Capital Questions with Gale Walker

Just Teas­ing has been an insti­tu­tion for many Wel­ling­to­ni­ans for the last 20 years. Gale has been there for all of the salon’s moves, from Cuba Street to Egmont Street and, most recently, to upper Wil­lis Street. Gale and her team are very excited to be in their latest loc­a­tion, and to be part of an area of town that’s com­ing back to life: “It’s so lovely to see these build­ings being done up, it is a pos­it­ive thing to come out of the bypass. Even though you can’t cross the street very easily!”

If it’s been a hard day and I’m in need of a drink I go to…To be quite hon­est I am really look­ing for­ward to the two res­taur­ants that are going to open on either side of us (see Fish­Head #35 and our inter­view with the Bresolin broth­ers, Ed.). I love Duke Carvell’s, and also South­ern Cross is nice to sit out­side and have a drink at.

If I’m in need of a hearty meal I go to…Duke Carvell’s again, because I really like going to a place that has a good atmosphere.

If I need a slice of cul­ture I can’t go past…Live music. My most favour­ite thing is to go see live music. I also love the Town Hall so I’m hop­ing that they’re going to do the work on it that needs to be done, because it really is a lovely venue.

My favour­ite Wel­ling­ton land­mark would have to be…It changes all the time, but recently I got excited when I walked past St Mary of the Angels on Boul­cott Street. I just love it. I stand at that set of lights and think how you could eas­ily miss it. But Wellington’s got heaps — the water­front is amaz­ing, the hills, the town belt, it’s really cool.

You’ll find me at Just Teas­ing…Four days a week. Since I’ve had my little girl, Aure­lia, I’ve cut my work­load slightly. Com­ing from Paekakariki, it takes about three hours by the time you add it all up. But it is good because I really like that when I catch the train in, I can wander up through town and wander back down at the end of the day. It’s really cool; it really con­nects you with Wellington.

The most excit­ing per­son I’ve met through hairdress­ing is…Prob­ably my most fam­ous cli­ent at the moment is Rus­sel Nor­man. And we used to cut Jon Toogood’s hair back in the day!

The most mem­or­able hairdress­ing job I’ve done is…In the 1990s we got to do lots of crazy col­our­ing and stuff like that, like leo­pard-skin hair­dos. It’s more the friend­ships we make over a long peri­od of time that are mem­or­able, and the people that we work with, and the days that we have where we pull off amaz­ing work.

The longest I’ve had a cli­ent at Just Teas­ing is…All the way through! It is really spe­cial, and it’s kind of the thing that keeps you want­ing to do it. The greatest thing about it is that it really devel­ops friend­ships and that’s why I love it as much today as when I first star­ted. You see people for a con­cen­trated hour every six weeks, and some of your friends you wouldn’t have that time with! So people do share a lot with you and I guess that makes it kind of spe­cial as well. You get to share things with them, like when they want to look good for a spe­cial occa­sion. Hairdress­ers really love their clients.