Just push open the old wooden door of this house founded in 1936, reminiscent of the grocery stores of yesteryear. As long as it is daylight, Madame Paulette accepts all customers. In her salon in Sommières (Gard), the hairdresser, 86, makes an appointment.
And, this 1is February, Paulette Barbusse is at her post, as always from Tuesday to Saturday. The men follow one another in the shop. No time to take a break, the mistress of the place connects the cuts and the conversations with her inexhaustible patter.
In this small town of less than 5,000 inhabitants halfway between Montpellier and Nîmes, the oldest shopkeeper has somewhat become the mascot of rue Antonin-Paris and even of the town. Daughter of a hairdresser, she grew up in this salon and embraced the profession at the age of 14 as one enters into religion. She trained in a hairdressing school in Nîmes and since then has hardly ever left her city or closed her establishment, with one exception: “With the Covid, I had no choice. If you had seen how sad I was. I thought I was going crazy. And I found it so long. I cried a lot. »
White hair, boyish haircut, a blouse with her first name embroidered in the old fashioned way and black leather boots, Paulette Barbusse only mentions retirement when it comes to commenting on the news. “What happens in the street does not concern me, she justifies. Work keeps you healthy. Why not imagine a model for difficult jobs and another for those who spend their day at the office? »
For her, in any case, no question. “My living room is what keeps me alive. I will leave only lying down, both feet in front. Me, I am not intractable, but intractable “, she said laughing. His son, Hervé Barbusse, confirms: “Here, it’s real Pagnol. This shop is his elixir of youth. »
A shopkeeper doesn’t take time off
The hair professional, who only does hair for men, has accumulated seventy-two years of work. Even if she has slowed down (she receives part of her deceased husband’s pension), she comes back every day, except Monday, to open her store. She fully assumes her choice. “I have a happy life, I can’t see myself doing anything else. Look at me ! I’m in a living room where there’s always people passing by and, even if it’s not to get a haircut, people come to my house to talk. »
Her longevity at work raises questions as she entertains her clients. “But, all the same, you wouldn’t want to rest a little bit”, ventures a forty-something, first visit to Paulette. She only has one piece of advice: “If you choose to do something you love, you won’t get bored. I still give 100% for each of my cuts. » “Oh! well, I hope, replies caustically, the new client.
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