A Natural: UWG Alumna Becomes Hair Salon Entrepreneur

When one thinks of hair salons, men don’t usually come to mind. The majority of clientele at hair salons are women, but has there ever been a salon, not a barbershop, but a salon that caters to specifically to men? Well, one recent UWG alumna has used the skills and knowledge she gained working for her degree to build a business around that one demographic. 

Nikkita Gordon originally from Albany, Georgia and recently graduated in December of 2018. She is using her college degree to not only start a profitable business, but to build herself a personal brand.  

She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing, a background in business management, and professional certificates in advertising and entrepreneurship. Nikkita is using all of her marketing skills to promote her business the best that she can. Nikkita specifically wants to brand her own personal talents, so it was only fitting that she name the business after the person with the talent.  

“I call it my Nikkita Hair Salon. Everybody knows me, so I just brand myself,” Gordon said.  

Nikkita started doing hair at a young age, and she is skilled at styling natural afro-textured hair.  

 “Me being natural, I decided to do more natural hairstyles like dreads and braids,” said Nikkita.  

One of Nikkita’s main skills is styling dreadlocks. Her main clientele is college students. 

“My sophomore year here at West Georgia, I had a lot of friends who had dreads who needed that service,” said Nikkita. 

Nikkita started her business by recognizing a need on campus, and using her skills to fulfill that need. That need was hair stylists for men. Most men go to barbershops, but not many go to actual salons. So when men grow out their hair, they may need someone with expertise in styling longer hair.  

“It’s a trend going on right now where the men are growing out their hair but they don’t really have individuals to do their hair,” Nikkita said. “There’s so many women out here doing other women’s hair. Who’s doing the men’s hair? So I decided to be a men’s hairstylist.” 

Nikkita said that hairstyling is a family tradition. She has several other family members who style hair as well. 

“We’ve really been doing hair all our lives,” said Nikkita. “My mom and her side of the family, like her sisters do hair too. So it’s really just been passed down to me.” 

Though at the moment, Nikkita only caters to UWG students, she has plans in the summer to expand her business into the greater Carrollton community and beyond. 

“I actually have plans of getting me a shop soon so that I can have more clientele in the Carrollton community too,” Nikkita said. 

Nikkita’s plan for expansion includes building her brand first and making Nikkita’s Hair Salon into a franchise. She also wants her brand to expand into the greater Georgia area, and even reach places as far as her home town in Albany.