Student-Run businesses at UNC provide community and cosmetic care

Cosmetic services can be expensive and inconvenient for the busy college student, luckily, on UNC’s campus, numerous student-run businesses specialize in hair and nail maintenance. 

Madison Mitchell, a sophomore double majoring in human development and family sciences and psychology, has been braiding hair for around two years. Mitchell started doing her own hair after a big chop and getting into natural hair care. 

“I don’t want to pay to get my hair done and I feel like I can do it. And so I started doing it and a lot of people were like complimenting it and I started trying knotless [braids], crisscross knotless [braids], just doing whatever was trending at the time,” she said. 

Word of mouth and modeling the various styles that she could do helped Mitchell grow her business on campus. Although she initially started her Instagram account for natural hair influencing, once she started to take clients, she began to document the styles she was doing on social media. 

Mitchell said that having this business has helped her make good money, build entrepreneurship, network with her clients and gain conversational skills. 

“I do think it also aided me in creating more friendships, especially since you’re having to sit there, stand there, and do somebody’s hair for hours on hours and so we all have to talk,” she said. “I feel like they come in, it’s a welcoming space and then you get to know them as you’re doing their hair.” 

Sasha Bernard, another braider on campus, is a member of DDS, BCM, VOP, CSA and BSM, which she said allowed her to connect with other people of color. However, when her fellow club members-turned clients sat in her chair, they were able to connect on a deeper level mostly because of the amount of time they spent together.  

Since learning how to braid as a first-year in high school, which was during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bernard said that encouragement from friends and family got her to start her business officially. As a biology major with a heavy course load, Bernard credits already having her business with allowing her to find flexibility between school and work. 

“It’s definitely a very flexible job because you get to control when you do people’s hair according to like my exam dates and stuff like that and so it’s a good way to make money but also making people feel good about themselves,” Bernard said. 

A predominantly white institution like UNC can make it difficult to find individuals who understand natural hair care and upkeep. There aren’t many businesses in the Chapel Hill area that braid or style African American textured hair so Bernard said that it is important that this community sticks together and uplifts one another instead of falling into competition.  

“I like to shout out all the other braiders and nail techs on campus, because when I tell you, like usually, if there are multiple businesses in a similar area, there's a lot of competition,” Bernard said. “But we are the opposite of that, especially in the hair care community, because if I can't do a client for a certain reason — or I don't know how to do a certain style — I could just refer them to someone else that I know can do it well on campus instead of being like, ‘Oh, that's too bad, because, you know, this is our competition.’”

Hairstylists and braiders aren’t the only cosmetic business owners on campus. Rebekah Northrup, a sophomore majoring in data science and minoring in statistics and analytics has been doing nails for about two years and currently operates an on-campus nail business. 

As a Korean American, Northrup said that she typically hangs out with the Asian community on campus but ever since starting to do nails on campus, she has been able to connect to many kinds of people from different backgrounds. 

“I am literally reaching communities that I would normally never meet,” she said. 

Another nail tech, April Adésina Newkirk, a recent UNC graduate, started experimenting with nail art at an early age. From Barnes and Noble nail sets to working at spas and European Wax Center, she was able to work on her craft before starting her business on campus. 

While at UNC, she did nails in Davis Library but now does them in and around the Chapel Hill area. Newkirk also said that she is flexible when it comes to working around students’ class schedules and meeting them in convenient locations.

“We all deserve to feel cute and beautiful and amazing,” she said.  

For more information on booking, follow @themaddytouch, @stichedby_sash, @unc.unionnails and @nail.irrie, on Instagram. 

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