He started cutting hair when beehives were cool. This longtime Tri-Cities hair stylist is hanging up his shears

When Jerry Cargo first started working in hair salons, turnover among his fellow stylists wasn’t unusual.

They’d get married, or have kids, or move, or otherwise leave the business. The average career length was about two years.

But Cargo defied those odds. “I’ve outlasted everybody,” he said.

On Friday, when the Pasco man hangs up his scissors for the final time, he’ll have been in the business 58 years.

“I’ve enjoyed it,” he said. “If you enjoy what you’re doing, it’s easier.”

Cargo is retiring from The Hair Co. on West Court Street — a salon owned by Robert and Minerva Vidaurri.

But over the years, he’s worked at seven or eight shops in Pasco. He even had his own place, called Mr. Jerry’s, for several years.

He first came to the Tri-Cities in 1960, starting his career at a shop called The Powder Puff.

Back then, male hairdressers weren’t common — at least in the Tri-Cities.

Cargo believes he was the first one in Pasco.

He almost didn’t become one at all. After high school in Castle Rock, near Mount St. Helens, Cargo considered training to be a barber. But the nearest barber college was in Olympia, and a beauty school was much closer.

He’s glad he chose the path he did.

“I think barbering would have been a little boring,” he said. “It was fun be able to do more things.”

Cargo has done waxing and even therapeutic pedicures over the years. But hair has been his mainstay.

He’s watched styles change dramatically, from backcombs and beehives to French twists and perms.

What hasn’t changed is Cargo’s kindness, co-workers said. He brightens the salon and brightens the day.

“He made it better here. He makes people laugh. He’s really added a lot,” Minerva Vidaurri told the Herald.

Cargo has amassed a long and loyal list of clients over his nearly six decades in the hair business.

Gayle Napier of Kennewick, who came in earlier this week for a perm, has been going to Cargo for 45 years.

“He’s friendly, he’s meticulous. He’ll do what you want instead of ending up with a hairstyle that wasn’t what you had in mind,” she said.

Her late mother, Rosemary Estes, was a longtime client, too.

“She was a banker in Pasco and she met him when he first came to town and opened his first bank account,” Napier recalled. “She said, ‘There’s this new guy in town, we’ll try using him.’ So, there you go. Fifty years later, she was still coming back.”

When Cargo first began working, he had clients in their 30s and 40s. He watched them become grandmothers, great-grandmothers.

Once, in his younger days, he was chided by a co-worker for bringing up the same newspaper article with each of his clients — something he did to make small talk. He quickly learned that listening was more important than talking.

As he cut and colored and set and permed, he took in stories — about kids, grandkids, work, life.

“I can’t remember anything anymore, but I listen,” he said.

Cargo turns 78 on Friday, the same day he retires. The Hair Co. is honoring him with a party.

He said he’ll miss the shop, his co-workers and his clients. But he’s looking forward to slowing down.

He volunteers at Grace Clinic and is active at West Highlands United Methodist Church in Kennewick.

He lost Margaret, his wife of nearly 50 years, in 2013. They have two children, Phillip and Mary, and a granddaughter, Abby.

His work allowed him to support his family, he said. To have a good life.

He’s thankful.

“I’ve been happy with it. I’ve always earned enough — not to be really rich, but to live on, to raise my kids, buy my house,” he said.

“I’ve just enjoyed every day.”