Living in a City with No Neighborhood Black Beauty Supply Stores

Before I got ready to leave for college at Northern Michigan University, I packed all the necessary items to live in the dorms-comforters, trunk, microwave, clothes, shoes, phone, bathroom supplies and school supplies. But the one thing I never thought I'd need in Marquette, Michigan was hair supplies. For my entire childhood in Chicago, I'd been within walking distance of Chicago beauty supply stores like the south side Chicago store Sam's Beauty Supply, whose name recently changed to Am's Beauty Supply, where I could buy whatever perm, hair oil, hairspray, shampoo, conditioner and hair dryers I need.

Two weeks after I got to this very small city, I realized that my hair was going to be in trouble. Other African-American female college students realized the same thing. With the black men on campus, there were a few guys who cut hair so they were okay. But black women usually require so many different types of hair products to the point that we're used to either visiting beauty salons that specialize in black hair care or buying our own products. Even women who could style black hair still need the black hair care products to do so.

After awhile, I started making lists of hair care items I needed and sending my hair lists to my mother to ship to me. Black women with permed, color treated or natural hair just can't walk into every retail store and pick up the first shampoo on the shelf. About ninety-percent of those products will make our hair dry, brittle, fall out or tangled. And some of it is just flat out useless or missing from the shelves.

If you are also about to travel in an area that doesn't have black hair care products on hand, do the following:

Tip One: Ask your local beauty supply store does it have a Web site that sells the items you'll need online.

Tip Two: Stock up on items that you have in your bathroom or bedroom now-shampoo, temporary conditioner, leave-in conditioner, hair oil, hairspray, curling irons, hair dryers (Gold n' Hot hair dryers are an excellent choice for black hair), hair oil, rollers and wrap oil (ex. Pink Lotion). Consider buying extra products that have olive oil, cocoa butter or shea butter in them if you're going to a cold climate area because winter is hard on black women's hair.

Tip Three: Research beauty supply stores in your new area before you move or travel there. Get directions to the location before you go so you'll know just how far or how often you'll need to pick up items. Find out what those stores regularly carry and what's not on demand.

Tip Four: Support black hair care manufacturers and products who not only sell products for black hair care but have first-hand knowledge of black hair care product pros and cons.