DYNAMIC DUO ADDRESS HAIR SALON DISPARITIES
Pair also tackle food insecurity in Davis
Tina Jones and Lasonja Porter are a dynamic duo who, in the last several years, have set out to address two issues they've dealt with or witnessed — the need for Yolo County hair salons or barbershops that cater to all hair textures and food insecurity among Davis' senior and homeless populations.
Jones, Porter's daughter, said that the two decided to open T & L Exotics Total Beauty in Woodland after her father was killed by an off-duty police officer in the Bay Area.
“Our family was just crushed,” Jones said. “He really wanted me to do hair and wanted to see us make it to a salon.”
Growing up in Davis, Jones said most hair salons in the area didn't know how to work with her hair texture, so she had to teach herself to do her hair when she was 12 years old.
“I wanted to come out here and help people because I needed help as a child and I had to figure it out myself,” Jones explained.
Jones is both a licensed cosmetologist and barber, meaning that she can work on men's and women's hair, making her salon widely accessible to everyone in the community. One of her favorite things to do, however, is provide assistance to foster parents who don't know how to deal with their kids' hair.
“We get a lot of foster parents who have taken on black or mixed children and just have no idea how to manage or take care of their hair,” she stressed. “I don't just do their hair. I give them tips and tools to use when they can't come here because it can be expensive coming to a salon every month.”
Porter noted the importance of being able to provide services for all hair textures arguing that there are “all types of women with different hair.”
“I took my son, for instance, to get his hair cut and they literally told me, `We don't cut black people's hair,'” Porter recalled. “It was a male barbershop and then I went to a salon and she said the same thing. We had to drive all the way to Sacramento or to the Bay Area, so I realized, oh there's a need here.”
Jasmine Desiree Manny, a regular client at the salon, is a graduate student attending UC Davis who said she came to the salon while in a fragile state due to medical issues and family emergencies she was dealing with.
“When they were working on my hair, I felt like I was honestly getting a therapy session that I really needed,” Manny remarked. “It kind of just added some life back into me at the
time that I really needed.”
Manny said she hasn't found any other hair salons in the area that cater to Black hair and was “super excited” when she found T & L Exotics Total Beauty realizing she no longer had to drive to Sacramento for hair services.
“It's a really big deal because funds are tight, especially being on a student income,” Manny highlighted. “I don't really get my nails done, but hair is close to home because that's just kind of how me and my family bonded growing up. It's just like more of an intimate type of self-care and beauty appointment.”
Roxana Magaña moved to Woodland from Oregon three years ago and recently found the salon after trying two other ones that didn't work for her.
“The first one I stopped going to because I just didn't feel like (the hairstylist) knew how to cut my hair,” she explained. “I have very curly hair and would notice that the style just wouldn't hold up afterward, or she would cut in a way that was maybe for straight hair and it just wouldn't look good.”
Magaña argued that having a salon like Jones' and Porter's is important for a community like Woodland noting that the previous town she lived in — Roseburg, Oregon — catered to its predominantly white population.
“There was nothing out there for people of color,” she stressed. “For a small town to just have a place where you could have someone that knows how to teach you new things about your hair and make you feel pretty. It's very important.”
Magaña argued that anyone interested in visiting the salon “won't be disappointed in the environment and the hairstyle.”
“I'm a stay-at-home mom so I don't have many friends, so I love the girl talk and (they're) very easy to talk to and get along with,” she added regarding the owners. “I spend hours there and it's never a dull moment. You'll definitely be there with a friend.”
Furthermore, Porter created a nonprofit organization called Homeless Refuge Support and Advocacy Inc. in December 2017, which she said was due to the increase in Davis' homeless population over the years.
“I would go and see homeless people everywhere in Davis and I thought, `I have four kids so why not add extra plates? It was already a big family,” Porter recalled. “Then one day I didn't have enough for everybody, and that's a big thing for me because I was always told if you don't have enough for one, you can't feed none.”
Porter said she then committed herself to meeting people where they were because many of them weren't attending some local food distributions because of how far they were from their encampments.
“We would go to their sleeping camps and bring their plates to them,” she emphasized.
Porter and her small group of volunteers — which includes Jones, her son, grandson and grandson's girlfriend — have provided hundreds of warm meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas since the organization was created.
“On Thanksgiving and Christmas, they don't have nowhere for no one to eat because they're with their families and I get that, but I felt that it was just as important to let them know that we are all equal therefore they should be able to eat on Thanksgiving and Christmas, so we decided to do that,” Porter remarked. “We've reached 50-something seniors at a senior complex and then we go to the streets to feed the homeless and do the same.”
Jones, 32, said she was a teenager when her mother started making plates for homeless people and was happy when Porter chose to start the nonprofit seven years ago. Porter and herself, she explained, are both certified nursing assistants and both were aware of the food insecurity issue that homeless people and seniors in the community face.
“She actually saved someone's life this year,” Jones said regarding Porter. “We knocked on this one elderly man's door and he was literally on the floor.”
The man was having a stroke and the two called an ambulance, saving his life..
“We don't know how long he was laying there and she ended up saving his life that day,” she added. “He praises her every time he sees her.”
When talking about the work they've been able to do together, Jones said her motivation comes from watching her mother struggle as a single parent for a long time.
“I watched a strong Black woman raise four children and become great and that's what made me want to be great and a strong Black woman as well,” she remarked.
To learn more about T & L Exotics, visit tandlexotics2020.com.