First All-Inclusive Hair Salon Opens On University of Oklahoma’s Campus

Operators at the Beauty and Designs Studio Lounge said their salon is a safe space for anyone who wants to pay them a visit.

They said their goal is to cater to clients of all backgrounds.  

Kyle Daniels is a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma. Daniels said he spent most of his freshman year driving back home to Houston to get his hair done.

“I was still putting twists, but my mom would do it,” Daniels said. “She doesn’t really like doing it because it takes a long time. And she said, ‘You need to find someone who can do it for you’ because, usually, I would just drive back home to Houston to get my hair done.”

Daniels said he tried asking around and realized there weren’t many options.

“I didn’t really know where to look around here. Like, I’d ask around, but no one really had a straight answer,” Daniels said.

“It's not many that can actually cater to the ethnic hair,” Natasha Coleman said.

Tracy and Natasha Coleman own the salon.

“We don't show any kind of racism or whatever,” Tracy Coleman said. “We welcome everybody in the skin that they're in. We don't try to change you or nothing. Whatever you are, we love it and we enjoy it.” 

The owners said what they love the most is being on the OU campus. Daniels said the salon is just a short walk from his campus apartment, which is convenient for students.

“It's the perfect spot because a lot of Black people, like me, we have long hair now and we need to get it done up and all that, so I’m glad this place exists,” Daniels said. “So we don't have to search for other places off campus.”