On May 26th, the renowned, award-winning Atlanta hairstylist, affectionately known as Razor Chic of Atlanta (or Razor Chic), posted a jaw-dropping yet heart-wrenching video across social media, which featured a bold, young woman in her early 20’s who shared her hair loss horror story. In the video, the young lady elaborated on how she lost her hair due to years of consistently wearing sew-ins, quick weaves, braids and wigs without ever giving her hair a break in-between installations. As a stylist who is all too familiar with the hair loss stories as experienced by more than half of the new client’s coming into her salon, a fed-up Razor Chic took to Facebook and Instagram to address this issue head on. Since then, the video has gone viral reaching more than 5 million viewers across social media while also acquiring media attention from popular news sites including BET.com, Yahoo Beauty, and The Huffington Post to name a few.
According to an article from The Huffington Post, experts put the black haircare industry at $500 billion by 2017, with a large part of those revenues coming in from wig and hair extension consumption. The popular and alluring fashion of hair weaves and wigs widely adorned by all types of celebrities and TV personalities of today can most likely be attributed toward this growing boom. However, with the growing popularity of extended hair and rise of online DIY tutorials, this must-have accessory has its consequences– and the consequences are devastating.
“African American girls and women, in particular, have become addicted to hair extensions as a source of making them look good and feel good,” says Jasmine Collins aka Razor Chic of Atlanta. “Many of the women we encounter at my salon claim that their beauty influencers are largely weave-wearing women commonly seen on reality-TV shows, in beauty magazines and websites, music videos as well as YouTube. As a result, nearly half of our clients are distressed women who travel from across the globe, suffering from traction alopecia after years of wearing improperly installed weaves and lace front wigs coupled with neglect for the hair underneath those extensions. The situation is so bad that I believe it has reached epidemic proportions! Therefore, it has become my #1 mission to expose the ills of improper haircare practices, both on the consumer and professional levels. Additionally, I’m committed to offering solutions that can be implemented at the professional salon for hairstylists as well as at the home for consumers to begin the process of restoring healthy hair back to the crowns of our women.”
According to Razor Chic, the placement of sew-ins, tape and glue extensions and lace front wigs are only part of the reasons for self inflicted extreme hair loss amongst females wanting to thicken, lengthen, or change up their style. Other contributing factors include:
The above reasons are just a small subset of the reasons for hair loss. Nonetheless Razor Chic is making strides to properly educate the masses through her website–
www.razorchicofatlanta.com–– where visitors can sign-up to witness inspirational hair loss makeovers and receive haircare tutorials when wearing wigs, weaves and braids. Also on the website, hairstylists can register for
Razor Chic Rehab: A 6-Week Advanced Training Course on Styling and Treating Alopecia Clients for Hair & Beauty Restoration. The class starts on
July 25th. Early-bird registration discounts will be available June 13 – 30th. On June 6th, Razor Chic will kick-off her live education tour at the
Premiere Orlando Hair Show, where professional stylists can witness and learn her transformative hairstyling techniques. To register for this class, visit
razorchicofatlanta.com.
“My goal is to educate and show women that healthy hair is possible. When I’m behind the chair and faced with a hair tragedy, like the young women seen on my social media page, I aim to: 1) restore hope; 2) rehabilitate the addiction; and 3) provide her with the hair transformation that empowers and frees her from her hair loss horror story,” says Razor Chic.
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