Today we’d like to introduce you to Simone Jordan of Knotty Xpressions.
Simone, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As a child, I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. I watched my father become successful in his own business and watched my mother create her own success as an artist. Bearing witness to that, it was only a matter of time before I created a path for myself as an entrepreneur.
I always knew how to braid and do simple styles; as I learned from watching my mom braid my brother’s hair and style my hair growing up. So, when I decided to begin my loc journey in 2013, I knew, without a doubt, that I would be maintaining them on my own. I began researching information about locs and their history and immediately fell in love. I would spend countless hours, day and night, reading and learning more about them.
As I dove more into my journey, I began to gain an intense fascination with locs. For me, it was more than just liking the way that they looked. I fell in love with what they represented as well. They seemed to tell a story and the more I turned the pages, the more I connected. What I didn’t see, however, was a true embrace. Yes, people had locs, but there was still this stigma that locs were unprofessional, dirty, unkempt, etc. I couldn’t understand how something so natural to us could be viewed so negatively. So, I sought out to change that stigma. I wanted others to see the beauty that I saw and experience the love that I felt when I viewed locs; birthing Knotty Xpressions.
My first clients were just family members and friends that I knew. I would shampoo their hair in the kitchen sink and they would sit in my living room for their loc maintenance or braids. At the time, I also worked in retail. So as word got around, I started getting more and more requests from people at work for me to do their hair. Then their friends/family would reach out and before I knew it, I developed a full clientele. With the need to get out of my living room and into a physical location, my aunt Kim, of Eyebrow Energy, reached out to offer me a room in her eyebrow threading studio in Houston. I worked there for about a year until she relocated to a new studio with less accommodation. In turn, this forced me to work from home again. A good friend of mine Dashae, of A Taste of Heaven by Dashae, connected with me and suggested that I work in K&B salon, where her mother worked. I was honored and immediately jumped at the idea. After working in the salon for a couple of years, I finally decided that I wanted a space that would reflect the brand I had built in its entirety. So in 2018, I branched out and opened my own salon studio in Webster, TX.
Has it been a smooth road?
I’m not sure that I can say that the road has been extremely difficult, but of course, when you’re striving for success and to achieve your dreams, you’re bound to run into a few hiccups along the way. I think the most difficult time I’ve had was trying to balance two careers at once before I finally committed to my dream full-time. I remember working retail and working in the salon and it seemed like the days were endless. They would seem to run together. I would work retail from 4am-1pm and then work at the salon from 2pm to, sometimes, 10pm or 11pm; to have to turn around and do it all over again the next day. Yeah, that was tiring but so worth it.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Knotty Xpressions story. Tell us more about the business.
Knotty Xpressions is a brand that embraces who you are as an individual. We emphasize your thumbprint in the world and embrace your uniqueness. Our mission is to change the way that we are viewed by society; particularly when it comes to our hair. Our deepest desire is to help aid in building your confidence with being who you are naturally. We specialize primarily in locs and protective styling. We’re more than just a hair salon, we’re a platform for the artist in you. We encourage creativity and pride ourselves on being the one place where you are welcome to be your creative self, without judgment or restriction.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The beauty industry is ever-changing and I believe that’s one of the best parts! I think in the next few years, we’ll continue to see a shift in what beauty truly is. We’ve already seen an increase in more women becoming natural and having locs, especially in the corporate world. I believe that as we develop more platforms for the creative side of being natural and learn how to truly love ourselves as we were made, we’ll begin to break down the negative stigmas associated with our natural hair and locs. Hopefully, we can then eliminate them fully. It starts with us, and when we become confident in embracing who we are naturally, we open the door for society to reciprocate that same embrace.
Contact Info:
- Address: 18301 Egret Bay Blvd B Suite #17
Webster, Texas 77058 - Website: www.knotty-xpressions.com
- Phone: (832) 356-0040
- Email: simone@knotty-xpressions.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/knottyxpressions
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/knottyxpressions
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/knotty-xpressions-webster
Image Credit:
Point And Click Photography
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