Though Eunice Dudley opened the doors to her beauty school in Greensboro, SC nearly 50 years ago, she admits that in all those years, she was never able to cut and style hair. At age 72, Dudley has been involved in nearly every aspect of the school including administration, manufacturing and sales but never in the actual art of styling.
Founded by Dudley and her ex-husband, Dudley Cosmetology University has survived the test of time even after the campus in Kernersville temporarily closed in 2011. The school reopened at a new location in Greensboro in April, 2013.
In addition to the beauty school, Dudley and her ex-husband formed their own beauty line, Dudley Products which once had over a dozen locations throughout the United States along with 600 employees. The financial crisis of 2008 contributed to the downsizing of Dudley Products and the closing of the University but both companies are up and running again with the help of her daughter Ursula Dudley Oglesby.
At the age of 71, Dudley decided it was high time that she learned how to do hair so she enrolled in her own school. She says that her only perk as the owner is not paying tuition. “This is no gift. This is something I’m having to learn,” she said.
Though she admits that she had entrusted other people to style her daughter’s hair because she wasn’t good at it, the desire to learn this segment of the industry stems from her need to feel accomplished.
Dudley is set to receive her cosmetology license in early 2016 after completing nearly a year of training at her school. She intends to continue her education afterwards with the cosmetology instructor training course. Her daughter Ursula views her mother’s decision to pursue her license as exciting and jokes that she may finally let her mother do her hair again.