When Kay’Chanel House told friends and family that she wanted to open a salon in downtown Chicago in the throes of the pandemic, they thought she wasn’t thinking rationally.
In March 2020, House was working at a salon in Hyde Park. She would start her day at 7 a.m. and would often stay until after midnight. In April, Marimarshe 2.0 Salon and Suits, where she worked, closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. By May, while other hair salons and barber shops were still shut down, House began creating a plan to open her new wig shop by the end of the year.
“Everyone thought I was being impulsive,” said House, 27. “No one knew where the economy was going.”
Nevertheless, House pictured a shop with bright lights, marble floors and a welcoming mood that would make customers feel “warm and fuzzy.” Her inspiration came from her former boss, Marcia Lee, 51, the owner of Marimarshe since 2019.
“She would come in, stay to herself, and do what she had to do,” Lee said of House.
At Marimarshe, House could be found in a room handcrafting wigs for her clients. It would take her roughly two weeks to thread a needle into every stitch.
“She would make sure it fit the client perfectly,” Lee said.
To House, being a hairstylist is more than primping. “It’s about women empowerment and helping women feel beautiful,” she said.
“We are their sisters, their aunts, their moms, their cousins,” said Lee. “They confide in us.”
Lee had another salon in the South Loop, and had to close both of her shops on March 22, 2020. Yet House still had 200 clients, most of whom still reached out to her asking for wigs.
“It was depressing for me,” House said. “It was hard not seeing my clients and helping them feel beautiful.”
Since she was no longer working at the shop, resources were limited, but she had a new idea: She would still make the wigs and do curbside pickup. Afterward, she would do a FaceTime call with the client to walk them through installing and maintaining their wig.
“I felt like I needed to do something,” said House.
Some of her clients had alopecia, a condition that attacks hair follicles and can cause baldness. Others wanted to feel confident when they had to tune in for Zoom calls or physically go to work.
Felicia Crittenden, 44, was a hairstylist in Milwaukee. When her salon was closed due to the lockdown, she took on a part-time job at Amazon and found herself needing a hairstylist of her own.
“I was in desperate need,” said Crittenden.
Through word of mouth, Crittenden found out about House’s services and booked a FaceTime session with her.
“No one at work was getting their hair done,” said Crittenden. “So they would look at me and ask where and how I got my hair done since other (beauty salons) were closed.”
Even though cosmetologists were not considered essential workers, the demand was still high. House became more active on social media, posting in different hair groups to ask women, in particular, what they would like to see more of. A majority of them wanted a wig store.
In June, House began planting her roots to open one, helped by her former boss, Lee, who is the managing broker for House’s location. It was once a uniform store for security guards. The floor and walls were concrete, contrary to what House had envisioned.
House says her biggest challenge was financing. “My credit score was less than ideal and I had a 10-year-old daughter to take care of,” said House.
But, House was determined and used the money she saved from the extra hours of working to pay for the shop she had once pictured.
“I was down to $15,000,” said House. “I spent $15,000 on the marble floors.”
But on Dec. 6, House unlocked the doors to open her shop, Kay’Chanel Collection at 70 E. 21st St.
“I thought to myself, ‘Wow,I really did this smack dead in the middle of a pandemic,’” the Bronzeville native said. “But it was now or never.”
The first day, a line started forming at 5 a.m. even though she didn’t open until 9 a.m. More than 100 people could see their breath in the cold air as they waited hours for services.
“We sold out in less than 30 minutes,” said House. “It was one of the most satisfying feelings in my life.”
Now House hopes to open a second location in a different city and uses this experience as fuel to push her forward.
“I am so happy she didn’t take no for an answer,” said Lee. “It’s important because her daughter is watching her and she can see how Black women can make things happen on their own.”