From Hair to Houses

NEWMARKET__After decades of working as a local hair stylist and entertainer, Guy “Mr. Guy” Thibeault is adding another title to his resume: real estate agent.

“I wanted the challenge, I wanted to learn something else at this stage in life,” said Mr. Guy.

The Hampton Falls native, who has owned the Sculptured Cut in Newmarket for the past 20 years, is now a licensed real estate agent working with Coldwell Banker in Portsmouth. He was encouraged to take a real estate course by his longtime client, and lifelong friend Charline Mason, who taught a local course in real estate.

“She kept saying to me, ‘Guy, I’m not trying to drum up business, but you have everything it takes to do this job,” he said. Three years went by, and when he heard Mason was retiring from teaching, he knew it was time. “I said, ‘If I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this with Charline,” he said. “I signed up and she handed me a book the size of an old telephone book and I wondered, ‘What am I getting myself into?”’

Mr. Guy completed the six-week course and got his real estate license in the spring of 2020, just before the pandemic, which postponed his start date until the spring of 2021, when he began working for Coldwell Banker in Portsmouth. He brings the same personalized approach to real estate that he brings to his hairdressing clients.

“Trust is a huge word in real estate,” he said. “If they trust me to get into their hair, they should trust me to get into their house. It’s a very personalized relationship that you build with people when you’re advising them on things they need to get done before listing their home for sale.”

He is focused on a high level of service and personalized attention. “Whether I’m doing someone’s hair or I’m decorating or I’m taking care of somebody’s wants or needs for a home, it all comes down to service. I care as much about how I can please someone else as I do myself,” he said.

Mr. Guy’s path to becoming a hairdresser was a given from the time he was a young boy. “I did my own hair since I was a little kid,” he said. “One time, my mother took me to a barber in Exeter to cut my hair and when he was done, my mother could tell I didn’t like it. She said, ‘You might want to give him the comb’ And I took the comb and coiffed the front of my hair.”

He was one 12 siblings, of which six were sisters, and their mother kept them all looking their best. “My mother always made sure those girls looked pristine with their hair in nice braids or ponytails,” he said. “My mother always looked her best as well. One day, when I was about 13, I looked at my mother and said, ‘When I grow up, I’m going to be a hairdresser” and she looked at me and said, ‘Really? That would be nice.”’

After a two-year stint in the Army, Mr. Guy returned to the Seacoast and went through Gauvin’s School of Beauty in Dover. He began his career in Hampton, first at Evelyn’s Beauty Salon and later going into business for himself. “These were the times of styling and rolling hair. There was a lot of hairdressing then, coiffed and teased with lots of hair spray. People would wrap their heads at night to keep the hairstyle in place,” he said.

During his 15 years of doing hair in Hampton, he started entertaining on the weekends with his band Mr. Guy and the New Image. Eventually, the entertainment bug took over and he moved to South Florida in 1985, where he entertained on dinner boat cruises, lounges and in other venues. He returned to New Hampshire in 1996, worked as a DJ for six years, before he opened the Sculptured Cut by Mr. Guy in Newmarket in 2001, which he still operates. He is known for both his abilities as a hair stylist and his relationships with clients, including some of his elderly clients who came to appreciate the homemade desserts he made and provided to them at the salon.

“I enjoy the time I spend one on one with my clients, there’s plenty of time to be personable,” he said.

Some of those personal friendships have led to his first real estate transactions, like the horse farm in Newmarket he sold for the estate of a longtime client and friend after her death. Not only did he sell the property, but he assured her that he would find homes for the farm’s two cats. “We wanted to make sure it was done the way she wanted it,” he said. “She was a friend of mine for over 20 years.”

When he begins working with a new real estate client, Mr. Guy said his top priority is establishing their trust in him. “People need to know that they’re talking to someone who can answer their questions and help them feel more comfortable in decisions they’re going to be making,” he said. “As well as somebody who’s going to be bringing them the best and fairest price for their property.”

He also recognizes the emotions involved with selling a longtime home and is committed to talking through that part of the process with his clients. There have been times where he’s handled both sides of a transaction. “This made it possible for me to tell the buyer about how the seller wanted to make sure everything was good for them and make sure everyone felt good about the process,” he said. “By the time of the closing, they couldn’t wait to meet each other and both sides were so appreciative of what both sides were trying to do for each other.”