Exploring Life & Business with Tahirah Hinds of Sweetwists Loctician Services

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tahirah Hinds.

Hi Tahirah, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I moved to Kansas City from the beautiful island of Barbados back in 2011. I was 21 excited about starting a new chapter of life and open to finding ways to thrive. I found myself working for the Westin and Sheraton Kansas City Crown center hotel, for almost 6 years before I branched out into entrepreneurship. I didn’t always know I wanted to be a Loctician however I did know that I wanted to control my own schedule my workload and what I did in order to provide income for myself.

Utilizing skills I already had while working the full-time job I always tried to do something I enjoyed. In this instance, it was locs. In 2014 shortly after the birth of my first child, I decided that I really wanted to look into entrepreneurship even more. I couldn’t give you details if I tried because it kind of just happened but by 2015 I had a steady part-time clientele. I was experimenting with different names for my business and I was starting to build a website. By 2017 my mind was made up that I was going to quit my full-time job and dive headfirst into entrepreneurship. I’m sure I was so excited that I skipped a lot of steps that I wish I hadn’t, however getting started was the hardest part.

By the summer of 2018 I had established enough clientele to support a full-time endeavor into my business. By August I said goodbye to my full-time job and hello to Full-time entrepreneurship. Despite this being an amazing feat I didn’t exactly think it through leaving my full-time job while venturing into winter was a lesson that I was going to keep with me for a long time. By August 2019 I had won Kansas City’s best loctician in the Kansas City People’s choice award.

Full steam at the top of 2020 I opened a full-service loc salon, employed four stylists, and then was met with the wrath of COVID-19. Our opening was short-lived and we were forced to close for a little under three months. During this time I contemplated closing my business for good and returning to the workforce.

Re-opening at the end of May was quite the challenge however we pushed through to the end of the year only to be met with even worse news. The owner of our current location sold the building to a new prospect and we were being forced to find a new home. I always say God has a way of just nudging us in the direction that he wants us to go and so I began the hunt for our new home at the end of 2020.

By April 2021 we had secured the keys to our new location hopefully home for us for the next three years.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the biggest struggles I would have to say is constantly educating myself on making sure I am in compliance with the business aspect of our company. I was so used to just showing up and being the talent I never had to understand the paperwork and comprehend the know-how. At no point has this path been easy, which I believe is why entrepreneurship isn’t for everyone. You are going to hit brick walls but you must remind yourself of your why. Another challenge would have to be team building, while in corporate america I struggled with this, I love being by myself however I had modeled my brand to be about helping and building teams of women. Having the right team was the key to our business success and to tell you the truth the women that work with me now found me!

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Sweetwists Loctician Services is a Loc Based Salon, we put the health of your locs first, when you sit in our chair our overall goal is to improve your Loc journey and promote healthy hair practices.

We specialize in locs and are mostly known for educating our clients and audience on how to maintain healthy locs along their journey. What sets us apart from other loc based salons is our passion to educate, salon visits are for some a bi monthly occurrence so our job as your loctician is to make sure you understand how to care for your locs in between the salon visits where it really matters. Recommending products, treatments and healthy hair practices we pride ourselves on being experts in our field.

It’s our dedication to our clients overall loc experience that makes us an asset in our industry. Staying abreast of new techniques, specialty services, and forging authentic customer connections that make us unique.

What were you like growing up?
Growing up I have to say I was pretty quiet, a lot more reserved than I am now that I am more comfortable within myself.

The beautiful thing about what I do is when I was a child there wasn’t a lot of representation around me of people with locs when I was in elementary school. Moving to Barbados at 11 was such a cultural shock for me because everywhere I turned there was someone with beautiful locs. I kid you not, I used to cover my locs almost everyday while in school in Kansas City until I moved to Barbados. Seeing the representation made me so proud, yes my parents and my brother had locs but to see people at school, in the supermarket, in government, on the police force,  really opened my horizon to how versatile locs could be. Now owning a business with clients who are doctors, lawyers, principals, teachers, artists, football players, business owners, CEO’s is such a full circle feeling. I get to be a part of that representation and send people out into the world to fill and occupy spaces I didn’t see growing up.

I always enjoyed school; anything to do with learning. I actually used to think that I could create a career out of going to school. That’s how much I was obsessed with education. This characteristic explains my obsession with being extremely knowledgeable in my current field.

If you saw me in Class anywhere between the fourth grade up until when I graduated high school I was definitely somewhere cracking jokes with the cool kids. Not sure why they liked me but they did, I wouldn’t have considered myself a “cool kid” though.
By the time I reached 15 my interest changed from book smarts to arts in education. I wanted to do anything that involved singing, dancing or acting and had hoped to make a career out of it. My parents owned a multiple performing arts company which I was a member of since age 5, however around 15, my focus moved from dance to singing.

So much so that I ended up going to college for performing arts, joined a band that was popular on the island and even got casted in a musical.

Growing up watching my parents travel the world using their talents made me believe I could be anything, and they’ve always supported my decisions no matter how many times I’ve changed my mind. This was empowerment and the reason I’m so focused on truly doing the things that bring me joy now in my adult life.

As a child despite all my interests I always wanted to never have a boss and be free to create my own world, and now as an adult I’ve fulfilled that dream. I’m looking forward to creating new dreams and fulfilling those.

If you see me now, I’m much more open, still quiet though until you get to know me! A ball of laughter and warming energy because I love who I’ve become.

Contact Info:

• Email: Info@sweetwistslocs.com
• Website: Www.Sweetwistslocs.com
• Instagram: Sweetwists_ls
• Facebook: Sweetwists

Image Credits:
@chadthephotographer