She couldn't find many places that styled Black hair. So she created her own.
CBC
A London woman who learned how to fashion her own braids using YouTube celebrated the grand opening of her salon which caters to Black hairstyles such as twists, faux locs, box braids and many more.
Self-taught braider Kalee Mepba officially launched Afrosis Ldn 425 First Street last week, after operating out of her basement for years.
"It's really a dream come true," said Mepba. "[It] was very heartwarming for me to see friends, family and even clients validate what I've been working on all these years."
Back when Mepba immigrated to Canada from Nigeria in 2017, she didn't see a lot of options to get her hair done in the styles she loved.
That's what inspired Mepba to learn how to braid through YouTube tutorials.
Mepba practiced on her friends and worked part-time as a braider from her basement until she quit her job in last November to braid hair full-time.
Lydia Owusu, a Black hair stylist in St. Thomas, was one of the few Black students in her hair styling program at Emery Collegiate Institute in the Toronto area over a decade ago.
But she was disappointed by the curriculum.
"It doesn't focus on my hair type," Owusu said. "It doesn't focus on braiding.
So on a visit to Ghana in 2008, Owusu hired a local stylist to teach her how to braid, plait, cornrow and do other styles for Black hair.
Five yeas later, she launched her own hair salon. Since then, her talent has become so popular that Black students across London have been asking Owusu to train them.
"I have a lot of students who have contacted me from London, also from Fanshawe Hairstyling School and they're trying to see if I can help them learn," Owusu said.
The Beauty Academy London School of Hairstyling does not have a curriculum that teaches students how to style Black hair, said director Robbie Fraser.
"But we do have clients from various diversities," Fraser said. "If they come in, sometimes we'll end up teaching the student right on the client because we get very few Black clients as well."
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