Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Frank.
Amber, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My mother had beautiful natural hair. She didn’t believe in using relaxers to manage her hair or mine. Growing up I remember how she’d often braid her own hair down and wear this armpit length barreled curled wig similar to the style worn by 70’s icon Farah Faucet. I’d seen her braid her hair so many times and loved how her natural hair looked. I didn’t understand why she put so much effort into roller setting a wig when she had beautiful hair. One day I was watching her braid her hair and mustered up the courage and asked her why she wore the wig.
Without missing a beat in her braid stroke she looked away from the mirror and at me and told me because her hair was so fine it wouldn’t hold a curl, then returned to looking in the mirror steady braiding. I was amazed. Something so simple as seeing her braid and look away without missing a beat made me feel like she had a skill I wanted to have. I asked her if she’d teach me how to braid and she did. Right then she handed me a comb and she walked me through it, guiding me step by step. The braid was very loose but I picked up the technique instantly.
I started cornrow braiding my dolls, practicing my parting, and grip tension so the braids would tighten. Regular doll’s heads were small and created a challenge with learning so when the doll styling heads came out I asked my mom to buy a Christy ( Barbies black bestie) styling head and she did. Even though the doll’s hair was straight and nothing like how my natural hair or my moms looked I was able to get the technique down pat.
Once I got that doll head I never played with regular dolls. I had a collection of styling heads. I’d cut their hair, cornrow braid it, style it in straight backs, dutch braids, roller set them. I fell in love with styling hair and the most beautiful part of my development was my mom recognized my passion and talent and with what little money she had for extras, she always found a way to buy them when I asked. My mom transitioned in 2007. I am truly grateful for the time she took to nurture my interest at that time which quickly evolved into what would become my purpose and passion.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Many people ask the meaning of my business name or butcher the name all together. Since my business started because of the birth of my niece, it was a no brainier naming my business after she and her little brother; Alivia (I call her Ally) and Josiah (I call him JoJo). Alivia+Josiah= AliJo Props.
One of my favorite quotes is, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Life is full of obstacles and challenges we have to overcome. However, when we’re following our destiny and purpose whatever it takes to get you where you want to be doesn’t feel like a struggle. For me, becoming a natural stylist and being self-employed full time for the past seven and a half years was virtually effortless. Keep in mind effortless doesn’t mean it came without sacrifices. But every sacrifice I made came with ease because I was working towards creating the life I desired. And never felt like a struggle.
My journey to becoming a natural hair stylist began with me starting a blog titled Luv My Kynxx (pronounced Love My Kinks) in September 2010. In the blog, I wrote about my own experiences living and working with my natural hair texture and curl pattern. I also offered support to others who were experiencing some of the same anxiety about wearing their hair natural as I. As I learned, I shared. And thus, my lifelong passion for styling my own and other people’s natural hair blossomed into my desire to work for myself. Through the grace of God, people were being placed into my life that would help catapult my exposure in the natural hair industry. After working as a mobile stylist for almost a year, I obtained my braider’s license in August 2011. Obtaining my braiding license enabled me to work from home instead of working mobile and traveling all over the metroplex.
In less than a year I was able to quit my full-time job and work as a stylist, setting my own hours and moving to the beat of my own drum. I felt and still feel getting over the fear of not being able to meet all of my financial obligations was the most challenging part of my journey. Fear kept me on a job that I could depend on to provide me with the money to take care of my family. Even though I was taking clients 3-5 days a week after getting off work, my phone and e-mail stayed busy with appointment requests, and my blog was getting more comments and feedback, I was still too scared to quit.
As business began to grow my disdain for the job I had become stronger. The work environment’s morale was low and the energy in the office was growing increasingly negative by the week. One day I got into it with my department manager. She and I never really got along and she wanted to write me up over the unprofessional tone of one of my emails I’d sent to a store manager. Earlier in the day during my lunch break, I remember checking my emails and facebook messages and both were full of requests for appointments. I flashed back to those messages and told her in the midst of being written up ‘I quit’. I felt so liberated and afraid at the same time.
Again, through the grace of God within one month of working for myself, I was making double what I made on the job. The eight hours I’d committed to working for and sharing my energy with a million-dollar company was now being put into my own business. There is no better feeling than being in control of your time and when you can make money. Over the years it’s proven to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Alright – so let’s talk business. What else should we know about your work?
Amber Frank Natural Hair Stylist and Educator evolved from being a personal choice to learn my own hair, into my life’s passion and purpose. Early on into my career, I started to see how prevalent the disconnection to our natural hair really was and still is. I’ve met hundreds of women and held countless numbers of consultations. In my experience, I’ve come to learn that one of the biggest issues black women have in common is our inability to understand and accept what our natural hair is capable of esthetically achieving. We are constantly at odds with our hair and speak of it with disdain as if its taking care of it is a bothersome topic.
Unlike other races of women, we have been conditioned to hide our hair either by altering the texture, or covering it up for extended periods of time with wigs, braids and weaves without a break, with hair that looks nothing like our natural hair. And even when the desire to wear our own hair happens, accepting what we have as being beautiful is not always easy. We have to recondition our minds by first recognizing any negative thought patterns and take notice of the way we speak about our hair. We have to stop measuring our beauty to that of races we look nothing like. There is beauty in all races, its time we recognize and take pride in our reflections.
Even though I offer hair braiding as a service, I am a natural hair stylist first and foremost. My specialty is heat-free and extension free hairstyling and I offer ayurvedic hair care treatment options as well. Unlike most hairstylists, I don’t’ book using appointment booking apps. The reason being once someone books and pays for a service, I am obligated to then execute the style. I prefer a more personalized approach where educating each client about choices that are going to result in maintaining and/or improving the condition of the client’s hair. Another policy I have is I do not add hair to styles I do for children under 12. I feel adding hair to young impressionable children can inadvertently send a message to them that what they have isn’t enough to be considered pretty. Or, that in order to be pretty their hair has to be a certain length or texture when either couldn’t be further from the truth. Since Afro-textured hair varies in density I don’t practice cookie-cutter braiding techniques. By that I mean a potential client can’t just send me a photo of the style they want to be done and book the appointment without me approving the style first.
Once I realized the true uniquenesses we have with our hair, I knew my approach had to be personalized to suit the individual client’s needs and goals. With the major increase in numbers of black women wearing their hair in its natural state coupled with stylists unfamiliarity of working on textured hair, building clientele has been quite easy for me.
I style my own hair so I don’t know what the norms are at most full-service salons. Most of my insight comes from stories I hear from clients about how difficult it is to find stylists who are truly educated on how to not just style but care for Afro-textured hair. One of the things I often hear is that good most stylists who claim to specialize in natural hair styling opt for using heat as a means to make managing and styling it easier for them. I only use heat if the client requests it. Almost every service I offer can be executed without the use of heat. Touching, caring, styling, and improving the health of all Afro-hair textures is my passion. Handling kinky-curly, coily hair is my comfort zone. All of the clients who come to me are either transitioning to natural hair or already have natural hair.
My purpose and intentions for each client who comes to me are the same; to grow a personalized relationship to their hair care routines and educate them along the way. If for any reason they’re not able to come back to me, they are at least equipped with the knowledge of how to carry out a basic hair care regimen, a simple hairstyle, and the ability to choose wisely who they allow to do their hair.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My mom’s best friend converted her garage into a salon where she worked from home styling the client’s hair. I remember visiting her house on Saturdays staying all day while she and my mom hung out. My mom’s friend wore her hair in a roller set bouffant style that was dyed platinum blond towards the front and gradually transitioned to a deep auburn towards the back. It was thick and beautiful to me.
I had to be around age four because I hadn’t even begun grade school. I remember one of her clients wearing their hair in a huge blown-out fro and asking my mom on the way home how her friend made the client’s hair that way. She told me her friend was a cosmetologist and that they can do anything to people’s hair to make it look pretty. From that day on even before my mom taught me how to braid when someone would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up, my reply, even though I could barely pronounce it was, ‘a cosmetologist’.
Pricing:
- In-Depth Consultations $40/hr
- Styling Consultations complimentary /15 min
- Natural Hair Updo (no heat, no hair added) $75 & up
- Children’s Natural Hair Styles (ages 2-12) $55 & up
Contact Info:
- Address: 1601 E Lamar Blvd
Ste 118 room 12
Arlington Tx 76011 - Website: www.amberfrank.us
- Email: info@amberfrank.us
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afrankedu
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Amber-Frank-Natural-Hair-Stylist-Educator-193834197327689/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/afrankedu
Image Credit:
Jeremiah Gardner
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