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Delia Martins, whose vision has been severely diminished as a result of detached retinas in both of her eyes, continues to cut and style hair at her salon in Georgetown Market Place. She is shown here styling the hair of her regular client Isabelle Farrimond. Martins cuts hair by feel now, using her fingers to precisely measure lengths. She also colours and perms hair as well. Visually impaired hairstylist a cut above LISA TALLYN Staff Writer Delia Martins often used to joke that she could cut hair in her sleep, not knowing that one day she would be putting that remark to the test. While she is not sleeping on the job, the 41-year-old Georgetown hairstylist's vision is so diminished after both of her retinas detached that all she can see is light and shadows. But that has not stopped her from continuing with the hairstyling career she has loved for the past 26 years. "I do it by feel, by wisdom," says Martins, the owner of Pro Hair Design in Georgetown Market Place, recently as she styled the hair of her regular client Isabelle Farrimond. "It's all about thinking more, using your left brain more." She says with new clients she has to get up a little more close and personal than she did when she had her sight. "I have to feel your nose, feel your face, see if you have high cheekbones. I've got to touch you and feel you." Her cuts are very precise, and she relies solely on measurements she does with her hands. She doesn't do just cuts and styling, she also does full colour and highlights. Martins says she knows where all the different colours are located on the shelf in the salon, but relies on her "eyes" (her assistants) to ensure she has made the selection she wanted to, then mixes her own colours. She also does perms, roller sets and cuts men's hair. "I custom create. They (my clients) trust me." She says she also teaches hairstyling in her salon. See NEARLY-