It’s been said that a hairdresser’s chair is “not just a place of work; it’s a stage where you transform lives, one hairstyle at a time.” With every snip and roll of the brush, Pam Blakely, owner of Pam’s Hair Hut in Delcambre, has let her passion (and compassion) speak louder than her scissors, leaving clients with more than just great hair.
In her 44 years as a hairdresser, Blakely has styled hair for women and men, including the town’s priest. She has trimmed the first locks of more children than she can remember and coiffed the final hairdo for female customers in preparation for their funeral sharing, “It’s the last thing you can do for them.”
Located on Church Street since 1984, Pam’s Hair Hut is where clients come, Tuesday through Friday, to relax and often share the ups and downs of life while being gussied up. Blakely attributes her success to patience, good listening skills and dependability. “People tell me some of their deepest secrets,” she reveals. “We laugh, cry and pray together. I’m concerned about them. I just had a client pass away and it was like losing a best friend. “
In her career, Blakely has accumulated more stories than shades of hair dye. At 19, she attended a hair show and was asked to be a model for the stylists, along with none other than Priscilla Presley. “I sat under the hair dryer next to her,” Blakely confirms.
The mention of children brings fond memories as she recalls, “There was a little boy who walked in with a Ziplock bag of change wanting a haircut; it broke my heart and I told him ‘Don’t’ worry about it.’ Another boy, who lived in a housing authority, wanted a haircut for his friend. It was so heartwarming that I gave the boy a gift certificate for the friend.”
With a known love for the color hot pink and her finger on the pulse of the town, Blakely is reminiscent of a character in the movie Steel Magnolias. Many residents recall that the Hair Hut was hot pink when first built in 1984. Blakely displays the color down to her umbrella, eyeglasses and, most recently, her campaign sign.
You see, she is best known as the mayor of Delcambre, currently running for a third term. She was the first woman to take the seat in 2016 – and how she got to that point was no surprise to those who know her.
Eight years ago, she noticed a ditch behind a local gas station on Highway 14 was congested with overgrown trees and trash, and she wanted to have it cleaned. When the police jury and the town officials couldn’t agree on whose jurisdiction the ditch fell within, Blakely tried to encourage a couple of friends to run for mayor, during a campaign at the time, with the intent to get the ditch cleaned. When she couldn’t convince them, she ran for office and has been mayor since.
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