WEST FARGO — Even as a little girl, Carrie Sweeney’s destiny seemed clear.
She recalls sitting in church behind elderly men and examining their haircuts. She noticed when the nape of the neck was clipped nice and neat and also when it was shaggy and needed a trim.
She also remembers visiting her grandmother in the nursing home and seeing all the women wheeled out into the hallway with curlers in their hair. In a facility with so many healthcare needs to meet, hair appointments simply weren’t a priority.
So after Sweeney graduated from cosmetology school, it’s no surprise that she gravitated toward older clients.
“I just was always attracted to the older generation,” says Sweeney, who also holds a gerontology degree.
Or that she would eventually launch a business called Hair with Care out of the basement of her Moorhead home.
Today, Sweeney has expanded Hair with Care to employ a team of three stylists and one office manager. They provide salon services to 13 retirement homes and 55-and-older communities throughout the area.
Her stylists’ specialize in hair, while she does pedicures. “My services are something that seniors with problem feet really need. Not many people do what I do,” says Sweeney, who continuously polishes her craft by attending seminars like the Meticulous Manicurists’ Star Nail Technician program.
Carrie Sweeney, the owner of Hair with Care, a business that provides beauty services to local retirement homes, gives Carole Peterson a pedicure on Friday, April 24, 2026, at the New Perspective Senior Living salon in West Fargo, where Peterson is a resident.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
“It just makes people feel better,” she says, while tending to client Carole Peterson’s toes in the salon at
New Perspective Senior Living in West Fargo.
“She’s a real entrepreneur,” Peterson says, with a nod of approval. A retired speech pathologist with an air of elegance, Peterson gets one of Sweeney’s meticulous pedicures every five weeks at the New Perspectives salon.
Peterson began getting professional pedicures when her doctors recommended she limit bending after a series of back surgeries.
Now in her late 80s, the New Perspective resident says she no longer bothers with polished toes as part of the pedicure. “The main thing now is health. It’s not about the glitz,” she says. “And I just think it’s important to get out of your apartment and see other people and also to care for your body. It’s just as important as eating a salad every day.”
‘People feel loved, valued and cared for’
It’s easy to see why Sweeney’s clients like her. She possesses a generous smile, an exuberant giggle and the down-to-earth persona of someone who grew up knowing almost everyone in her town.
That was easy in tiny Georgetown, Minn., where she says her truck-driving dad instilled in her a sense of entrepreneurship.
After high school, she tried college — but wasn’t ready for it yet. So she joined the workforce. “I was waitressing and I’m like, ‘Well, I can’t waitress my whole life, right?’ So then I went to beauty school because it was only a year, so I thought I could do it and get it over with,” she says.
Sweeney worked in a regular salon for a year before landing a job
at the former Eventide at Fairmont.
“By then, I was already with Eventide and I knew the importance of good hairdressers and nice salons in senior care communities, because they weren’t really made a focus of anything — even back then (in the early 2000s).”
So she returned to college, where she double-majored in gerontology and social work. While there, she was able to tailor her internship around haircare and senior communities. She interviewed everyone from facility staff to residents on why they felt cosmetology services were important in senior centers.
Carrie Sweeney, the owner of Hair with Care, gives Carole Peterson a pedicure at the New Perspective Senior Living salon in West Fargo, where Peterson is a resident. Peterson says she started getting professional pedicures after back surgeries made it difficult for her to do foot care.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Their answer: “It just makes people feel better,” she says. “It makes them feel clean.”
That “feeling better” can have positive effects on all aspects of someone’s life.
Studies published in Geriatric Nursing found that “aesthetic experiences were significantly associated with health-related quality of life in older adults.” The same article recommended that long-term care facilities provide support services like hair salons to “promote well-being among nursing home residents.”
The ability to have one’s hair and nails done as they like them also gives seniors a sense of control and choice — a privilege which grows more limited as they age and have to relegate more decision-making to caregivers and family members.
For many residents who can no longer manage grooming independently, these services also promote good hygiene and comfort.
In fact, Sweeney says that is one of the most satisfying aspects of her work: “I think sometimes my favorite is the end result, especially when their feet were so bad and they can walk on them again,” she says.
Carrie Sweeney, the owner of Hair with Care, specializes in pedicures for the elderly. She says footcare is especially important as we grow older.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Christina Anton, an experienced hair stylist who also now works for Sweeney, has seen first-hand how salon services help older adults.
“Hair with Care is exactly that,” she says. “It’s bringing compassion and love into a space where the elderly can feel cared for on a 1:1 level of beauty.”
She also sees Sweeney as someone uniquely suited to work with older adults. “Carrie’s energy brings another level of home to the residence and the industry,” she says. “Oftentimes, the elderly don’t get a lot of physical touch. She’s created an environment where people feel loved, valued and cared for.”
The challenge of the ‘men-icure’
Sweeney attributes her growth over the years to “good timing” and a positive partnership with Eventide in Fargo.
“Eventide was growing at the time and I was talking to them about salons and how important they were, and Eventide just kind of took me with them,” she says.
Hair with Care is currently located at
Fargo, New Perspective, Cooperative Living Center and a handful of senior apartment complexes.
She also has one rural location: Halstad (Minn.) Living Center/Care Center. She picked up that one a couple of years ago after her cousin moved there. Sweeney recalls contacting the facility before her visit to see if it was OK to cut his hair.
“And they said, ‘Well, we have about 12 residents that need haircuts,’” she recalls.
Now she also visits the Halstad facility every six weeks to provide salon services to her cousin —and any other resident there who needs them.
Carrie Sweeney, the owner of Hair with Care, a business that provides beauty services to local retirement homes, schedules another pedicure on Friday, April 24, 2026, at New Perspective Senior Living salon for Carole Peterson, who is a resident.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Many of Sweeney’s regulars, like Peterson, love the chance for a relaxing warm foot soak, a good visit and some self-care. But some of her clients need gentle persuasion, especially if they are embarrassed about the condition of their feet.
She tells of one woman who refused to come in because she had a toenail fungus. “A lot of pedicurists will say, ‘I can’t touch you with fungus,’” she says. “I’m like, ‘Oh my, I would have no clients if I turned away people with fungus.’”
Sweeney eventually was able to assure the woman that she routinely deals with such foot issues and also cleans and sterilizes constantly. “People are just so embarrassed of their feet. And I’m like, ‘I can guarantee you I’ve seen worse than you have.’”
Other residents may resist visiting the salon because of memory issues or simply because they aren’t feeling social.
“I’ve had a lady that has the hardest time coming down, and I just go up and get her and say, ‘Today’s the day. Let’s go,’” Sweeney says. “And then she’s kind of not so happy to be here, but by the time she’s done, she’s very happy and she always says, ‘Carrie, thanks for making me come.’”
It also can be hard to convince men to get pedicures. Many older men incorrectly assume it’s a frivolous female luxury.
“They hear ‘pedicure’ and they think toenail polish,” she says.
The problem is that many of those men need pedicures, as everything from limited mobility to poor eyesight makes proper footcare more difficult as we age.
But once she persuades them to come to the salon, they quickly discover the appeal of a professional pedicure.
“One guy told me the other day, ‘You know, I wouldn’t come to you anymore if you didn’t do such a damn good job,’” Sweeney says, smiling.
It’s all part of the daily rhythm at Hair with Care, where Sweeney and staff take care of an estimated 50 people per week.
“Well, I think when people get out of beauty school, they want to go into a fancy salon and they want to make a whole bunch of money. They don’t see themselves working with senior citizens,” Sweeney says.
But Sweeney has found herself walking the career path she was destined to travel.
“I’ve never regretted it,” she says. “No, I’m very happy. I’m very happy with what direction my life has taken.”
As a fully licensed salon, Hair with Care can take outside clients. Call 701-361-2916.