By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

WAKEFIELD -- Charles and Sandy Bieker always have found a reason to celebrate.

On Sunday, it will be justified.

The couple, who met at the former Co-Ed Salon in Hays, are celebrating a combined 100 years in the hairdressing business.

"It's such an exciting business," Sandy Bieker said. "It keeps you excited and interested. As long as we're healthy, we plan to keep going."

The Biekers will be honored with a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Wakefield United Methodist Church activity center.

After meeting at Co-Ed in 1960 -- and marrying in 1961 -- the Biekers operated salons under various names in Hays for about 40 years before "retiring" to Wakefield where they now operate SJB Cosmetics and Day Spa out of their home.

"We weren't really thinking about opening a salon, but this basement had the perfect place for it," Sandy Bieker said.

Before leaving Hays, the couple mentored many area hair stylists, always emphasizing the importance of education.

"If you're in this business, you have to keep going back and learning new things," Sandy Bieker said.

After years of running two salons and even moving to Topeka for additional training, the Biekers finally settled into their Styles Etc. salon in 1973. It was there that Blanca Ayre got her start.

"I feel like they gave me probably double the experience and knowledge than I would have gotten working for one individual person," said Ayre, who purchased Styles Etc. from the Biekers in 1997 and renamed it Styles by Ayre.

She said she considers her salon a piece of history because of the 10 years she spent under the Biekers' guidance.

"The salon today is a result of their contributions that they made many years ago," Ayre said.

Carolyn Pfeifer, now the owner of Classic Hair Care, 335 E. Eighth, worked with the Biekers for 25 years mostly at Styles Etc.

"It was more than about hair," Pfeifer said. "It was also about the people."

In 1989, Sandy Bieker started the Peaches and Cream Charm School for girls ages 9 to 14.

The charm school taught girls how to do their hair, nails and makeup, and Sandy Bieker even taught them a little bit about manners.

A cosmetic company also evolved at about the same time and remains to this day. SJB Cosmetics originally was targeted for teenagers but has expanded to include five different skin care lines, Sandy Bieker said.

"The older I get, the more wrinkle relaxing creams we get in the line," she said with a laugh.

Both Ayre and Pfeifer agree Charles and Sandy's 100 years -- split nearly 50-50 between them -- is unique these days.

"A hundred years is a lot of years to be doing hair together," Ayre said. "A lot of people don't stay in the industry very long anymore."

But if Charles and Sandy Bieker have something to say about, they'll keep celebrating these kind of milestones.

"A lot of old hairdressers -- most of them never retire," Sandy Bieker said. "You just have to wait until your customers die off, and we've got healthy ones."