Megan Yasu Davis created The Kitchen Salon to help address common issues with African-American hair care, styling and maintenance and educate people about the care of natural hair.

“The Kitchen Salon was birthed from my personal passion to share with others how beautiful, healthy and versatile natural hair can be,” Davis said.

Started in 2007 as a blog, The Kitchen Salon is now an online natural hair care resource and events company. The website contains information about caring for and styling natural, chemical-free, curly hair.

“The ‘Kitchen’ refers to the place where I spent my childhood getting my hair heat-pressed and styled.  It also refers to the area of hair near the nape of the neck that curls up the most,” Davis said. “The ‘Salon’ refers to the gathering place where women would convene and discuss current events, life challenges, joys and concerns.”

The Kitchen Salon organizes workshops and presentations.

Megan Yasu Davis.

“I have always done some type of gathering for small groups or one-on-one consultations, teaching others how to transition from chemically straightened hair to natural hair. My workshops went from one to five attendees to as many as 80 in one setting,” Davis said. “Each meet-up is different. Some are purely educational and some are social while learning is still a part of the event. I want the attendees to empower each other by sharing real experiences with one another.”

The Kitchen Salon will be at the Mott Branch Library, 1085 Dorr St., at 6 p.m. Oct. 22 for a workshop called Mott Mane Mondays: Hair Health & Harvest Party.

“Every fourth Monday we meet up and discuss natural hair care, style, common issues and learn new things about accessorizing,” Davis said. “We also explore product information and discover natural hair care through videos and others’ testaments of their own experiences.”

Davis uses a variety of tools for presentations from slide shows to showing videos on the projector to demonstrating styles and techniques.

“I allow attendees a chance to try the styles on their own hair, on each other or the mannequin as well, so they can feel for themselves,” Davis said.

Davis decided to style her hair naturally in 1997.

“I struggled with self-esteem for most of my life and going natural was one of the decisions I made that seemed authentic to the woman I was, buried underneath the pain and anguish of abuse and emotional distress,” Davis said.

While some myths and stereotypes deem natural hair as unkempt, unclean and frightening, Davis’ goal is to educate others with visuals, hands-on learning and literature.

“I want to show how untrue those ideas are of Afro-textured hair,” Davis said.

Davis is not the only one following this trend. According to naturallycurly.com, in recent years African-American women have been trending toward natural styling rather than relaxing their hair. Reasons cited range from the cost of the products to the hazardous chemicals found in relaxers to simply a renewed appreciation for the style.

When Davis decided to share her story, it inspired others to share theirs and “the community of ‘naturals’ grew and expanded in our area,” Davis said. “I see my business as a valuable resource to the local community because it enriches the lives of those who choose to wear their hair natural, offering greater options while coming to understand the nature of very curly hair.”

Davis’ typical clients are African-American females between the ages of 25 and 55.

“They are mothers, students or professionals. Many of them have been natural for a long time and just want to learn more, some have been natural a short period of time, but are afraid to wear their own hair out so they wear a form of extensions. And then there are those who wish to transition from chemically straightened, relaxed hair to natural hair and need guidance on how to do so as smoothly as possible without disturbing their confidence,” Davis said.

Davis also helps those who adopt children of African descent and need advice or assistance.

“I provide information on how often to wash their hair and what styling options are available for them, for example,” Davis said.

In 2011, The Kitchen Salon established The Northwest Ohio Natural Hair & Beauty Expo, which drew more than 400 guests and offered vendors, food, live performances of poetry, singers and traditional African drumming as well as workshops on various topics concerning natural hair care.

TaLisa Frazier attended the inaugural expo and was impressed.

“I had just done the big chop and was very eager to learn about my hair and how to properly manage it,” Frazier said. “I made sure to visit every vendor table, bought jewelry and whipped shea butter, met a hair braider and had my hair steamed to perfection by the lovely Mrs. Powell. While musicians and poets performed, people were buying products and having their hair twisted by fellow naturals sitting around the water fountain. It was beautiful and I felt very proud to be a part of an event with such amazing culture — my culture!”

Davis hopes to one day to open a school specializing in Afro-textured hair.

“Because I prefer not to style others’ hair, I refer them to local stylists who can care for their hair, but I do wish to open a natural hair care school where students can actually get certified to style natural hair without having to go through 1,500 hours of school that teaches almost nothing about Afro-textured hair,” Davis said.

Earlier this year, Davis developed her own natural hair and skin care product line that includes certified organic ingredients purchased from local small businesses and created in her home kitchen.

“The line consists of a moisturizing cream made with shea butter, shea butter body lotion for eczema, herbal scalp balm made with tea tree and rosemary, shea butter lip balm, hydrating mist made with aloe vera and coconut oil blend that is great for dry scalp and hot oil treatments,” Davis said.

“Be true to your hair or it will be false to you! I will have to trademark that, but it is just so true,” Davis said. “If you love it, it will be manifested in the way your hair looks and feels.”

For more information, visit the websites www.thekitchensalon.com. and www.thenaturalexpo.com.

Tags: Megan Yasu Davis, The Kitchen Salon

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2012 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Entrepreneurs, Toledo Business Link.
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Many Toledo musicians expressed the same emotion regarding Amy Winehouse’s July 23 death — a lack of surprise.

The British singer, 27, was found dead in her London apartment on July 23. A cause of death has not yet been determined.

“I wasn’t too surprised,” said Amjad Doumani, owner of B-Bop Records, who found out on Facebook. “But it’s always sad when someone so young dies.”

The petite songstress with the big voice famously sang about her troubles with love, alcohol and drugs on her 2006 album “Back to Black.” The album won five Grammys and featured the hit single “Rehab” about Winehouse’s refusal to seek help. Pat O’Connor, owner of Culture Clash Records and a self-described former addict, said that song stuck out to him because “it’s so anti what I think.”

Aaron Brown, a Toledo-based DJ who also learned about Winehouse’s death on Facebook, said, “I was surprised that many of my friends A. cared, B. were surprised.” He added that although Winehouse had a good voice, “past that she was just a famous junkie.”

Other area musicians also said they noticed the irony of the song’s shocking lyrics.

“Based on her escalating self-destructive behavior, her death came as no surprise. ‘Rehab’ foretold it,” said Doreen Robideaux, lead singer of the Frostbite Band.

“It (‘Rehab’) was kind of funny and maybe a little tongue-in-cheek and a little rebellious,” said Ryan Bunch, performing and literary arts coordinator for the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. Still, he added of her attitude, “Ironically and ultimately, that’s what killed her.”

Danni Stinson, poet, spoken-word artist and entrepreneur, said the song “Tears Dry on Their Own” inspired her and helped her through bad relationships.

“She was actually one of my favorite artists,” Stinson said. “I was hoping she’d get back on track.”

However, Stinson said when she saw footage of Winehouse’s last public performance in Belgrade, Serbia, she knew the opposite was true.

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘this poor baby’,” said Kim Buehler, singer for 6th Edition and jazz educator, of Winehouse’s onstage slurring. Winehouse canceled the rest of her European tour after being booed off the stage.

Chavar Dontae, a local musician who just signed with Submerge in Detroit, said he learned of Winehouse’s death on Twitter.

“I hope people don’t make her whole legacy the problems she had,” Dontae said. Winehouse’s honesty in her song lyrics inspired Dontae. “I believed what she said and that’s the way I look at songwriting.”

Others also noted Winehouse’s upfront approach to her music.

“Amy was a natural talent, and what I mean by that was that she did not have to contrive a sound or an image. She was who she was,” said Megan Yasu Davis, an area musician.

O’Connor said he doubts Winehouse’s problems will cause anyone to give up drugs.

“Not one drug addict thinks, ‘That’s going to happen to me’,” he said.

Calvin Cordy, guitarist for Prayers for Rain, also said he didn’t think Winehouse’s death would motivate anyone to give up drugs or alcohol.

“It’s just the same as Courtney Love — predictable,” he said.

Still, many like Stinson found Winehouse’s sudden death “heartbreaking” if not surprising. Like Dontae, Stinson said she found inspiration in Winehouse’s lyrics and would write with Winehouse’s music playing.

Buehler, who felt sick after reading about Winehouse’s death, said that although many people wish they possessed talent like Winehouse’s, people with “creative talent are often tortured by it.”

Winehouse among music talents gone too soon

By Jake Coyle

Associated Press Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Amy Winehouse released only two albums in her life, one of which sold more than a million copies, won five Grammys and sparked a retro soul movement that hasn’t yet stopped.

The small output, in inverse relation to her outsized talent, made her death July 23 in London all the more tragic. Fans will only be able to imagine the unrecorded singles, the never-to-be concerts and the comeback album that didn’t come.

It’s a sadly familiar script in pop music, the history of which is checkered with greats and would-be greats snuffed out too early in life.

Almost as soon as news of Winehouse’s death broke and spread across social media, fans were inducting her into the unfortunate pantheon of music talents gone too soon. Many noted that Winehouse, 27, shared the same age at death as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison.

“You would think that Amy Winehouse would clean up her act given that,” Danni Stinson, poet, spoken-word artist and entrepreneur, said.

“Americans talk about Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin in this kind of romantic way,” said Ryan Bunch, performing and literary arts coordinator for the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo. “I would hope that it’s at least a wake-up call for kids that it’s really not that glamorous.”

The British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, though, realized that a meaningful commonality was being mistaken for coincidence.

“It’s not age that Hendrix, Jones, Joplin, Morrison, Cobain & Amy have in common,’’ wrote Bragg on Twitter. “It’s drug abuse, sadly.’’

Those names were touted on the Web as the 27 Club, a ghoulish glamourizing of rock star death that makes it sound as though even in death VIPs remain behind a seductive velvet rope.

It’s a term, sometimes called the Forever 27 Club, that has spawned a Wikipedia entry, an independent 2008 movie (“The 27 Club”), numerous websites and at least one book (“The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock & Roll’’).

The causes of death vary. Jones, the Rolling Stones guitarist, was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool in 1969 and was ruled dead “by misadventure.’’ Hendrix, having mixed sleeping pills and wine, died in 1970 in a London hotel room. Joplin, also in 1970, died in her Porsche in Los Angeles, with heroin suspected as the culprit. Morrison died of heart failure in 1971 in the bathtub of his Paris apartment. Cobain killed himself in 1994.

Some have claimed Cobain was aware of the so-called 27 Club. After his death, his mother, Wendy O’Connor, was understandably fed up with the concept, saying: “I told him not to join that stupid club.’’

Early death typically mythologizes pop stars, inflating their reputation. Pop culture writer Chuck Klosterman, in his book “Killing Yourself to Live,’’ wondered why “the greatest career move any musician can make is to stop breathing.’’

The posthumous releases from Winehouse will surely follow, and her legacy will grow. But hopefully mythologizing will be resisted.

Winehouse’s death, an unfortunate but unsurprising end to a long, public decline, might be best remembered not just as another tragic loss but as a modern portrait of how untrue those rock myths really are.

Tags: Aaron Brown, Amjad Doumani, Amy Winehouse, Arts Commission of Greater Toledo, B-Bop Records, Calvin Cordy, Chavar Dontae, Courtney Love, Culture Clash, Danni Stinson, Doreen Robideaux, Facebook, Frostbite Band, Kim Buehler, Megan Yasu Davis, Pat O'Connor, Prayers for Rain, Ryan Bunch

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 26th, 2011 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Featured, Music, Star.
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