A time machine is needed to truly understand the power, influence and legacy of Marie Parson within the St. Louis beauty and style community.
If one were traveling back to any given year within the 1980s through the mid-1990s, they would find a parking lot would be filled to capacity – with cars lined down Delmar to get into a Parson’s salon chair for signature stacks with customized “marcel” iron work.
“I would go to bed and dream about the hairstyles that I would do,” Parson said.
Referred to or addressed simply as “Parson,” her name is still considered royalty among the local cosmetology community – and on Sunday a special ceremony will honor her for a life well served.
“Well, it all started when I was a little girl in Mississippi,” Parson said. “I had dolls and I would do their hair and put lipstick them and me. I didn’t have real lipstick, so I would use blackberries and blueberries – and paint my nails with them too.”
The over the top personality and flamboyancy with a side of diva one might expect was nowhere to be found when Parson sat down to discuss her half-century in the hair business.
Demure and reserved, her voice was barely above a whisper.
“When I was in beauty school my instructors told me I would never succeed because I was too shy,” Parson said. “It hurt my heart so bad. But it’s a lesson that everyone should know – if you really want to do something, work hard and keep doing what God placed in you as your vision.”
She wasn’t necessarily keen on talking about accolades that include national recognition within the industry and trade magazines; or her “hair theatre” shows that infused a storyline around the most elaborate of styles.
Parson was more pressed to talk about what she had hoped to create within the hearts of her clients and the stylists she worked with.
“When they sit in that chair I’m liable to be anything – doctor, lawyer, counselor or whatever they need at the time,” Parson said. “And I was happy to do that. It’s such a special feeling when someone tells you ‘you made me feel good when nobody else did…you gave me love.’
Some of the ladies had lived their whole lives before they came to me and never felt it – not from their mother, their father or anybody.”
A push of faith
“Sometimes rejection can be a blessing,” Parson said when reflecting on what compelled her to open her first salon.
Already a trained cosmetologist, the self-proclaimed “country girl” came to St. Louis after meeting the man that would become her husband, Robert Parson, Sr., – who was in Jackson visiting his family and fell for her at first sight.
While at her first salon job in St. Louis, she asked if she could go to part-time upon becoming pregnant with the first of her three children (Catherine Parson, Manwell Parson and Robert Parson Jr.).
The salon owner said no.
At the next space she was accused of stealing customers because she had become more popular than the owner.
“She said, ‘I don’t want you answering the telephone’,” Parson said. “And she went on to put so many restrictions on me because she thought it would protect her business and keep people from coming to me. It didn’t work.”
Parson figured it was a sign to set up her own shop.
“I had people who doubted me saying ‘you don’t have enough money to run a salon,’ but God said otherwise,” Parson said. “He told me, ‘you step out there, and I’ve got your back’.”
She bought used equipment, borrowed dressers and vanity sets from her home and silenced the naysayers with her success.
“I remember the first day I opened my first salon,” Parson said “ I was so afraid that nobody would show up, so I got there late on purpose. When I drove up there were lines of people standing outside applauding me – and giving me a grand opening.”
More than thirty years later, she’s still in business –although the salon has moved more than once (always on Delmar) to accommodate clientele growth.
Mane ministry
For the past 19 years, Parson has operated People United for Christ Church out of her salon. She is an ordained Associate Minister under Rev. Willie J. Watkins Sr., who happens to be her baby brother.
“I was ministering and counseling for years and didn’t know that I was doing it,” Parson said. “ I was delivering God’s word from my seat. It was already a church without me knowing it.”
The space between the front door and salon area is lined with several pews.
“We convert the church into a salon every Sunday,” Parson said. “We were in the small space and the salon was in the big space, but it grew and grew so now we are over here.”
Along with spiritual counseling, Parson provides the homeless with clothing, and her salon provides a temporary safe place for shelter from heat or cold.
From the setup, one can easily see that the work of the church now supersedes the salon these days – and that seems fine with Parson.
“There’s a scripture that says ‘Love God first and everything will be granted unto you,” Parson said. “I give all the glory to God, and I think it’s a blessing that I can be a blessing to other people.”
The Marie Parson Lifetime Achievement Celebration will take place on Sunday, August 10 from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. at Parson Beauty Center, 5977 Delmar. For more information, call (314) 721-9052.
