Plaza Hair — Hairstyling for Men and Women

By Léo Azambuja

Linda Oshima at Plaza Hair, her beauty shop in Kapa‘a. Photo by Léo Azambuja

The story of Plaza Hair in Kapa‘a goes back more than half a century. Over all these years, Linda Oshima’s beauty shop has been providing the Kaua‘i community with first-class hair services at affordable prices.

When Waimea local girl Oshima was finishing high school in the early 1960s, she decided she wanted to work as a hairdresser. So, after graduation, the daughter of a plantation worker and a seamstress moved to Honolulu to attend beauty school.

“For a year, I lived with a family to support me through school,” the owner of Plaza Hair said of her time on O‘ahu. “As soon as I graduated, my parents said, ‘Homebound.’ They had a job waiting for me here.”

Back on Kaua‘i, Oshima worked for someone for a while. After she got married and had children, her father-in-law suggested it was time for her to start thinking about opening her own business, so she would have more flexibility to raiser her children.

For at least 10 years, Oshima had a shop at the corner of Haleilio Road and Kuhio Highway, at the entrance to Wailua Houselots.

“There was an old building there. Some people would walk from Coco Palms. That was an interesting time to meet a lot of people,” said Oshima, adding there used to be only one other shop next to hers. “The Tanaka plumbers were there too, so the two of us were in the old building.”

In the 1970s, the Waipouli Plaza in Kapa‘a was built, and Oshima became one of their first tenants, opening Hair Plaza and never looking back.

“As long as this place has been here, I’ve been here,” she said of her current location at Waipouli Plaza.

Oshima says her business is a beauty shop that offers haircuts, perms, straightening, coloring; mostly everything related to hair. Her customers are women, men and children of all ages.

Plaza Hair, like many non-essential businesses, closed for a brief period starting mid-March because of restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. She said she was anxious to return to work, and as soon as she was allowed to reopen, she got really busy.

“It’s kind of tapering off now, which is good,” said Oshima, who still works six days a week. For many of us, that can be tough, but for Oshima, it’s a different story.

“Work is not work anymore. I enjoy my job. It’s fun to work,” she said.

Many of her customers have become her good friends. Oshima said she enjoyed meeting so many different people, and many of her clients taught her a lot, especially when she was younger.

“I’ve learned a lot from them, so I’m so thankful to have had them in my life,” she said of her clients.

She remembers the 1960s and 1970s, when tall and elaborate hairdos were in style. She said she had a lot of fun helping the ladies for the Hawaiian parades.

“In those days, the ladies were very creative, they used peacock feathers and all that. It was actually far more interesting,” Oshima said.

She has been on the trade for more than 50 years, and is still going because, as she says, she has been blessed with good health for working. She may have learned how to become a hairdresser back when she attended the Honolulu beauty school as a young lady, but it was her experience over the years that shaped her art.

“Like anything, it’s a journey; you learn as you go,” Oshima said.

Plaza Hair is at 4-901 Kuhio Hwy, in the Waipouli Plaza shopping center, next to Papaya’s Natural Foods. It is open Monday to Saturday, from 8:30 a.m., depending on appointments, until close, usually at 5 p.m. Sundays, Oshima said, is church day. Call 822-1611 for an appointment.