A cut above: ‘Big Mama' brings small town barber shop to South Walton

Pam Dodson is a master barber and has been cutting hair for over 30 years.

Dodson opened South Walton’s Finest Barber Shop four months ago with the help and support of her family.

“They helped put this all together,” she said.

Dodson, a mother of four,  is also known to family and friends as “Big Mama.”

“They don’t call me that because of my size,” she said. “It’s because of my attitude.”

Dodson works with her two oldest daughters Nina and Natalie.

Walking into the barber shop you are immediately greeted by a warm smile and a welcoming atmosphere.

The walls serve as a history lesson into Dodson’s life.

“We have aviation pictures from my great uncle that are really popular with the older gentlemen who come here,” Dodson said. “They are from the WWII era.”

The shop is also adorned with stuffed ducks, an alligator and a giant Blue Marlin Dodson’s brother Shawn caught.

Born in Crestview, Dodson said her “family has a lot of history in the area.”

“Growing up, my father was the sheriff in Okaloosa County,” Dodson said.

And that sense of history plays in to Dodson’s insistence that this is no salon.

“We are a barber shop,” Dodson said. “We do traditional, old fashioned barber haircuts.”

With most men looking for “a traditional barber,”

Dodson is quick to point out that she graduated from barber’s school with a master’s degree.

“Barbering is all about being able to cut someone’s hair and them being able to go home and do something with it after they leave,” Dodson said.

While she has not done much advertising yet, “Word of mouth has really helped us do what we are doing here,” she said.

“I do have about 50 percent of my old customers that have followed me over here.”

Dodson spent 17 years working for Tim Lupori at Barbery Coast in Destin.

“It was probably the hardest thing I had to do when I left Barbery Coast,” Dodson said.

But it was time for Dodson and her family to start something new.

“With the economy the way it is,” Dodson said. “I decided to go ahead and open up a barber shop so we could all have job security.”

South Walton’s Finest Barber Shop is open Monday-Friday 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. and welcome’s walk-ins.

They are located on the corner of Highway 98 and Don Bishop Road in Santa Rosa Beach.

For more information you can contact the shop at (850) 267-0317.

“Business has been great,” Dodson’s daughter Natalie said. “Mondays are usually really busy, because most barbers are not open.”