We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nicole King. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nicole below.

Nicole, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Our world has been heavily impacted by European standards of beauty. Black women in particular have been at war with themselves and others on what it means to truly embrace their textured hair. My natural hair began in 2004 after giving birth to my miracle baby and thinking, ” I do not want her to look up at me and not see tight curl representation.” I decided at that moment I would no longer use chemicals to straighten my hair, I begin to change the way I thought, spoke of and cared for the curls that were on my head. I decided to embrace my coils just as they were.

The mission of Tre’ss Bien is simple, I strongly desire to empower and affirm the dignity of black women with tight curls by educating and equipping them to care for their own textured hair.

Tre’ss Bien which means ‘Good Hair’ is a reminder to my clients the powerful words of Marcus Garvey that says, “God made no mistake when he created you black with kinky hair”.

Nicole, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Nicole King, Founder, Licensed Cosmetologist, and educator of Tre’ss Bien Salon, Montgomery, Al FIRST and ONLY tight curl studio. After examining my family’s health history, I became convinced many of the chemicals I was exposed to as a little girl growing up in the salon industry, were the cause of why I started Perimeopause at the age of 16. As a result, this lead to infertility issues later on in life. I saw the need to become a stylist who not only focused on offering Cosmetology services, but to do so in a way that was healthy for my clients physically and mentally.

My salon services are specifically for clients who wear their hair in its natural curly state 95% of the time. The products I choose to use are not only clean for the environment but for the health of black women. Black women are the most under protected people in the beauty industry. I have always believed we deserved to be serviced by licensed professionals who care not only about how we look but about the impact of what’s being used to service us.

The education component of what I do solves the problem of preventing women from receiving their hair care advise from google or Youtube. I educate them on the HOW and the WHY of their hair specifically. I believe as a stylist that your hair care should be based on scientific facts and not opinions, or tradition.

In all, I do what I do because black women deserve BETTER.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source of new clients for me has been word of mouth and the power of story telling. I do not use my social media to tell my story, I use social media to share the stories of the clients I service. I believe it’s more powerful for others to share how their problems are solved verses me trying to communicate that for them.

I live by the motto people over profit and I believe that starts with honoring those you service because they are the REAL heroes of your business.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I took my first job as a Cosmetologist, I offered a large number of services for natural hair care. I was spread thin and I wasn’t happy. I knew I wanted to work with textured hair but I learned quickly that I didn’t want to do EVERY thing pertaining to styling coily hair, I took the time to think about what I wanted to offer and why. I spent time and money in continuing education classes so that I could niche down to what I really wanted to do. It was a little scary at first deciding to cut my service menu in half. I knew that meant I would loose clients. What I gained was more creativity, freedom. I was no longer operating on empty because I was trying to do it all.

I became a master of my craft and not a jack of all trades.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tressbiensalon.com
• Instagram: tress_bien
• Facebook: N/A
• Linkedin: N/A
• Twitter: N/A
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAwHcPGv8awkAHIkJIEUqgA
• Yelp: N/A

Image Credits
Photographer :Jazmyne Isaac