Kathe’s Hair

Kathe Davridge is no shrinking violet.

She was one of the first female bike messengers in New York City in the 1970’s. She braved the skeptics and the haters to become one of the first lesbians to get married in the city on July 24, 2011.

“I am a fighter,” she declares.

Multiple times the 66-year-old hair stylist and colorist has been knocked down in her efforts to keep her single-practitioner salon — Kathe Hair, at 171 West 80th Street — alive. She’s had to bear not only the pandemic, but some other bad breaks (literally) as well.

Her reasons for fighting are simple: “I love what I do,” she says. “I love my people. I love being [in the store].”