Laid off twice during COVID, Myrtle Beach barber puts down roots, opens her own salon
Ira McIntyre moved to Myrtle Beach three years ago looking to relax. Yet as a barber, she couldn’t catch a break, floating around from shop to shop.
She’d left Charleston, where she spent nearly a decade managing a salon, hoping to find stability in Myrtle Beach. So far, McIntyre’s time in the Grand Strand had been anything but. Either layoffs or unhealthy work environments had prevented her from spending more than eight months with any single salon or barbershop.
In January, McIntyre was working in downtown Myrtle Beach but left her job after a month because of conflicts she had with the owner. She moved onto a new shop, but the coronavirus pandemic shut down that shop two weeks in. She applied and got unemployment but expected to be able to go back to work when hair salons reopened.
Then McIntyre was laid off May 17. It was the day before Gov. Henry McMaster let salons reopen.
McIntyre stayed on unemployment until July, when she finally got her third job that year. It wouldn’t last, though. Five months in, she got a call that her services were no longer needed. She lost many of her clients, as well, since their information was stored on the barbershop’s computers she didn’t have access to.
“I said, ‘I’m going to have to do something.’ I have to get my own space, I have to get more space where I can come and do my job,” she said. “I love people, cutting hair and need to move forward without anyone hindering me. (I need) my own space just to be me.”
The former Ohioan wasn’t a stranger to owning a business. Before she moved to South Carolina, McIntyre had her own barbershop and employed several people to cut hair. She’d gotten into the industry 25 years ago because of the flexibility it provided. After her first divorce, she needed the ability to leave work on a dime in case any emergencies arose with her kids.
“I was working in retail and banking,” she said. “My kids, in Ohio, they were at the bus stop, it was freezing and they called me an hour later. The bus never came. And I knew then — I had already been cutting hair just for fun — I had to get my (barber) license, I have to work for myself. So my license really was a safe and life saver.”
Floating through three jobs in the past year, however, made the possibility — and the expense — of launching a business seem out of reach. The 57-year-old also wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with getting a business license. Nearing retirement, she had enjoyed just being able to work for someone else.
Friends, family and McIntyre’s church had been the only thing keeping her afloat as she struggled to pay the bills. Her two daughters moved in with her as well, none of them able to afford living on their own.
“I had lost jobs,” she said. “My finances were null and dead. I’m already trying to make ends meet. That’s what took so long. And a good friend of mine said, ‘Look, I know you didn’t want to get your own shop again, but that’s something you’ve been thinking about, and you talk about it off and on. I’ll help you.’”
It was the lift she needed.
Having her own salon now gives McIntyre that same flexibility she needed when raising her kids. She’ll be able to live on her own schedule and help clients in a pinch.
On Friday, she officially opened Cuts By Ira inside of Sola Salons. But she’s been out on foot spreading the word about her new business for several days, handing out her business card at grocery stores, reconnecting with past clients when she can and asking friends and family to hype her up as well.
Building up a new client base will be one of the hardest challenges she faces in the coming months, especially as those wary of the pandemic delay getting haircuts.
McIntyre doesn’t mind the challenge.
“People have to get haircuts,” she said. “They’ll come, maybe not as often — but they’ll come.”
Cuts By Ira is located inside Studio 5 at 10780 Kings Road, Myrtle Beach, 29572.
This story was originally published February 8, 2021 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Laid off twice during COVID, Myrtle Beach barber puts down roots, opens her own salon."
