Demi’s Altered Images: Keeping Up Appearances

Many girls grow up trying different hairstyles and helping each other fix their hair. Demi Pergakes is no exception.

“I was always doing hair,” she said. “It was just something I always liked to do, fool around with hair.”

She turned that girlhood pastime into a career and later a business: .

As a young immigrant in Chicago, Pergakes worked at a Fannie May store. One Saturday, she went to her brother-in-law’s business to fix her sister’s hair for a birthday party. One of his customers thought she was a hairdresser.

“No, I just like to do hair,” she told him. “But I just came from Greece a year ago, and that’s much too early as far as the language and the tests and the reading. But I love it!”

His response opened her future.

He said, “I’ve got a solution for that. You go downtown and meet my sister, Dolores, who’s a schoolteacher at the Eugenia Barber School. It’s one of the best. They help a lot of foreign students. They give you tests – multiple choice if you don’t know how to write the whole exam. She’s going to help you!” 

That Monday, Pergakes left her job, met Dolores and started school. Six months later, she was working in the school’s salon.

For the next 30 years, she raised her family and worked as a hairdresser at a salon in Oak Park.

In the meantime, her brother-in-law opened a dry-cleaning and laundry business in Darien, right next to Ettore Ruvolo’s beauty salon. About 19 years ago, when Ruvolo was ready to retire, Pergakes’ brother-in-law told her about the shop. She took over that shop and opened Demi’s Altered Images.

“I was working already over 30 years when I came here,” she explained. "So I knew what to do. You have to shop, you have employees… I figured it was not so hard. And if it was very hard, I’d work again for someone!”

Pergakes likes the roominess and windows in her shop.

“I like this store because it’s very open,” she said. “I have a lot of space. You enjoy the winter with the snow, or the summer. We have all the trees. In the winter with all the snow it’s like a picture!”

Thursday, Friday and Saturday are the busiest days for Pergakes and the other two hairdressers. And someone comes in to help her on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Most of her clients are in their 40s or older. “We have a steady clientele. They come every week,” she said. “Or they come every month for color. Or they come every six weeks for a haircut and a perm.”

Several gentlemen are also her clients, both regulars and walk-ins.

Pergakes’ shop is a full-service salon, and she enjoys the variety. “It’s not monotonous,” she said.

And she enjoys chatting with her customers.

“On a Saturday morning, everyone comes for their coffee,” she laughed. “We have cake, and they visit, and everybody knows everybody… It’s like a coffee shop. It’s very pleasurable.”

While her business is steady year-round, the holidays are especially busy.

“A lot of our ladies belong to different clubs,” she explained. “Like today, three (holiday parties) were going on. And even if they didn’t have these activities, during the holidays you always have someplace to go.”

Pergakes doesn’t do any advertising. Her customers do it for her.

“The customers are nice,” she said. Pointing to a large potted poinsettia sitting on the floor, she added, “That poinsettia came from a customer.”

Even after 50 years, Pergakes is not ready to lay down her styling tools.

“I don’t know if I’m going to do it five days a week, but I’m definitely not going to let it go,” she said. “Maybe I’ll do it a day less so I can see my grandkids more. But giving it up? No, I like it too much! I like to be out with the public. I like to be with the ladies. We talk about so many different things. We learn so many different recipes. It’s fun! And everybody’s so nice.”

is located at 737 Plainfield Road, in the shopping center just east of the intersection of Plainfield Road and 75^th Street. For information or an appointment, call 630-986-0515.