Body builder is expert in hair care

Ken McCord knows what it takes to look healthy and fit — inside and out. The longtime body builder and second-place winner in the Mr. America contest in the late 1960s is also a professional barber, designer and clipper artist, specializing in corrective hair cuts and color.

McCord owns and operates McCord’s Professional Hair Care located at Amado Territory Ranch, his new “ultimate” service and design hair studio.

McCord and his wife, Bobbie, an Aflac Insurance professional, moved to the Green Valley area less than a year ago. Shortly after arriving, Ken began looking for commercial space to open a hair salon and decided on a studio at Amado Territory Ranch because he says, “of the wonderful views and exclusive feel” of the place.

Ken has been in the hair business for more than 40 years now, getting his license to cut hair in California in 1964.

After graduating from high school and a stint in the Air Force, Ken wanted to keep in shape and started visiting health clubs and body building in his early 20s, training three to four hours every day.

Ken was successful both in his California-based hair business and his body building business. He took second place in Mr. Bay Area contest, the first competition he ever entered.

A frequent body-builder in his youth at Muscle Beach in Venice, Calif., and in the original Gold’s Gym started in California by Joe Gold, Ken says he learned the importance of “discipline” at an early age.

In one year, he also held the titles of Mr. Northern California, Mr. California and Mr. Western America, getting professional bodybuilding help from his trainer and boss, Ernie Phillips, who was also a barber, professional body-builder and was the third-place finisher in the 1966 Mr. America contest.

Ken went on to place fourth in the Amateur Athletic Union-sponsored Junior Mr. America contest in 1966 and second place for most muscular in the Junior Mr. America contest. He took fourth place in AAU’s Mr. USA in 1966, as well as second place for “most muscular” in that same event.

A slew of body building and health magazines featured Ken in articles and many highlighted him on their covers, such as Iron Man magazine, Strength & Health magazine, and Mr. America.

In a newspaper interview when he was age 23 and training for Mr. America, a contest sponsored by the International Federation of Bodybuilders, Ken was asked what the competition’s judging was based on.

“Hair, skin tone, symmetry, definition, muscular size and shape and overall balance,” he told the reporter. “Body building develops your mind as well as your body. Training is the key to life.”

So important is training, Ken says, he and his wife work out and follow a healthy diet even today.

Besides his passion for fitness, Ken, who looks much younger than his years, puts as much importance on healthy hair as he does a healthy body.

Ken has both his cosmetology and barber licenses in California as well as Arizona.

McCord’s Professional Hair Care is by appointment only and consultations are available.

“Color is my area of expertise,” he says. “I know what makes a person’s features just come out and what’s best for their age and complexion.”

Ken says the most important aspect of his business is getting the client’s hair “back in good shape.”

A step into McCord’s salon is very different from other hair care establishments. The smell of chemicals is noticeably non-existent.

“Too many people get their hair over-processed with harsh chemicals and it literally destroys it,” he says. “I use the best natural-based products to keep the hair healthy as well as looking good.”

He uses Framsei hair products, an Italian line of hair care specialty items and a company that prides itself in gentle treatments.

Ken says it usually takes more than one appointment to get problem hair right.

“I really want to work with each client to make sure I know what they want and work to achieve the look that’s good for them,” he says.

Ken and Bobbie decorated their Amado hair studio to reflect the colors of the desert surroundings, enhancing their business with the best barber and hair styling equipment, including a collectible barber chair Ken had professionally reupholstered to suit the shop’s decor.

McCord’s Professional Hair Care is housed in Studio F near Beads of a Feather and Goldworks Az. at the Amado Territory Ranch, 3001 E. Frontage Road, Amado, Exit 48. The telephone number is 979-5119.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740