Mario Tricoci opens Misericordia hair salon

Residents no longer will have to travel off campus for cuts, styling

Rosalie Doherty has been going to Mario Tricoci salons since her first haircut.

“I just love the way she comes out of the salon feeling good about herself and knowing how beautiful she looks,” Colleen Doherty, Rosalie’s mom, told me.

Rosalie, 12, was born with Down syndrome. She loves to swim. She has three brothers. She has beautiful chestnut hair that hangs just past her shoulders and bangs that frame her face.

“I just thought, ‘If she and I can do this, why shouldn’t the residents at Misericordia have the same experience?’ ” Colleen Doherty said. “It’s about dignity and humanity and self-esteem.”

Rosalie lives at home with her parents, but Colleen Doherty said she envisions her daughter spending her adult years at Misericordia. Her husband, City Club President Jay Doherty, sits on Misericordia’s advisory board.

In April, Colleen Doherty approached Sister Rosemary Connelly, executive director of Misericordia, the home for developmentally disabled children and adults run by the Catholic Sisters of Mercy.

On its 31-acre campus, Misericordia has an aquatic center and a yoga studio, a dental clinic and a medical clinic. There’s a restaurant, the Greenhouse Inn, which was featured on Season 16 of WTTW’s “Check, Please!” There’s Hearts & Flour Bakery, where residents make cookies and brownies and other treats. Maybe you’ve seen them at a farmers market at Loyola University or Daley Plaza.

A hair salon, Doherty figured, would be a perfect addition. Residents, some of whom use wheelchairs, some of whom have severe developmental as well as physical challenges, wouldn’t have to be transported off campus to have their hair cut and styled.

“Sister said to me, ‘Colleen, I always work better when my hair is done,’” Doherty said. That was her green light. Doherty and her husband made some calls. Retired Associate Judge Mark Ballard connected them to Mario Tricoci, the man behind the chain of 14 high-end salons and day spas that started as a single Villa Park beauty shop 40 years ago.

“At this point in my life, I’m 77,” Tricoci said. “I’ve done shows and hair all over the world — Japan, China, Brazil, Italy, France, you name it. We have had, thank God, great success. We have a great staff. This is giving back.”

Tricoci styled Connelly’s hair as he spoke.

“I can almost cry,” Tricoci said, tearing up. “It’s emotional. When we get a person, here or anywhere, and once we do their hair and we hear those words, ‘I love my hair. You made my day,’ how sweet is that? It’s priceless.”

Tricoci was on-site Monday for opening day of the new salon, located in a sunlit room that used to house a computer lab. He worked alongside volunteer stylists from his salons and Tricoci University of Beauty Culture, the company’s training grounds.

As we spoke, stylists worked their magic at three other stations stocked with nylon capes, flat irons, hair dryers and blowout spray.

Two more Tricoci employees worked the sinks, shampooing and conditioning hair. Between clients, they darted among styling chairs, sweeping freshly cut hair off the floor.

John Gialluisi, creative director for Mario Tricoci salons, chatted with Cheryl Tricoci, Mario’s wife and business partner.

“Can we get some styling books?” Cheryl Tricoci asked. “We need some magazines and books for people to find a style they like.”

Misericordia will establish set days and hours for the salon once administrators have a better sense of the demand, but the Tricocis have committed to permanently staffing it with volunteers.

Rico Dalessandro, a fixture at Mario Tricoci’s 900 N. Michigan Ave. location, posed for a selfie with Katie M., 33, after a gigglefilled session of cutting and styling. (Misericordia requested that residents’ last names not be published.)

“The staff loves it,” Cheryl Tricoci said. “It’s really beautiful when you have a craft that you can share.”

Gina Doherty, no relation to Colleen, Jay and Rosalie — “There’s a lot of us in Chicago,” she said — waited outside the salon for her daughter, Jackie, to have her hair styled.

Jackie is 32. She has cerebral palsy and is visually impaired. She uses a wheelchair. She lives at Misericordia full time, but her mom visits throughout the week for dinner and takes her back to the family’s home near O’Hare every weekend.

“It’s wonderful what they’re doing,” Gina Doherty said. “My son used to cut Jackie’s hair. He’s a special ed teacher, but he’s a barber on the side.”

Meanwhile, back in the salon, clippers buzzed and dryers whirred and clients squealed with delight.

“Sister’s got a little wave in her hair,” Colleen Doherty said to Cheryl Tricoci as they watched Cheryl’s husband diffuse Connelly’s snow-white hair.

“I’ve known about Sister for 46 years,” Mario Tricoci said. “I’ve never had the honor of doing her hair.” Connelly smiled.

“It’s a wonderful, wonderful gift,” she said. “I’m never surprised when people step forward because there are so many good people in the world.

“The only reason we have all that we have here,” she continued, “is so many people have said our children not only have a right to life, but one worth living.”