WADESBORO — MieEsa Sturdivant recently became the Triad Barber School’s first female graduate, but that’s not the only milestone she’s reached.
While working as an apprentice barber at Tite Cutz Barbershop, Sturdivant is also starting her own line of hair care products devoted to African-American hair. She focuses on natural ingredients to help make hair texture more soft and manageable.
“I specialize right now in natural hair because I have natural hair meaning I don’t put any type of chemical in my hair period,” she said. “So basically I am trying to find natural, organic supplements for a nice shampoo, conditioner, age control and beeswax [to act as] different types of softeners for hair because African-American hair [is] very coarse hair.”
She hopes to have the line of products complete by the end of the year or the beginning of next year.
Sturdivant has worked in hair for 28 years, but she owes it to Triad Barber School and Garrett Snuggs for helping her reconnect to the craft and become officially licensed.
“I basically lost the love of doing hair over time … and Mr. Snuggs [told] me about the barber school and that he had an opening,” Sturdivant said. “It intrigued me so much, so going to barber school just reconnected me back with something I truly just love to do.”
She says it was challenging to learn how to do men’s hair while raising a family and being a wife, but Triad had very skilled instructors and she never gave up.
“It feels wonderful and feels like I accomplished one of my biggest goals,” she said of graduating. “I never thought I would see myself licensed and fulfilling my dreams. I had three children and I was a single mom. I never was able to chase my dream and [Mr. Snuggs] opened that door for me. It’s like a little testimony.”