Two Sisters Who Own 25-Year-Old Black-Owned Hair Salon Launch All-Natural Hair Moisturizer and Protective Style Products

Meet Glynnis and Shelly Smith, two siblings who own a successful hair salon in Kansas City, Mo. and are assisting thousands of clients worldwide with their individual hair care needs. They are also the founders of a hair care product line called Meme Natural You, a fusion of their Guyanese-American culture, and their resilience as women.

Their product line combines exotic ingredients harvested from plants and botanicals found in their homeland in the Amazonian rain forest of South America along with our countless hours of field experience supplying professional hair care services to their clientele.

As children growing up in Guyana, commercial hair care products were unavailable so they made their own haircare products by using natural ingredients from our surroundings. The sisters comment, “Our beginnings were humble ones, and we lived modestly — both in Guyana, and after migrating to America, but we always had a dream of one day having a business of our own. As children our parents instilled strong family values, to be honest, and to work hard. These same values remain at the core of our lives, and our business to this day.”

One morning in November of 2013, their dream was almost cut short when they were overcome by carbon monoxide while asleep in their family home. Had it not been for a family member that managed to escape the house to call for help, they would have all died. According to the fire marshal, the carbon monoxide level in the house was more than 40 times higher than safe exposure levels.

Shelly comments, “My sister Glynnis and I and two other family members were rescued by firefighters and rushed to the hospital in critical condition. We awoke in the hospital grateful that God had spared our lives, and allowed us to triumph from tragedy.”

She continues, “Today, our passion has blossomed into a brick-and-mortar full-service hair salon with a solid client base. The Meme Natural You product line was created to pay homage to our heritage, to give back to our loyal clientele, and to make all natural hair care accessible for all walks of life. It’s the combination of where we’ve been and where we’re going.”

The sisters have been featured in several major news outlets including NPR and WHYY/PBS.

For more details about their products, visit their official web site at MemeNaturalYou.com.

This article first appeared on Blackbusiness.com.