Trishell’s Hair & Beauty; Confidence in individuality is beautiful

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

Upon meeting Trishell, owner of Trishell’s Hair & Beauty Salon, I knew that there was something extremely special about this young woman. When I first walked into her salon, she had a gospel song playing on her television, and the energy in the room was tranquil and relaxing. She had just finished with a client, and was doing a little clean up, so I sat back and took a look at her quaint space. The first thing I noticed was this beautiful red and black wig, that had been done up and placed on display; I reminded myself to ask her about it when we started our interview.

Trishell finished doing what she had to do, and sat down in her beauty chair. “Where do we start,” she asked. “How about we start at the beginning,” I said, and I readied myself with my pen and notebook. “So, hair and beauty has been a part of my family since I was younger. Back home in Jamaica, when other children would head home after school, or go and play, I had to go to the family shop and help out. At the age of eight years old, I had grown folk responsibility. One of the first jobs I was given at the shop was to organize the rollers by size and colour. By 10 years old I had graduated to preparing the scalp for shampooing. This meant parting the hair, and scratching out the dandruff. At around the age 12 years old, I was shampooing customers and cornrowing hair.”

“You were cornrowing at 12 years old?” “Yes” she laughed! “Funny story actually. I learned how to cornrow in grass. I would take a seat in tall grass, and then I would use the strands of tall grass to practice.”

“What part of Jamaica are you from?” I questioned. “I am from the North Coast, an area known as St. Anne’s Bay, close to Ocho Rios. I lived there until I moved to Canada at the age of 19. “Alright,” I said, “Let’s get back to your story. You are now 12 years old, and you are shampooing and cornrowing, what did they have you do next?” “ Well, the next step was weaving and braiding, and by the age of 15, I was relaxing and weaving regularly.”

“You mentioned that at the age of 19, you moved to Canada; how was it different for you then life in Jamaica?” Trishell stopped and thought about this for a second; she sighed, and continued on with her story, “Things were completely different in Canada. When I moved here, I had to deal with culture shock, and I was living with my dad at the time. I took a break from doing hair, and I was actually doing security for a while. At 23 years old, I had my first daughter, and my interest began to veer back to hairstyling. A lady that I worked with at the time gave me some advice that was not exactly encouraging. She told me to not even bother becoming a hairdresser because everyone was wearing wigs. It was someone that I looked up to, so I believed her and stayed away from doing hair for four more years.”

“Wow!” I commented, “That is a long time; did you miss it?” “I did, but at that point, I was pregnant with my second daughter and I was married, so you know how that is. You are thinking about your family first. I got back into hairstyling after my husband took it upon himself to get me a job at a salon. He must have seen something; he must have noticed that I missed doing hair. I started braiding at this salon, and the woman was impressed by my work and work ethic. One day she asked me, if I knew anything about working with Caucasian hair. I said no, but I let her know I was open to learning. At that point, she opened up and taught me everything that I needed to know about working with other hair types. Now I was powered with knowledge, but I needed my license in order to really start doing the work I wanted to. When I applied for my license, they told me I had three chances to pass the exam, and if not, I would have to go back to school. I passed that exam on the first try.”

“That must have been an amazing time for you. Did you see a shift in how your business life was going?” “I did,” Trishell responded,  “Not long after, I began to work for a larger corporation, and one question that was asked during my interview for the position was, where did I see myself in five years? My answer to that was, I saw myself owning my own business, and being a stylist to the stars. After four years with the organization, they made me a manager of my own store, but I remembered my promise to myself; my goal was to open up my own salon, and in 2018, I registered the business. I will be honest, it has been very hard; I missed out on aspects of my daughters lives, and I have had to make up for it on a daily basis, but nothing is better then having a goal, achieving that goal, and being a success to yourself.”

“What would you say is the highlight of your work?” “ What I enjoy is being part of my clients transformation. Many women are going through tough times; it could be health issues, the fact that they are seniors and they can’t move around a lot, whatever it is, I provide healing by offering them an ear, and a sounding board whenever they come into my salon. I specialize in all hair types, and I have begun making wigs for women who are dealing with hair loss due to cancer, or other issues. This is what God gifted me with, and it is what I am born to do. I thank God everyday for providing me with the opportunity to help women find hope in their situations; sometimes all it takes is a good cut and colour.

I want to thank you Trishell for being of service to our greater Toronto community, and for sharing your story. To learn more about Trishell’s Hair and Beauty Salon, you can visit her on Instagram @trish.thehairstylist, call her at 416-908-2085, or email her at 35thabs@gmail.com.