Hair care and all things beauty have experienced a significant shift in the past years. While some still prefer an expert’s opinion on how to do, style, and care for their hair, many have opted to choose the path of DIYs and home tutorials. Although the effectiveness of it may still be questionable to this day, some follow the principle of “if it works, it works.”
Many industry experts like Nohad Da Silva of Knots & Dye have noticed this change and are pivoting accordingly. Some turn to utilizing social media and video streaming platforms to create content, others turn to providing a better variety of services in their respective salons, and a rare few take all of these and more.
Making the Mark
As a Salon Director, Entrepreneur, and Boss Babe of Color, Nohad has been catering to a wide range of clientele. She has been one of the industry’s gems who can, with utmost confidence and professionalism, care for ethnic hair and those often shunned by other salons.
Nohad goes way ahead beyond this niche expertise. “The beauty industry is going downhill. Everyone is doing beauty; everyone is doing it from home. Yes, I am a hairdresser. Yes, I own Knots & Dye, but it’s not just all about that,” she begins. “It’s about what I do with the success of my business, where I take this success, and what I can do more than what I am already doing.”
Nohad aims to bring two different aspects together and create something new. Her entrepreneurial experience, along with her unshaken determination to bring positive social change, empowers her to bend the rules and equate her salon to a place where people, especially the youth and the marginalized, can grow.
“What the industry fails to realize is it’s not just about shallowness and vanity. While people may come in to have their hair fixed, colored, or styled, the extra confidence boost they get from looking great can move mountains,” Nohad shares.
Focusing on the Foundation of the Future
As one who has been through many ordeals herself just because of her race and color, Nohad knew she needed to act to change the playing field, even in an industry where a “revolutionary change” isn’t often equated with. If people experience prejudice even in the simplest act of getting their hair done, then society has such a long way to go.
“I feel an insistent call to action. We’re at a pivotal juncture where our youth’s futures hang in the balance. Our responsibility is to cast away judgments, ensuring the past doesn’t overshadow their futures,” Nohad says. “At Knots & Dye, we’re not just hairdressers. We’re key individuals ready to listen to every story, every reflected internal battle for identity and belonging. We can’t be passive, for inaction sustains a detrimental status quo.”
While the focus is torn between hair salons serving only a selected few and those utilizing home tutorials and DIYs, Nohad is fully aware that choices must be made at this critical juncture. One of her main goals in early 2024 is to start teaching aspiring hairdressers to master specialized techniques when working with ethnic hair. She aims to continue her legacy through the individuals she would be teaching so that there will come a time when working with afro hair, dreadlocks, or any other type of hair that celebrates cultural diversity becomes a norm in the beauty industry.
“We can remain indifferent, serving the privileged few, or rise to the challenge, understanding that society’s strength lies in uplifting its most vulnerable,” Nohad concludes with conviction.
Through her visionary leadership and entrepreneurial skills, Nohad Da Silva’s Knots & Dye is the spark of hope in an industry still reeling from unnecessary biases. Through what she does, she aims to craft a world where every entity across all sectors – beauty, first and foremost – recognizes the potential in each one, regardless of age, color, race, and background. She urges her fellow salon owners, hairdressers, and boss babes of all types of businesses to act on this moral imperative, ensuring that unfounded judgments do not dim youthful dreams.