A little off the top – Step-daughter joins Court Street shop

LACONIA — Jack Acorace has been cutting hair for nearly 50 years, for the past 12 as “Jack the Clipper” on Court Street. Heidi Holt, his step-daughter, has taken a different approach to her working life, switching vocations every several years to experience new challenges.

This summer, those two approaches to work intersected, as Holt has joined Acorace and her mother, Linda, cutting hair and trimming beards at the Court Street shop.

Holt, 44, brings broad work experience to the shop. She drove a school bus, fosters rescue animals, provides caregiving to disabled persons and operated a cleaning company. One of the spaces that she cleaned was Jack the Clipper, and she decided to trade the broom for the scissors.

“I like the experience of new things,” said Holt. “I finally said, maybe barbering.” She went to cosmetology school in Somersworth and earned her master barber license and joined the business after graduating on Aug. 30.

Barbering has proven a welcome change from cleaning, often a solitary affair.

“It has brought me out of my shell,” Holt said about her new vocation. “It pushes me to be more interactive with people.”

And having Holt in the shop has been a boon for Acorace. Linda, also a master barber, only works for scheduled appointments, so there were many days when he was working solo.

Acorace, born and raised in Manchester, started cutting hair 49 years ago. He owned Jack’s Hair Designs on Second Street for many years in his native city, but Linda persuaded him to come to Laconia, where she grew up.

He opened “Jack the Clipper” 12 years ago, and also cut hair at the Belknap County Correctional Facility. Acorace is a licensed stylist, so having Holt in the shop expands the services they offer to include straight-razor shaves and massages.

“She is like the old-fashioned barbers, she can do the old-fashioned haircuts,” said Linda, who said it’s been nice to bring her daughter into the business.

“We’ve been looking forward to this for a while. We knew that she would be wonderful. She has a beautiful disposition and she wants to please people. She’s a wonderful daughter, I’m very proud of her,” Linda said.