrs Hitchcock said.

“My first apprentice – being the young, innocent girl she was – didn’t know what to do.”

“She couldn’t work it out, but he was just having a joke with her.”

There was one particular story however that has intrigued staff at The Area News.

“We used to get this gentleman calling, and he called about three times in the salon and he would say he wanted his two daughters’ hair cut, but he wanted undercuts and flat tops,” Mrs Hitchcock said.

“But he never showed.”

He then called a number of years later to make the same request, again not showing up for the appointment.

Mrs Hitchcock explained that this gentleman rings up hairdressers Australia-wide with the same story.

But the fast-paced lifestyle, and the physical pain associated with hairdressing, is now over for Mrs Hitchcock. She now spends her retirement catching up with the home and gardening.

“I just want to be happy to just do my things at my own pace and not have to work on a deadline anymore, which I’ve never done in my long life.”