Family businesses are a dime a dozen. But what about a family who owns different businesses in town, all of which are the same type of business.

Members of one Joplin family started a barbershop in town, and now different members of the family own three different barbershops in Joplin.

Kay Cargile, owner of The Lion’s Den barbershop at 3816 E. Seventh St., and three of her five brothers all attended barber school and worked together at Heath Brothers barber shop at North Range Line Road and Zora Street.

Bill Heath, the oldest of the four barbers, attended a barber school in Colorado.

When he returned to Joplin, he opened a barbershop and soon convinced his brother, Bud, to go to barber school to help with the business.

Bud went to Molar School of Barbering in Kansas City and Cargile also attended school there. Both went to work for Bill after attending the school.

When Jim Heath, the youngest brother, returned from Vietnam, Bill and Bud sent him to the Molar school.

“At one time we [Bill, Bud, Jim, and Cargile] did all work together,” Cargile said.

She worked at the shop for four years before a barbershop was built for her in Duenweg.

After working at that shop for a while, Cargile and her oldest daughter decided to open a shop in Joplin.

“My daughter and I bought a little two-bedroom house and turned it into a shop,” Cargile said.

That little house was the start of what is today The Lion’s Den. Now all four of Cargile’s daughters are part owners of the shop.

Cargile also said Jim worked for four years at Heath Brothers before deciding to go into construction. He then decided to go back into barbering.

“Bill and Bud went back together [at Heath Sisters],” Cargile said. “And Jim has his little shop on North Main [Heath II]. We’re all about half retired now.”

Bill’s wife, Jane, was a cosmetologist, but is now retired. Bud’s wife, Lola, is a cosmetologist at his shop, and Jim’s wife, Debbie, works at Heath II as a cosmetologist.

Bud also sent his three daughters to barber school, but one of them is now a nurse, and the other two are paying for nursing school by barbering hair at their father’s shops.

“The whole family just about does hair,” Cargile said.

She likes working with her daughters.

“I love it,” she said. “I have enjoyed it.”

Dana Davis, one of Cargile’s daughters, said “[Working with family] is kind of nice, really. We get to see each other about every day.”

Deborah Graves, another of Cargile’s daughters, said, “When it’s family, there’s a lot less controversy.”

They both agreed working with family is “just like any business relationship.”

“We might disagree on certain things,” Davis said. “But we work it out.”

All the daughters decided to cut hair for different reasons.

“I worked in the grocery store business, and it was leading nowhere,” Davis said. “I decided to go ahead and cut hair.”

“I have a college degree, but once I started [cutting hair], I loved it,” Graves said. “It’s hard to walk away from once you start.”

“Our older sister [Donna Kent] went to college first and decided to cut hair instead,” she said.

The fourth daughter, Delisa Walker, “knew she wanted to cut hair:

“Something different goes on every day,” Davis said.

“[Barbering is] a lot of hard work,” Graves said. “But in the end, it pays off.”