Charlotte Mensah has established a reputation for being one of the world’s leading experts on afro hair and mixed heritage afro hair. To learn about her incredible story simply continue reading.
The inspiring story of Charlotte Mensah:
She is proud of her Ghanian and British roots:
Mensah is proud to be both British and Ghanian as while she was born in Britain, her parents have Ghanian roots. From a young age, Mensah was fascinated with afro hair and mixed afro hair and dreamed of someday opening up her own hair salon. One particular moment which inspired Mensah to enter the world of hairdressing is when she started stylish her younger sister’s hair at the age of 16.
Charlotte Mensah age:
Mensah is tight-lipped about her age but we do know that she started styling hair in the 80s and has been in the business for several decades.
Interview with award winning Charlotte Mensah:
In an interview Mensah described how hairdressing is a spiritual experience for her as when someone allows her to touch the crown of their heads, they are putting their faith in her and are trusting her to help them look beautiful. Especially as it takes patience to style afro hair which can take hours to style.
Mensah also opened up about how she was living at a shelter at the age of 17 and begun working at Splinters an afro hair salon where she instantly felt at home due to the joyful music, lively conversations, and happy atmosphere. She claims that arriving at her apprentice at Splinters felt like coming home and finding her community.
She opened her own hair salon in London:
Mensah’s hair salon Hair Lounge is located on Portobello Road in London. Despite having an international career and flying throughout Europe on a regular basis, Mensah is still passionate about Hair Lounge and serves as the creative director. You may be interested to read that she set up Hair Lounge in 1999 with award money which she had won from hairdressing competitions.
Her products and salon use ethically sourced African ingredients:
Mensah’s own line of hair care products as well as her hair salon, only use ethically sourced ingredients from Africa. Which sets her products and salon apart from her competition.
She was the very first black woman to be inducted into the coveted British Hairdressing Hall of Fame:
Mensah became the first woman to be inducted into the British Hairdressing Hall of Fame in November 2018. After her induction, Mensah was vocal about her hope that more black British women would follow in her footsteps and would be inducted into the British Hairdressing Hall of Fame in the near future.
She often works as a consultant for international brands:
Some of the international hair brands which she has worked for including GHD and L’oreal. Both of which are household names around the world.
She has worked with famous black women:
Some of the famous black women who Mensah has worked with over the decades include Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, Eve, Lorraine Pascal, and Zadie Smith.
So hopefully you were inspired by the phenomenal success of Charlotte Mensah, the first black woman to be inducted into the British Hairdressing Hall of Fame!
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