Božena Kapisoda, an experienced hairdresser, came from Osijek to Banja Luka in 1961 and started working in the salon “Berber” located in Gospodska Street.
After working for the Berber family for 10 years, she opened her own hair salon on Boulevard, and in 1980 she moved to a salon located in the Old Craft Center, more precisely in Veselin Masleša Street.
Although she is retired, she comes to the salon daily, as she says, to see how things are going, to advise workers on how to finish a hairstyle, but also to arrange hairstyles of loyal customers.
“I don’t do much, but at the request of my decades-old customers, I come to set their hair. When inspectors come to the salon, I jokingly say, ‘I’m a bigger inspector than you,'” says this charming seventy-seven-year-old lady, who has been engaged in hairdressing for 60 years.
She said that hairdressing was not her first choice when deciding on a profession that she would pursue throughout her life, because she wanted to go to art school.
“I used to draw beautifully, and I could go to art school in Zagreb or Split, and I quit. I hung out with my hairdresser’s daughter, I used to go to his salon all the time, I liked it and I decided to study his craft,” she recalls.
This lady with a slight smile explains that she did not repent for choosing this profession, and says that it was hard to work during all the years and that only the one who really is worthy and who wants to study can deal with this job.
She has received numerous diplomas and awards from Belgrade, Vienna, London, Osijek, Zagreb and Banja Luka, and was the president of the jury in many competitions of a local and international character, and today her skills are in the hands of the team that includes her daughters.
“My daughters Ivana and Jelena inherited the salon. Their primary occupations did not include hairdressing, they subsequently studied to get their degrees and work in a salon,” Bozena says.
She adds that hairdressers are kind of psychologists and that when a customer enters the shop, she first looks at whether she can do her hairstyle or not.
“A customer was coming to us, she wanted to get a haircut, but I told her we had no vacancy, and the lady was angry. The customer who witnessed the conversation asked me, ‘God, why didn’t you receive it?’ and at first glance I judged that the lady was not fit and that she might have made some inconvenience in the shop, ” Božena trusted in her many years of experience with people.
The lady whose basic tools for scissors and comb work are clients who tell the trusted hairdresser and some of their secrets, and recalls that while the customers were still sitting under the hood, they read aloud the letters they received and that they were wonderful shared moments that are still remembered today.
“Many well-known Banja Luka people came to me, and most of all I liked to do hairdressing for professors and doctors. I have no college, but I talked a lot with these people, I also heard a lot about them, but everything they said in confidence I kept with me in the shop. I never told anyone what they were saying to me, ” Božena says.
It also happened that customers were not charged a fee.
“Customers I didn’t charge were not financially well-off or just loved them. And during those difficult war days, I had the practice of not charging combs to future brides. My assistants and other hairdressers used to ask me why I didn’t charge, and I answered them that it was my pleasure, ” recalls Božena.
She says that during the year 2020, bob hairstyles will be mostly worn, longer or shorter, with bangs – straight, shorter, longer, as it suits anyone, and when it comes to the shade that will dominate, Božena explains that it will be a blonde color.
Source: Nezavisne novine
