Archive for July 21st, 2006
by Michelle Cater Rash
distributor of ethnic hair care products, has purchased a Gate City building that more than doubled its headquarters space as it prepares for
sales to reach $10 million within the next five years, twice their current level.
But that’s not the only change taking place for Ashtae: While about half the building’s 46,000 square feet is housing its own offices and warehouse, the remainder will be converted into a minority focused small-business incubator that will be run by Ashtae’s founders, Michael and Ramona Woods.
CEO Michael Woods says the couple plans to maintain day-to-day oversight of Ashtae while also taking on the challenges of getting the incubator, designed to help young and struggling companies with everything from clerical help to mentoring, up and running.
“We understand the challenges most minority businesses face,” said Woods, citing issues ranging from access to capital to finding support networks. “It’s an easy transition for us, because we’re already helping other businesses (through Ashtae).”
Ashtae, which sells products ranging from shampoos to hair relaxers, uses a group of distributors worldwide to sell its products to salons. The company does not sell direct to retailers, thereby avoiding the costs associated with maintaining and growing an extensive retail footprint. Ashtae’s distributors go through what the company calls an “extensive” training program before becoming certified to sell the products.
The distributors sell only Ashtae products, purchasing the products directly from the company and then marketing them to salons within defined territories. Over the past year, Ashtae has grown its distribution network aggressively, going from 11 distributors to 17, said Woods. The company also has entered several markets, including England, Jamaica and Japan, while expanding its presence in the Caribbean and Canada.
In early 2005, company officials told The Business Journal that it had sales of less than $5 million the previous year. Woods says the company is on track to hit $10 million in sales within five years.
Ashtae, which currently has 12 employees, is planning to add six customer-service representatives over the next few months, said company spokeswoman Tiffany Dyson.
Its new headquarters building, located on Eugene Street just south of downtown Greensboro, was previously occupied by Pella Carolina Inc., a window and door production and installation company. Ashtae had previously been located in a 10,000-square-foot building on Industrial Drive.
While the building has plenty of room to accommodate Ashtae’s growth, the Woodses also hope to use the building to help other companies grow.
Aiding others
Plans call for about 24,000 square feet to be converted into a minority-business incubator to house between 20 and 30 companies. That portion of the building is still awaiting renovations and likely will not open for 18 to 24 months, Dyson said.
Details of the incubator, which will be run as a for-profit enterprise, are still being finalized. But Woods said it will target existing businesses that are struggling to survive.
July 21st, 2006
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Ph.D.
“The type of black woman who would wear red (hair color) has confidence and style.”
The long hidden controversy among African-Americans publicly exploded in November when seventeen-year-old Michelle Barskile in North Carolina was turned down for her sorority’s debutante ball. Several weeks later Ruth Sherman, a white elementary school teacher in New York, fled her school after heavy fire from some black parents. The issue for both women was hair. Barskile’s offense was that she wore her hair in a dreadlocks style that her sorority chapter deemed unacceptable. Sherman’s offense was that she read passages from the book Nappy Hair to her mostly black and Latino students. The parents claimed this demeaned blacks.
The two women discovered that few things generate more anger and passion among black women than their hair. Some black critics say that black women are in a frenzied search to shed the ancient racist shame and stigma of “nappy hair” =”bad hair” by aping white beauty standards. Others say that, like many non-black women, black women are hopeless captives of America’s fashion and beauty industry, which is geared to making them more attractive and pleasing to men. Many black women counter this by saying that they are merely seeking their own identify or “to look better.”
“Get gorgeous! Steal the spotlight with this glamorous upswept design.”
They are all right. But the great hair obsession among many black women reflects the still deep and compelling need by African-Americans to identify with and accept America’s values and standards. The beauty care industry has skillfully fed that compulsion with fantasies of physical glitter and social glamour and turned them into mammoth profits. Hair care product manufacturers have sold many black women on the notion that their hair is the path to self-esteem, success, and sexual allure. A century ago the legendary Madame CJ Walker built a multi-million dollar empire on the premise that black women want to look like white women and that “good hair” is the key to independence and prosperity.
“Elegance, spiced with Southern flavor begins with a mane awash in a light golden blond shade.”
The hair care industry is gargantuan today. In 1996 beauty care manufacturers racked up more than $10 billion in sales, and hair care products by far topped the sales list. Americans shelled out $1.5 billion for shampoos, and more than $1 billion for hair conditioners alone. Blacks bought an estimated one out of five toilet and cosmetic products sold, and one out of three hair products sold.
The dozen or more black magazines devoted exclusively to hair dwarf that of the number of general interest black publications. The hair magazines are so wildly popular that many librarians are forced to put them under lock and key to prevent them from being pilfered by patrons. The five giant hair product manufacturers, Proctor & Gamble, Helene Curtis, Alberto-Culver, Bristol Meyers, and Johnson & Johnson dominate the hair care industry and are household names among black women.
“A perfect evening entrance begins with a flawless hair design.”
The Afro or natural hair look of the 1960’s and the braid craze of the 1990’s are touted as examples of black women rejecting white beauty standards. They aren’t. The Afro style was short lived, always more a chic fad than a revolution in black consciousness, and was tied to style and fashion trends. Today’s braided look is even more tightly tied to style and fashion trends with none of the pretensions of the black pride of the 1960’s. Even many black women who sport the bald look are fixated on matching the proper clothes, make-up and ear rings with the style. Most soon tire of these hair fads and retreat back to the straightening comb, fashion braids/extensions or a perm.
The great hair obsession is driven by the painful need of many African-Americans to conform to the dominant values of American society. And beauty, fashion and hairstyles are the most popular and perverse expressions of those values. Barskile and Sherman learned the bitter truth that many African-Americans still believe the fiction that good hair makes you, and nappy hair doesn’t.
July 21st, 2006
BY EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON
“The type of black woman who would wear red [hair] has confidence and style.”
A controversy long confined to African-Americans publicly exploded in recent weeks, when black 17-year-old Michelle Barskile of North Carolina made national news because she could not attend her sorority’s debutante ball. That story broke just after Ruth Sherman, a white elementary school teacher in New York, had to flee her school under heavy fire from black parents.
The issue for both women was hair.
Barskile’s offense? She wore her hair in a dreadlocks style that her sorority chapter deemed unacceptable. Sherman’s offense was reading passages from noted black author and scholar Carolivia Herron’s book “Nappy Hair” to her mostly black and Latino students. The parents claimed she was demeaning blacks.
The nation discovered that few things generate more anger and passion among black women than their hair. Some black critics say that black women are in a frenzied search to shed the ancient racist stigma of nappy hair — which equals “bad hair” — by aping white beauty standards. Others say that, like many non-black women, black women are captives of America’s fashion and beauty industry, which is geared to making them more attractive and pleasing to men. Many black women counter by saying they are merely seeking their own identity or trying to “look better.”
“Get gorgeous! Steal the spotlight with this glamorous unswept design!”
– Braids and Beauty, advertisement.
They are all right. But the great hair obsession among black women reflects the deep and compelling need by African-Americans to identify with and accept America’s values and standards. The beauty-care industry has skillfully fed that compulsion with fantasies of physical glitter and social glamour and turned them into mammoth profits.
Hair-care product manufacturers have sold many black women on the notion that their hair is the path to self-esteem, success and sexual allure. A century ago the legendary Madame C.J. Walker built a multimillion-dollar empire on the premise that black women want to look like white women and that good hair is the path to independence and prosperity.
“Elegance, spiced with Southern flavor, begins with a mane awash in a golden blond shade.”
– Today’s Black Woman, advertisement
The hair-care industry is gargantuan today. The dozen or more black magazines devoted exclusively to hair dwarf the number of general-interest black publications. The hair magazines are so wildly popular that many librarians are forced to put them under lock and key to prevent them from being pilfered by patrons.
In 1996 beauty-care manufacturers racked up more than $10 billion in sales, and hair-care products by far topped the sales list. Americans shelled out $1.5 billion for shampoos, and more than $1 billion for hair conditioners alone. Blacks bought an estimated one out of five toilet and cosmetic products sold, and one out of three hair products sold. The five giant hair-product manufacturers, Proctor & Gamble, Helene Curtis, Alberto-Culver, Bristol Meyers and Johnson & Johnson, dominate the hair-care industry and are household names among black women.
“A perfect evening entrance begins with a flawless hair design.”
– Braids and Beauty, advertisement
The Afro or natural look of the 1960s and the braid craze of the 1990s are touted as examples of black women rejecting white beauty standards. They aren’t. The Afro style was short-lived and always more a chic fad than a revolution in black consciousness. Today’s braided look is even more tightly tied to style and fashion trends, without even the pretensions of “black pride.” Even many black women who sport the bald look are meanwhile fixated on matching the right clothes, make-up and earrings with the style. Many soon tire of these hair fads and retreat back to the straightening comb, extensions or a perm.
The great hair obsession is driven by the painful need of many African-Americans to conform to the dominant values of American society. And beauty, fashion and hair styles are the most popular and perverse expressions of those values. Barskile and Sherman learned the hard way that many Africans still believe the fiction that good hair makes you, and nappy hair doesn’t.
SALON | Dec. 7, 1998
Pacific News Service commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the author of “The Assassination of the Black Male Image” and “The Crisis in Black and Black.”
July 21st, 2006
Sometimes “good hair day” come right out of the blue, when your hair looks fabulous just before you’re about to hop in the shower,
often just as soon as you make up your mind to get a new hair cut or colored hair from your chosen beauty products because you can’t do anything else with it!
What makes it’s so hard to get your hair to be what you want?
The mysteries of maintaining beautiful hair should have been uncovered by knowing full well that you’d be generously lucky for your hair to look half as nice, but for many women finding a simple way to keep their hair looking wonderful is as elusive as it was to women centuries before.
Hair is not a living part of your body and you needn’t wash your hair repeatedly to ensure remarkable results for optimum health and beauty.
One of the key elements to having shiny, healthy hair is to allow the natural oils in the scalp to lubricate it. The hair closest to the scalp benefits from natural sebum oils the most while longer hair can become dry and brittle from a lack of these oils.
Shampoo, no matter how exotic ingredients on it, performs a simple job of removing pollution, excess oils and styling product build up from the hair. Remember, the more you wash your hair and the more styling products you apply, the greater the amount of buildup that adheres to your silky strands.
All of your hair needs gentle cleansing but it is the top two or three inches that is most weighed down with natural oils and dulling hair products. You can reduce the amount of oils removed from longer areas of hair which can be over dried from the stripping of oils and extended contact with shampoo by concentrating the washing in that area.
And if you simply must wash your hair every time you shower, so be it. Do shampoo and condition your hair without the blow dryer during the warmer months. Twist your hair up and secure it to your head with a hairpin or some bobby pins with a sexy style in some little claw clips or pull your hair back into a classic braid.
Every once in a while, forego the routine washing by twisting your hair up into a towel or piling it into a shower cap before you step into the shower.
Your hair will look its most beautiful when you choose a style that requires the least amount of product and heat damage. Make a protection to your hair with conditioners is key, but choosing a hair style that suits the texture of yours will eliminate the need for more torturous styling tools.
Frizzy and dry hair can benefit from the application of silicone based products with a little goes a long way and concentrate the product on the ends of your hair.
Keep the blow dryer at least six inches from your hair when blow drying to prevent excessive damage from the heat.
By blow drying in the direction of the shaft (down the length of hair), will create a smoother appearance.
For coloring and perming, you can use chemicals anytime in your hair but make sure your hair is in a healthy condition before applying this kind of treatment. Stay away from hair lighteners that contain peroxide. Peroxide can cause damage to your hair and change the color drastically.
If you have color treated hair, using a conditioner with SPF protection will prevent your hair color from fading. Overuse of these treatments could affect the results of the products and damage hair beyond repair.
Cutting your hair by remove dried and split ends will make your hair look shinier and feel thicker. Trimming the hair every 6 to 8 weeks will eliminate a lot of split ends and damaged hair to keep it looking its best.
Recently, fashion still influences a woman’s hairstyle but that doesn’t mean you have to subject your hair to needless damage. Take advantage of the tips below on caring properly for your “good hair day”.
July 21st, 2006
The decision of when to perform a laboratory evaluation or a hair analysis test in women experiencing hair loss should be made on an individual basis by the hair restoration specialist.
In this article we briefly describe some of the situations where a hair restoration doctor may order lab tests. It is important to note that this is just an overview for your general information so you can understand the reason and the result if you are asked for hair analysis or laboratory tests.
When a hair loss specialist or physician orders some laboratory tests, these hair analysis tests are ordered only after specific clinical information or after observing and carefully evaluating your hair loss. Understanding the basis of these hair analysis tests helps you to understand the cause of your hair loss and also helps you to make an informed decision for a particular hair loss treatment.
While hair loss directly due to a deficiency in a nutrient is believed to be rare, a large industry has developed in recent years based on nutrient “hair analysis”. Several clinics and laboratories claim to be able to define a deficiency of a nutrient or vitamin through analyzing a sample of your hair. The Internet enables these clinics and laboratories to advertise worldwide and a quick search should provide you with numerous web sites offering hair analysis.
These investigations have a simple yes - no question, is the drug, toxin, or heavy metal there or not? There is also the advantage that most of the metals and toxins looked for have a fairly stable chemical nature. They are un-reactive compared to nutrients so they are less likely to change with exposure to the environment. With nutrient analysis the laboratory is attempting to define shades of gray - exactly how much of the nutrient is there? This has been shown to be virtually impossible to do. Even sending hair samples from the same donor to different analysis labs yields contrasting results.
Each vitamin and most minerals are present in blood in extremely small concentrations. Blood also contains a great number of chemicals and molecules and many of these tend to interfere with vitamin and mineral tests. For this reason, a procedure like HPLC (high pressure liquid chromatography) that separates the vitamin or mineral from contaminating substances is usually performed prior to conducting the actual test.
Following separation or purification by HPLC, the vitamin or mineral is detected by a color reaction or fluorescence reaction. In these reactions, the amount of color or fluorescence that is formed is proportional to the amount of vitamin or mineral in the sample, allowing the amount of nutrient present in the original sample to be calculated. In the case of some nutrients, the purified factor of interest is reacted with a special chemical (reagent) prior to detection.
Hair analysis helps the hair loss specialist to reach a diagnosis on hair loss. There can be several Causes of Hair Loss in Women and Hair Loss in Men and after a correct diagnosis is made, the correct women hair restoration treatment can be suggested. This is not to say all hair analysis is invalid. Analysis of hair is a very useful method of defining exposure to heavy metals. A hair analysis can reveal whether a person has had a chronic exposure to chemical toxins in the environment.
And of course hair analysis can be used to show that an individual has been using illegal drugs. The test is known as Hair Follicle Drug Testing. These forms of hair analysis are looking for the presence of a particular chemical that is not normally found in hair, or looking for expression over and above that which is known to be safe.
Contributed by Harry John, he is involved with the hair growth research, also writing on subjects like the vitamin supplements, fast hair growth tips and hair mineral analysis which actually are the gateway to healthy growth and maintenance.
July 21st, 2006