Christine Karow, left, with Lene Lippman. PHOTO PROVIDED

Salon owner Christine Karow can usually be found with a client in her shop. She said she most vividly sees herself in the role of salon owner, although there’s a great deal more to her than simply running Christine Karow Hair Designs and Massage. She also said, given a choice, she would always choose to be behind the scenes rather than in the spotlight.

Coming to Pine Island in 2013 was something that happened due to someone else, she said.

“Lene Lippman was retiring. She worked for many years in her shop, Salon L.A. and she was retiring. That’s why I moved here. I pretty much stepped into her shop,” Karow said.

What motivated her to be where she is today was and still is her deep desire to connect with her clients through relationships with them, she said.

“I wanted to actually do a full haircut and have relationships with people behind the chair,” Karow said.

When it comes to knowing Pine Island was a unique place, unlike any other area, Karow said she knew right away.

“I sat and watched Lene work and met people for three weeks before I actually started working,” Karow said.

She said she knew Pine Island was somewhere she wanted to be as she spent time here and met the people coming into Lene’s shop. When it comes to a valid display of her identity as an islander, she said it’s being there for people as they go through life, whether it’s a hard day, like one that came with a cancer diagnosis or losing a loved one, or exhilarating life-changes like weddings and grandbabies.

“We’re there, we’re a listening ear, we can help people feel better and look better,” Karow said, not just of herself but all of the staff in her shop, adding that it’s a great place to relieve stress.

Describing the island to someone who is unfamiliar with it, she said tell them that it’s a very quaint place where you get to know a lot of people.

“I would say, you don’t know everybody, because it is bigger than you think. With all the things the community does and all the activities-you just want to be a part of it. I don’t like all the hustle and bustle. I like the relaxation on Pine Island,” Karow said.

Karow said if she had a wish for the Island, she would like it to stay the way it is.

“I would like it to not build up so much. I know a lot of people who are in the Calusa Land Trust and I’m a country girl myself. I just wish it would stay rural and not get too built up,” Karow said.

To reach PAULETTE LeBLANC / pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com, please email