Tribute to a Legend, Paula Kent Meehan

The beauty industry has been in mourning over the passing of the legendary Paula Kent Meehan. I was so very privileged to have known her and been graced by her remarkable insistence on educating hairdressers like myself. When I asked her to share her story for the charitable book project, “Hearts with Style”, she gave me her permission to print it and sent a check, donating to the cause. What follows is a tribute reprinted from Mary Rector-Gable, Founder and Creative Director of Behind the Chair.com.

If you plotted out a family tree for the beauty industry, there would be two main “branches.” The first would be Vidal Sassoon, which was the starting point for so much of the modern artistry we embrace today, and the training ground for many of the world’s most creative artists. The second branch would be Redken—the professional products company that pioneered the distribution, marketing and education models that are today’s standards and the incubator for so many top executives on the “product side.” This week we lost the matriarch of the Redken branch of our family—Redken founder and leader Paula Kent Meehan died at the age of 82. I had the pleasure of spending several evenings with Paula—in fact, it was at an event at her home that I first met Vidal. She was smart, bold and opinionated—and most of all, even after she had sold her company to  Professional Products, she remained passionate about her lifelong mission to give hairdressers everything they needed to have more successful careers and live better lives. She led a company that believed in hairstylists’ intelligence, creativity and energy, and as a result, she transformed the lives of millions of beauty professionals. She truly was instrumental in elevating hairdressing from a career to a profession. Paula has inspired me personally in my own mission at BTC to inspire and support hairdressers, and I believe we all owe this remarkable woman a huge debt of gratitude for her vision and for all of her accomplishments on our behalf. May she rest in peace.

Many thanks to Mary as she continues to provide the best resource for beauty news, art and education for beauty professionals all over the world…I, and all of us who loved her, could not have said it any better. Be sure to check out Behind the Chair at www.behindthechair.com