Photo by Jon Anderson
Gary Diggs, the owner of the Gary Anthony Salon in the Park South Plaza shopping center in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, cuts the hair of a customer on Jan. 29, 2025.
Gary Diggs is the owner of Gary Anthony Salon in the Park South Plaza shopping center in Vestavia Hills.
Q: How long have you been in the business, and how long have you been in this location?
A: I’ve been a hair stylist for 37 years. I’ve had Gary Anthony Salon for 17 years, and we have been at this location for over six years.
Q: What made you decide you wanted to become a hair stylist?
A: Honestly, I was going to become an actor, and my Dad had given me advice that if I was going to get into that business, I needed to have something to fall back on because if not, I would probably be waiting tables or something else off and on. Not that waiting tables is a bad job … Part of what I enjoyed about theater and acting was becoming somebody else, so that’s what made me decide to go into cosmetology, and it kind of took off from there.
Q: What’s the best part about what you do? What do enjoy the most?
A: Making somebody look good and putting a smile on their face as they walk out the door.
Q: What’s the worst part of the job you have?
A: I enjoy it so much that a lot of times I will push myself extra hours to get people in, and it does take a toll on you physically after a while. You’ve got to make sure you have vacation days or limit your times per day. Christmas time, we bust our butts a lot, which we know that’s part of the business, but then the rest of the time you’ve got to take care of yourself better. You’ve got to make sure you eat correctly. You’ve got to make sure you go to the gym.
Q: What’s the most interesting encounter you’ve had in your job over the years?
A: Probably one of my favorites was about four or five years ago. I had a fellow who decided to shock his fiancé and go all out for Christmas, so we bleached his hair and his beard out to white and then put a strip down the middle of it which was bright red. He wanted to become Mr. Christmas, so to speak. That was actually a fun thing to do. They were going to go off and do some event, and she had no clue he was doing. I was like, “You’re going to get me in trouble,” but he was having fun.
Q: How did it turn out for him?
A: It was actually pretty good. I took pictures of it, and he was taking a whole bunch of family members to celebrate Christmas, and he had rented a bus or van and showed up at everybody’s location ready to go.
Q: If you weren’t a hair stylist, what would you want to do?
A: I don’t even know at this point. Probably what my original goal was, but if I were to retire now, I don’t know what I would do.
Q: What do you like to do outside of work?
A: We are around people a lot. I do enjoy that part, but you also have to have some down time away from people. One of my favorite things is to just get out in the yard — keep the plants going, keep the yard nice. It’s kind of a grounding exercise, so to speak.
Q: So do you do a lot of gardening?
A: Yeah. My backyard — I’m pretty proud of it. … It keeps me going. It also dominates your weekends.
Q: So are you from this area originally?
A: No, I grew up in Missouri.
Q: What brought you to Alabama?
A: I actually moved down here to try something different. I have an aunt and uncle that lived here. There was family I enjoyed being around — my cousins, so I thought I’d come here and hang out for a little while and see what happened. My plans were not to stay here. It was just kind of a stepping stone. And when I bought my first house, my aunt came by and looked at it, and she made the comment that “it looks like you’re going to be here a while.” I thought I was going to throw up. I was not expecting that. I’ve just been here ever since. One of the things I do like about the Birmingham area is I grew up near the Ozarks, and the mountains and the trees kind of remind me of that. That’s one of the perks that I do enjoy about this place.
Q: When did you come here?
A: I moved here the fall of 1986.
