A shortage of beauty supplies in the Coachella Valley that cater to textured hair might get a little shorter

A local woman is trying everything she can to keep her beauty supply open that caters to people with textured hair. She says only a handful of beauty supplies carry the products that people of color in the valley need to have healthy and thriving hair.

The Creative Images Insititute of Cosmetology defines textured hair as where strands create shapes, like curves, spirals, zig-zags, or waves; hair is kinky, coiled, curly, or wavy. Black Owned Beauty Supply Association (BOBSA) is a California-based trade association comprising only Black-owned beauty supply stores. They report that of the roughly 9,000 beauty supply stores in the country, 3,000 are Black owned.

Victoria McNeely opened McNeely's Beauty Supply in 2018. Her customers shared their love for her store and the need for a store like hers to stick around the valley. Her new location is in La Quinta.
79405 CA-111 #7, La Quinta, CA 92253

"Coachella Valley is filled with the Mexican community all over the place, and that's one of the things I'm very proud of for the valley because I'm a Mexican myself and someone who has texture hair," says a customer, Arleth Meja. "Everybody has curly hair, straight hair, and all that stuff. And me being someone one of those people with like textured hair, I feel like this is one of the good spots to find like products and stuff."

McNeely is bringing in a hairstylist who would be available to do any hair on the spot this holiday season. She wants her customers to have a whole experience when visiting her store. If you want to book an appointment, you can contact Akea Johnson on Instagram @hairstylistakea. She has a booth inside McNeelys.