A Black woman’s dreams of opening a multicultural haircare store have finally come true. Nichole Ashley Moss is now supplying those with natural textures with the products they need at Soulful Strands in Oregon.
After running into issues for months when trying to secure a business loan, she has finally received the funding needed to accomplish this goal. The business launched officially in Corvallis, a suburb of Oregon just outside Portland, to ensure people of color within the neighborhood can buy what they need for healthy hair as supplied by one of their own.
In a profile with Oregon Live, Moss explained her motive for opening Soulful Strands, recognizing the need for a Black-owned haircare store within her community, now the only one of its kind in the area.
“I went to Portland and spent $400 at Mid-K Beauty because we have to stock up when we go out there; there’s nothing like this inward, nearby,” she shared with the publication.
Soulful Strands’ opening on Nov. 11 is a testimony to Moss’s determination and perseverance in starting her own brand. Initially, she wanted to open an indoor spa in Portland, but could not find a bank willing to back her idea. A suggestion by her husband to fill a gap in hair product stores near them led her down another path, but she still was met with pushback by traditional bank lenders.
However, after four months of saving her own capital alongside her husb
and, Moss was officially approved for a business loan to create Soulful Strands. Despite the happy ending, Black business owners are significantly impacted by a lack of access to capital, with the roadblock often being a tremendous barrier to them opening up stores and building their own legacy.Soulful Strands ultimately has its own success story. Now providing various products as a “one-stop shop” for multicultural haircare, it still holds its story as a business that had to go through the systemic trials of raising capital as a diverse company.