#Roommates, from a very young age woman of color recognize that their hair requires a special bit of attention, care, time and patience—which can be very frustrating as we grow older and realize that many don’t see our hair as a priority as equally beautiful as others. Luckily, Natanya Montgomery is on a mission to change that with her new salon, Naza Beauty.
Natanya is the CEO of Naza Beauty a new San Francisco start-up salon that specifically caters to women of color. The salon recently opened in the city’s Mission District and promises to focus on WOC with “coily, kinky, afro-textured hair”—according to a recent interview with @BusinessInsider. Naza Beauty received an impressive $1 million in funding from Redditt co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s VC firm, Initialized Capital. Alexis, is also married to a WOC, tennis legend Serena Williams.
Naza Beauty offers a wide variety of protective hairstyles for WOC done by expertly trained stylists in under four hours, a process that Montgomery says she held workshops for to ensure that the time was achievable prior to opening. Styles such as blowouts, sew-ins, twists and braids can be executed within the time-frame so that customers don’t spend hours in the salon—which can be a common theme for many WOC. The company’s goal is to provide hair services to women who have been historically shut out of the mainstream hair care industry.
Speaking about her salon and the negative attitudes that WOC have often faced about their hair, Montgomery had this to say:
“[Naza Beauty] is designed to let women of color know that they are represented and that there’s a space where they could go without shame of what their hair looks like and the way that it grows out of their head.”
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She continued, adding:
“A lot of what’s difficult about the process of getting your hair done as a black woman in general anywhere is sort of anxiety of the unknown.”
Naza Beauty is just the beginning for Natanya Montgomery and we can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. She’s another entry into the #BlackExcellence and #BlackGirlMagic arena!
#Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?
