NEW ORLEANS — The Bronner Brothers International Beauty Show is coming to New Orleans on August 17th. It’s one of the largest gatherings of multicultural beauty professionals attracting stylists from around the world.
It all stems from the Bronner Family, who in 1947 started by teaching cosmetology at an Atlanta, Georgia YMCA.
While the Bronner Family was kicking off their history-making business in Atlanta, a New Orleans stylist began her “hair story” in her mama’s kitchen in Uptown New Orleans.
Some consider Sadie’s Hair Salon a sanctuary, a haven for good conversation and free therapy sessions. Sometimes the time under her hair dryer is the only moment clients get to rest.
Since 1963, Sadie Cook has given that haven to her clients and so much more.
“I was named after my Aunt Sadie. My aunt was doing hair. I used to watch her,” says Sadie Cook.
That hair journey started at just 13 years old with the popular style for children being Shirley temple curls and adults getting finger waves.
By the time she was 15 years old, she started to build her clientele.
“Neighbors was coming to me on a Saturday to get the hair fixed,” says Cook. “15 years old, I had a whole kitchen full.”
Some of those same clients continue to come to this day but the business grew out of her mom’s kitchen and a stint in beauty school into Sadie’s Hair Salon. Sadie grew along with it, the 15-year-old stylist is now a 90-year-old beautician who is still working to keep her client’s hair in top shape.
“I said I was going to be doing hair as long as I could and I lived to be 90,” says Cook. “I ain't even know I'd live to be 90.”
It's safe to say Sadie has grown from being just a hair stylist from around the block to a community staple. She says her love for her neighborhood is just as strong as her love for her clients, it's a bond that can't be broken.
“I've been in this neighborhood all my life really and truly. I never want to leave,” says Cook.
Her salon holds a special place in the hearts of those around her as she's located in the epicenter of culture in New Orleans.
So much so that the salon doubled as a spot where you'd often see the Black Masking Indians.
Her husband, Walter Cook Sr, was a co-founder of the Wild Magnolias. “He used to hang out on Magnolia and Felicity him and his lil’ gang you know,” says Cook.
“He says since all y'all hang out right here on Magnolia and Felicity, we going to call that tribe the Wild Magnolia and that's how that originated," she says.
Continuing generations of culture bearers, her son, Walter Cook Jr, would become Big Chief of the Creole Wild West at just 13 years old. He was masking with his Father in his toddler years. Sadie, who is also part Choctaw used her hands for hair by day and sewing suits by night.
As people come and go in the ever-changing neighborhood for one reason or another, Sadie says her commitment to her clients and her community remains.
“This shop always was more like family than a regular beauty shop,” says Cook. “The beautician is like a counselor and a lot of them come to me or call me and ask me different things that they wouldn't even discuss with the family.”
Though she isn't taking new clients, many are thankful they can still sit in Sadie's chair to get "hair therapy" from a stylist who continues to withstand the test of time.
“I had tried retiring and keep coming right back, I'm not ready to stop. And I refuse to sit around the house and deteriorate.”
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