Kathy's Classic & Modern Hair Designs

As a child, Kathleen Abernathy watched in admiration as her grandmother skillfully styled her clients' hair and applied artful swoops of color on their eyelids and cheeks. Abernathy remembers, "She was a beautiful and sweet woman and I aspired to be like her." So Abernathy did just that—she followed her grandmother's footsteps into the world of haircare.

Today, Abernathy backs each service with more than 25 years of salon experience, including training in cutting and coloring techniques from such brands as Redken, Matrix, Chi, and Goldwell. Specializing in color and color correction, her ongoing approach is to make her clients feel "comfortable in their own hair." She carefully listens to each individual to determine a look that fits best with their lifestyles, personalities, and height of their evil stepmothers' tower windows. Abernathy participates in ongoing training to keep her skills sharp and her shelves stocked with up-to-date products, including ammonia-free Redken Chromatics four-dimensional color and Mizani relaxers.

Occupying one of three private rooms in a Merle Norman store, Abernathy gives each client personalized attention, along with sips of coffee or hot tea. In addition to hairstyling, she provides professional makeup services for weddings, proms, and disguising embarrassing tattoos before family reunions; she uses the Merle Norman line of cosmetics.