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As 2022 comes to a close, North Philadelphia mainstay Duafe Holistic Hair Care has unveiled plans for a multi-million dollar expansion in 2023 that aims to revitalize business in the sector.
Syreeta Scott, the founder and CEO of Duafe, plans to demolish the business’s current building and replace it with a four-story facility that will contain 26 “salon suites” owned by individual stylists, an educational center for aspiring hair stylists, and a holistic space offering a variety of healing methods, such as massage therapy, herbology and reiki, per a news release. In addition, the top floor of the building is currently set to offer affordable housing units to community members.
“We’re calling this a business incubator for natural hair care,” Scott said. “We are teaching people how to become entrepreneurs, and we’re engaging the community. The goal of this new chapter of my business is to help men and women create their own legacy under the umbrella of Duafe.”
Duafe currently hosts 17 independent stylists and intends to offer them all the opportunity to own their own suite in the new building, where each stylist would keep 90% of their profits, with only a small portion going to Scott for rent.
The organization also plans to expand their investment in education and training by continuing to hire from technical schools such as Dobbins (Murrell Dobbins Career and Technical Education High) and Mercy Tech (Mercy Career and Technical High), investing in the North Philadelphia of ferring community educational courses in natural hair techniques, “such as braiding, locs and twists, and business ethics.”
City Council member Cindy Bass, who represents the 8th District where Duafe resides, said she believes “this development is very positive for the district” and “can have a considerable impact” on helping to rejuvenate a somewhat stagnant historic commercial corridor.
“I think its location on North 22nd Street is a great location. It’s a historic shopping area, particularly in the African-American community. It’s been (a) place that I shopped at as a child and still as an adult. All throughout my life, I’ve been shopping on 22nd Street. So I’m just excited to see this development because I think it’s only going to add to that commercial corridor. It’s going to bring new people. It’s going to bring additional businesses. to bring and support the existing businesses. So it’s a total win for the entire community, and I’m looking forward to supporting that.”
Duafe Holistic Hair Care first opened in 2001, and specializes in holistic natural hair care, as well as offering a line of original hair care products. Duafe has also become a hotspot for celebrities looking for natural hair care, with a long list of high- profile clients such as iconic singer Janet Jackson and award-winning director Ava DuVernay.
Scott said that she started Duafe with just $400 and a prayer, with the mission of “teaching our culture, teaching women how to love their natural, true self.”
“Natural hair was not a thing 20 years ago. People were not interested in wearing their hair, in locs at the multitudes that people are wearing it now. It was more of a cultural product. It was a lot of elders. So I had opportunities to change people’s minds. I had the opportunity to teach them culture. I had the opportunity to teach them about Black aesthetics.”
“(So) Duafe’s goal was to teach culture, was to make people feel absolutely comfortable with their natural self and love their natural self. Also, it’s about submersion in culture, the aesthetic, and a safe space somewhere they can come to get a level of service and be cared about.”
After Duafe opened, Scott spent years building out the business, finding the right stylists, products and clients, and had reached a comfortable level of success when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020. It was during this calamity, that Scott began to reprioritize some of her goals for the hair salon.
“We pivoted like everybody else did. We started selling our products. All proceeds went to our staff. We did a GoFundMe. Everything that we got went to our staff. So the goal then (shifted) to how can we still earn money for the people that we have an opportunity to work with?”
After a period of stabilization following the worst days of the pandemic, it was with a more outward community focus that Scott began to build plans for an expansion that wouldn’t just be about creating a larger space for Duafe to inhabit.
“Deciding to demolish the building; create more commercial space, which means being able to work with more people; being able to then shift to affordable housing; (the) people who work with me, putting them in positions to be their own entrepreneur and praying that they have the same experience that I had of longevity, (just) them having the ability to put their key in the door and say, ‘that this is my space.’ It feels like the natural next step. It is the natural next step.”
In creating a space that will not only expand the business sector in the area, but will also offer affordable housing options, Scott said that experiencing the way that gentrification can displace communities has made this issue a priority for her.
“When we were on 29th and Girard and I started seeing the community that was coming here, like, ‘I lost my house, I’m outbid, I can’t afford to live here anymore.’ Once I saw that and I was ground level, seeing how it affected the community and the people who lived in it, I knew that when I got into real estate, I was going to always make sure that people will not be displaced from their community,” Scott said.
“So the apartments that we want to have upstairs, the goal is to make sure that we keep it affordable housing, that whether it be veterans, whether it be single moms, kids, whether it be a family, whatever it is, we want to make sure that people are not displaced from their own communities.”
Bass, who has also made the issue of creating affordable housing a priority during her tenure, said that she believes that Duafe’s investment in that arena is “a wonderful thing.”
“As we know, there’s an affordable housing crisis in the city of Philadelphia. So I’m 100%, 1000% in support of providing affordable housing where we can; because the number of new units that are coming online now, it’s unprecedented. But what is also unprecedented is that those new units are unaffordable to the majority of Philadelphias who have been occupying that neighborhood or those neighborhoods for a very long time.
“So you’ve got this real effect from gentrification that’s happening. I mean, this is something that’s really happening, the displacement of many groups of people for other folks who are moving in. We just have to really get in front of that. We really have to do something more robust. I applaud Duafe for taking the initiative to do this.”
At the end of the day, Scott said she hopes that she can give back to the Philadelphia community at least a small portion of what they have given her throughout her career, and had these tips for any aspiring entrepreneurs looking to get their feet wet.
“Be prepared to work. But make sure you’re checking in on yourself, make sure you’re OK. … Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Make sure you’re paying your taxes, make sure you have a great CPA. Make sure that you find some type of mentor, somebody who’s capable of giving you the track, how to maneuver, what’s their opinion. And prepare yourself for a lot of work and get on your knees and pray even more because nothing’s promised. “
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