How Home Health Hair Helps Older Adults Feel Their Best

The idea for Home Health Hair came to Carolyn Marsh, as she says, like a light bulb went off.

Marsh was just 17 years old and helping out as a home health aide when a client said she wished that someone would come to her house to do her hair. The comment sparked inspiration for Marsh, who decided to go to cosmetology school so she could provide those services to homecare clients. Eventually, she founded Home Health Hair, an independent business where Marsh takes all the services of a salon directly to home health and hospice patients.

Her services are personally tailored to fit each individual client’s needs, such as a shampoo and haircut or applying color. Marsh also offers manicures and pedicures for clients so they can feel good about their nails.

Marsh’s initial plan was to get a nursing degree she could combine the cosmetology and medical sides of her mission, but pregnancy put nursing school on the back burner. Marsh threw herself into cosmetology and esthetician school, then worked in hair salons around Atlanta while pursuing Home Health Hair part-time.

After moving to Kentucky, “the stars aligned,” and she was able to go back to nursing school. She graduated with her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Xavier University in 2024.

Now Marsh runs Home Health Hair full-time in northern Kentucky and the greater Cincinnati, Ohio, area. She said she has a good balance of men and women clients, ranging from people who are aging somewhat independently to those receiving hospice care.

“Monday through Friday, I’m playing with hair and going to people’s homes and hospital, hospice, home health, rehabilitation, skilled nursing—wherever people are calling home at the moment, that’s my customers,” she said. “And then on the weekend, I work at the local hospital.”

Marsh said Home Health Hair is the passion that gets her through the day. She loves being able to connect with her clients and lend an ear so they feel seen and heard.

“I wake up at 5 a.m. every morning, and this is my goal, my passion, my heart, my soul,” she said. “It is my driving force. I’m just meant to do this and meant to grow this. I’m praying I can hire some people, because I’m getting busier.”

Through her work, Marsh said, she has become an advocate for aging in place, saying that people deserve the right to feel their best in their own homes. Her ultimate purpose is to help patients become more independent and feel good about themselves.

“I think no matter what the medical challenge is, no matter what the mobility challenge is, someone should always look and feel their best, and just because they’re going through those challenges doesn’t mean that they have to look the way they feel,” Marsh said. “So, we can switch that around, and when we can look good, we feel good.”