A LARGE crowd showed up to the final farewell of a well-known Irvine salon.

Ruth’s Hair Salon officially closed on Saturday, October 26 after more than 40 years in business.

To say thank you and goodbye to everyone, the family decided to hold an event in the salon on Sunday, October 27.

However, the building turned out to be too small and the crowd that showed up to see owner Ruth Duncan ‘spilled out onto the street’.

Ruth Duncan is retiring at age 74 after closing her salon (Image: Andrena Duncan) One person who came to see Ruth on Sunday was a nearly 60-year-old lady, who worked at the salon when she was 17.

The family decorated the interior, and prepared a buffet, cakes, music and a book full of memories from her time in the salon.

Ruth said: “If I didn’t have to give up, I would not give up.

“If I had to do it all again, I would still want the same clients, because I’ve had the most wonderful time with the people who’ve came in, and they’re not my clients, they’re my friends.”

Her family made a book of memories of the salon as gift (Image: Andrena Duncan) The salon is the longest-standing hairdressers in Irvine and has been a big part of the whole family’s lives, with Ruth’s grandchildren getting their first Saturday jobs working alongside her.

Her career started when she was just 13-years-old working in a barbers, but decided to switch to hairdressing because she didn’t like the men.

After retirement, she plans to spend more time on herself and her family (Image: Andrena Duncan) Throughout the last few decades there have been many favourite memories of Ruth’s, but some of the highlights include taking stylists to competitions and winning awards, and her clients becoming like family.